Summary
Here is a round-up of today’s top coronavirus news stories from the UK and around the world:
- The UK recorded 45,140 new infections, the highest jump in Covid cases since mid-July
- Cases surged in Russia as 34,303 new positive Covid tests and 997 deaths were reported
- England is planning to launch walk-in vaccine clinics within weeks for children aged 12 to 15, after its inoculation rate for this age group severely lags Scotland
- Australian city Melbourne announced it will lift stay-at-home orders this week, ending what local media dubbed the longest lockdown in the world
- Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged an emergency Covid vaccine airlift to Africa, saying it could save 100,000 lives
- Italy announced 2,437 new Covid cases and 24 deaths, following its introduction of workplace vaccine mandates on Friday
- The laywer of American convicted murderer Robert Durst said the real estate mogul has Covid and is on a ventilator, just days after he was sentenced to life in prison without parole
- Aid organisation World Vision warned the fallout of the pandemic could provoke a rise in child stunting in the Pacific as job losses and rising food prices threaten malnutrition
- Egypt announced new Covid requirements for public sector employees from 15 November, who will have to be vaccinated or take a weekly Covid test to work in government buildings.
That’s all from me, Jem Bartholomew, and for the blog today. Thanks for following.
Remember you can catch up with the latest coronavirus coverage here.
Updated
City state Singapore saw Covid infections climb by 3,058 on Sunday, an 8.7% decrease on the previous day’s figure of 3,348 new cases.
A further nine deaths were reported, taking Singapore’s pandemic total to 224.
Inoculation rates in Singapore are high, with over 82.3% of the population fully vaccinated.
Singapore is one of the first countries to pivot from a Covid-zero approach to a living-with-the-virus strategy, loosening certain restrictions in August and planning to relax its borders for international travellers on 19 October.
But after low daily infections measured in the scores rather than the hundreds for much of the pandemic, September saw cases surge – with new infections for much of October hovering around 3,000 a day.
Throughout the pandemic Singapore became a model of the Covid-zero strategy. Now it faces a tough transition – which fellow zero-Covid countries such as China, Hong Kong and New Zealand will be watching closely.
Updated
Italy recorded 2,437 new Covid cases on Sunday, 18.3% lower than the previous day’s figure of 2,983 new infections.
Italy’s health ministry also reported 24 Covid-related deaths, up from 14 on Saturday, taking the total death toll to 131,541 deaths.
That means Italy has the second highest toll in Europe behind the UK, which has recorded 161,798 deaths with Covid on the death certificate.
Italy introduced fresh workplace vaccine mandates on Friday, with workers in offices, factories, restaurants and shops alike required to provide proof of vaccination or undertake a Covid test every two days.
Italy joins other jurisdictions – France and Greece in Europe, Los Angeles and New York City in the US – betting on vaccine mandates in some form to reduce infections this autumn. But Italy has faced protests over its new measures.
Updated
A report has warned that the pandemic could see a surge in child stunting in the Pacific, as pandemic loss of work and skyrocketing food prices cause malnutrition.
World Vision, a Christian humanitarian aid organisation, found 60% of people in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste have lost their job or main source of income due to the pandemic.
This has caused serious harm to children’s health, the report found – with one in four families saying they had reduced the quantity or quality of their meals.
World Vision said that, with 8% of children eating two or less meals a day, chronic undernutrition could see child stunting climb significantly.
“There are interconnected issues, and the root causes of malnutrition could worsen if the pandemic and its impacts are not dealt with effectively,” said Evangelita Da Costa Pereira, a maternal health and nutrition specialist working for World Vision in Timor-Leste.
She added: “Malnutrition, food insecurity and poverty are strongly linked with each other. When poorer households have less income to purchase a sufficiently diverse diet, children have poor nutritional intake and become malnourished.”
Reporter Joshua Mcdonald has the full story here:
Updated
Updates on United States travel requirements.
The US Centers for Disease Control said on Sunday that incoming travelers fully vaccinated with mixed doses of approved vaccines can enter the US, the Washington Post reports.
The White House said travel restrictions for travellers to the US from 33 countries will be lifted on 8 November for fully-vaccinated people – provided they have proof of vaccination and a negative test result in the 72 hours before flying.
The Post writes:
While the CDC said it has not recommended mixing and matching vaccines, it acknowledged that “use of such strategies (including mixing of mRNA, adenoviral, and mRNA plus adenoviral products) is increasingly common in many countries outside of the United States.”
[US Representative] Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), whose district along the Canadian border includes Niagara Falls and Buffalo, said the CDC’s guidance was updated after he wrote a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky requesting a clarification on its policies.
“Clarity is needed on which vaccines the United States will accept when the border reopens to all fully vaccinated Canadians,” Higgins wrote Thursday. “Nearly four million Canadians, equivalent to ten percent of their fully vaccinated population, have received mixed doses of the available mRNA COVID19 vaccines – this includes the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
Updated
With the UK recording the largest daily jump in cases since mid-July – 45,140 new infections on Sunday – here’s that rise in context throughout the pandemic.
Updated
The United States administered 818,998 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the Centers for Disease Control said on Sunday, taking the country’s tally to 218.8 million people fully-vaccinated.
That means 78.9% of the US population over 18 has received at least one jab, according to CDC data.
Updated
Interesting opinion piece worth checking out here from long Covid researcher Ziyad Al-Aly, of Washington University in St Louis, arguing the WHO is letting down long Covid patients.
Al-Aly argues that the World Health Organisation’s failure to recognise “long Covid” – instead opting for “post-Covid-19 condition” – means it underplays clinical manifestations like new onset diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease.
He writes:
I worry that this myopic definition of long Covid may be used by governments and health insurers to debase the disease and deny insurance coverage.
It may add fuel to the gaslighters’ fire, providing them with a moral license to sow more skepticism around the existence of this disease and brand its ill effects as an “invention” of patient activist groups.
The millions of sufferers around the world deserve better.
My thoughts on @WHO case definition of #LongCovid
— Ziyad Al-Aly, MD (@zalaly) October 17, 2021
The @WHO, national governments, and health systems can and must do a better job preparing for #LongCovid https://t.co/BiXK3jPWn1
Updated
France reported 3,778 new Covid cases on Sunday, a 23% decrease on the previous day’s figure of 4,899.
France’s health ministry on Friday recorded the largest daily rise in cases since late July, at 6,099 new cases.
People who are not vaccinated now have to pay for Covid tests in France – which until Friday had been free.
President Emmanuel Macron’s vaccinination requirements for public settings like cafes and restaurants, coming into effect 15 October, situate France among other jurisdictions – such as Italy and Greece in Europe, New York City and San Fransisco in the US – banking on vaccine mandates to drive down new infections.
Updated
Egypt will launch new Covid requirements for state-employed workers from 15 November.
Public sector employees must either be vaccinated or take a weekly Covid test to work in government buildings from next month.
Egypt recorded 874 new Covid cases and 42 deaths on Saturday, according to local media. Al-Ahram reported that a shipment of 1.6 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses arrived on Saturday in Cairo.
The Egyptian government has also agreed to allocation 1 billion Egyptian pounds (£46 million) to address spending requirements related to the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reported.
Updated
Here’s a helpful graph breaking down England’s Covid infections per 100,000 people by age group.
Updated
England plans walk-in vaccine clinics for children aged 12 to 15
Walk-in vaccine clinics in England for children aged 12 to 15 look set to launch within weeks in efforts to drive down cases.
The 12-15 age bracket continues to clock the highest percentage of positive Covid cases, as the UK on Sunday saw the largest daily rise in Covid cases since mid-July.
But vaccine rates for this age group in England – at 14.2% – are lagging stubbornly behind inoculation rates in Scotland – at 44.3% – prompting criticism at England’s choice to administer vaccinations solely through schools.
Prof Kevin McConway, an emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, said the latest results in secondary school-age children were “concerning”.
“However you look at it, this is a huge increase, and it clearly follows from schools having reopened and, crucially, from vaccination rates of children in that age group still being low,” McConway said.
In Scotland 12- to 15-year-olds can already attended walk-in vaccine clinics.
My colleague Linda Geddes has the full story here:
Updated
This comment piece from an exasperated ICU nurse in Sydney, Australia is really worth a read.
It talks about the human cost of misinformation – with stories of patients on oxygen trying to escape and people just off ventilators insisting Covid isn’t real.
It’s bizarre to watch an individual chastise the nurses and doctors about Covid being fake as they sit on the floor gasping for air while a cytokine storm roars in their lungs. The time between each word is drawn out while they are trying to draw in as many breaths as they can.
“Would you like the oxygen back on, sir?” a nurse will inquire after another failed escape. They accept our help back to their room. Regain their breath with help from the oxygen. And then the escape plotting starts all over again. Another patient who was on a ventilator kept telling us Covid wasn’t real after they regained consciousness.
Updated
While the Australian state of New South Wales is reopening (see post below), modelling suggests the country could experience a surge in Covid cases from new variants if international travel restrictions are loosened.
If a variant with similar levels of transmissibility to Delta arrived, Australia would see a jump in hospitalisations and infections – even if the country reached its target of 80% of adults fully vaccinated.
That’s according to new research by the Centre for Big Data Research in Health at the University of New South Wales.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, appeared cautious on Friday, saying “we will not rush” and that the international border would only open to vaccinated Australian citizens and families, not tourists.
Melissa Davey has the full write up here.
“The planned reopening of Australian borders to international travellers increases the risk of introducing new chains of infection and new variants of SARS-CoV-2,” the modelling found.
“Political and health system policymakers should not focus exclusively on defining vaccination thresholds at which particular restrictions might be removed. Instead, they should recognise that mass vaccination is unlikely to achieve complete protection against Covid-19.”
Updated
A raft of new freedoms will come into effect on Monday 18 October in New South Wales, Australia, as the rate of fully vaccinated adults hit 80%.
New freedoms include:
- Up to 20 vaccinated people can gather indoors.
- Schools in greater Sydney gradually reopen.
- No office masks for vaccinated workers.
- Attendance caps jettisoned for weddings, funerals and places of worship.
- Retail, hospitality and gyms can reopen with some restrictions.
After announcing the state had reached the 80% milestone, the premier Dominic Perrottet said on Twitter: “Summer in NSW is looking good.”
Perrottet also said on Friday that from 1 November, returning Australians and tourists can travel to Sydney without hotel quarantine.
1/2
— Dom Perrottet (@Dom_Perrottet) October 16, 2021
80% in NSW! Been a long wait but we've done it.
Feels great to break this news. Huge thanks to all the nurses and vaccination hub staff at @NSWHealth, the GPs, the pharmacists, and each and every person who rolled up their sleeve to get us here.
For the full details, check out Justine Landis-Hanley’s story on what extra freedoms people have now.
Updated
A nightclub shooting left one person injured in France on Thursday after two men were refused entry for a fake Covid pass.
After being turned away for invalid passes in the town of Montbeliard, the two men returned later in a car and fired shots towards the club. One partygoer sustained gunshot wounds to the knee.
Since July, France has required people to present a Covid vaccination pass to enter public venues such as nightclubs, restaurants and cinemas.
France’s health authority in August reported a growing number of forged certificates.
AFP reports:
“It has been confirmed that one of the men tried to present a health pass that did not match his identity,” the public prosecutor for the area, Ariane Combarel, told AFP.
A man who was enjoying a night out at the club sustained gunshot wounds to the knee, according to regional media.
Combarel said he had required surgery and had been written off work for six weeks.
Updated
Convicted murderer Robert Durst has Covid and is on a ventilator.
Durst, the 78-year-old American real estate heir, was sentenced to life without parole on Thursday for the shooting of his best friend Susan Berman in 2000.
Durst appeared sickly during the murder trial, which saw dozens of people pack into the Los Angeles courthouse on Thursday for his sentencing.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
The real estate heir was in “very bad condition” during the sentencing hearing, according to his lead defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin.
“He was having difficulty breathing and he was having difficulty communicating,” DeGuerin said in an email to The Times. “He looked worse than I’ve ever seen him and I was very worried about him.”
Durst’s health was an issue throughout the trial. He was not in court last month the day jurors convicted him of Berman’s murder because he had been exposed to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. He was also briefly hospitalized in June after suffering an undisclosed medical incident.
UK records highest jump in Covid cases since mid-July
The UK recorded 45,140 new positive Covid cases on Sunday, the highest jump in new cases since mid-July.
This takes the total cases for the last seven days to 300,081 – up 15.1% on the previous week.
A further 57 people died within 28 days of a positive test, taking the figure for the last seven days to 852 deaths – up 8.5% on the previous week.
- Hospital admissions: 915
- First vaccine doses: 23,706
- Second vaccine doses: 32,983
This is the fifth consecutive day new cases have clocked in above 40,000. New reported cases fell slightly in early last month but have grown steadily since mid-September.
Updated
The AFP have published a summary of known Coronavirus data:
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4,891,684 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to AFP data.
At least 240,314,450 cases of coronavirus have been registered. The vast majority have recovered, though some have continued to experience symptoms weeks or even months later.
The figures are based on daily reports provided by health authorities in each country.
They exclude revisions made by other statistical organisations, which show that the number of deaths is much higher.
The World Health Organization estimates that the pandemic’s overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records, due to the excess mortality that is directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19.
A large number of the less severe or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected, despite intensified testing in many countries.
On Saturday, 5,512 new deaths and 352,368 new cases were recorded worldwide.
Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were Russia with 997 new deaths, followed by United States with 486 and Brazil with 483.
The United States is the worst-affected country with 724,153 deaths from 44,916,462 cases.
After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 603,152 deaths from 21,638,726 cases, India with 452,124 deaths from 34,067,719 cases, Mexico with 284,321 deaths from 3,755,053 cases, and Russia with 223,312 deaths from 7,992,687 cases.
The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Peru with 606 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina with 339, Republic of North Macedonia with 332, Montenegro with 322, Bulgaria with 319, and Hungary with 314.
Latin America and the Caribbean overall has 1,508,394 deaths from 45,513,200 cases, Europe 1,352,088 deaths from 70,785,226 infections, and Asia 856,380 deaths from 55,079,537 cases.
The United States and Canada has reported 752,626 deaths from 46,593,818 cases, Africa 215,307 deaths from 8,430,722 cases, Middle East 204,419 deaths from 13,690,555 cases, and Oceania 2,470 deaths from 221,392 cases.
As a result of corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day’s tallies.
Health authorities reported 6,913 more coronavirus infections in the Philippines on Sunday, bringing the national caseload to 2,720,368.
PhilStar reports:
In its latest bulletin released Sunday afternoon, the department of health reported a positivity rate of 12.5% out of 53,669 tests.
- Active cases: 81,641 or 3.0% of the total
- Recoveries: 10,237 new additions, bringing the number to 2,598,052
- Deaths: 95, now 40,675 in total
Four further deaths of patients who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have been reported in Northern Ireland.
The region’s Department of Health said there were also another 966 new cases of the virus in the last 24-hour reporting period.
The latest departmental figure for total vaccines administered in the region stood at 2,573,372 on Sunday.
Oh, this is interesting.
Following on from Gordon Brown’s comments that UK Prime Minster Boris Johnson (see 11.56) had missed a meeting, hosted by Mr Biden, to discuss getting vaccines sent to developing countries, downing street have issued a statement.
A Downing Street source told the PA news agency that the Prime Minister did miss his speaking slot, but said it was because the meeting was running late and he was due to attend a wreath-laying event at Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC.
New Zealand health care workers administered a record number of vaccine jabs on Saturday as the nation held a festival aimed at getting more people inoculated against the coronavirus.
The Associated Press reports:
Musicians, sports stars and celebrities pitched in for the “Vaxathon” event, which was broadcast on television and online for eight hours straight. By late afternoon, more than 120,000 people had gotten shots, eclipsing the daily record of 93,000 set in August.
A throwback to TV fundraising “telethon” events that were popular from the 1970s through the 1990s, it comes as New Zealand faces its biggest threat since the pandemic began, with an outbreak of the delta variant spreading through the largest city of Auckland and beyond.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who chatted with motorists at a drive-through vaccination center in Wellington, initially set a target of 100,000 jabs for the day but upped that to 150,000 after the first target was met.
She also set a target of 25,000 shots for Indigenous Maori, whose vaccination numbers have been lagging and who have been hit hard by the latest outbreak.
Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom has tweeted support for Gordon Brown’s push to have vaccines that will otherwise go to waste airlifted to the countries that desperately need them.
Thank you @WHO Ambasssdor @GordonBrown for your call for intensified action to rectify the #VaccinEquity crisis facing Africa & other vulnerable settings. I agree vaccine producing countries & manufacturers must do more to save lives & end the pandemic https://t.co/xfu2ubUQ3O
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 17, 2021
VIDEO: Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) has started hosting its five-day dance music festival after the Dutch government lifted restrictions on the entertainment sector, as well as clubs and bars pic.twitter.com/x53mPnHS6i
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 17, 2021
These clubbers in Amsterdam looking like they’re having a good time at the Amsterdam Dance Event, following government relaxation of restrictions. The rules were relaxed after protesters called for the reopening of the nighttime economy.
Ravers need to show proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative covid test. And the event was rescheduled to be a daytime event - which sounds ideal to me.
Sri Lanka Sri Lankan authorities are allowing the reopening of cinemas and restaurants and also permitting wedding receptions as a part of the easing of Covid-19 related restrictions.
The Associated Press reports:
Cinemas will be open from next week, but with only 25% occupancy. Restaurants will be allowed to cater to a maximum 50 customers at a time. Wedding receptions are also permitted, but with a maximum of 50 guests.
Banks can accommodate only five clients at a time while gymnasiums can have a maximum of 10.
The government’s move to ease restrictions comes amid a sharp decline in Covid-19 cases and deaths over the past few weeks.
However, the government still continues with the ban on public gatherings while restrictions are imposed on public transport and trains are still halted.
Gordon Brown had some strong words about rich nations wasting vaccines (see 8.37) this morning, speaking to Trevor Philips on Sky News.
Brown said that a failure to send unused coronavirus vaccines from Europe and America to developing countries would be an act of “criminal” neglect.
Many of [the vaccines] may go to waste - and that would be criminal - which could immediately be airlifted out to those countries where the level of vaccination is so low that not even the nurses and doctors are protected and certainly not the elderly and vulnerable.
Brown reserved particularly fierce criticism for the prime minister Boris Johnson, who he accused of breaking his promise to “vaccinated the world”.
He said:
Boris Johnson promised at the G7 that he was going to vaccinate the whole world.
He made this bold announcement that, by next year, everybody would be vaccinated who was an adult in the developing world as well as the developed world.
But since then, so little has happened that we now face the possibility of every target being missed.
Ten per cent by September: missed. 40% By December: likely to be missed. 70% by next year: likely to be missed.
So we’ve got to take action immediately to use these unused vaccines to save lives.
One hundred thousand lives have been saved in Britain because of 100 million vaccines. How many more lives can be saved in the rest of the world if we get these vaccines to people who need them?”
Challenged about his suggestion of criminality, Mr Brown said:
I was talking about neglect.
I do think that this is a lack of co-ordination.
If (US) President Biden, Boris Johnson, Ursula von der Leyen - the president of the European Union - (Canadian PM) Justin Trudeau came together, they would find that they had these unused vaccines that are not going to be used.
Even after all the boosters, there are excess vaccines that are not going to be used and they should get them out as quickly as possible.
He also suggested that Johnson had missed a meeting, hosted by Mr Biden, to discuss getting vaccines sent to developing countries, and had received no answer from the prime minister’s office about whether he had actually attended. He said the PM should answer to the House of Commons about what role he played in that summit.
Russia records record level of coronavirus cases
Russia recorded a record high number new coronavirus cases on Sunday. Officials reported 34,303 new coronavirus cases and 997 deaths from Covid-19 over the last 24 hours.
Russia’s total excess fatality count since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is 660,000.
The Moscow Times reports that Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has called on doctors who are self-isolating or retired to get vaccinated and return to work due to record increases in Covid-19 infections and deaths.
It adds that Russia will resume regular air travel with the Bahamas, Iran, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Slovenia, Tunisia, Sweden and Thailand starting Nov. 9, the national Covid-19 headquarters announced Thursday.
According to Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s consumer health watchdog, 38 of Russia’s 85 regions have introduced vaccine mandates for certain categories of citizens and employees working in designated sectors of the economy, such as retail and hospitality.
The BBC have a good interview with Professor Sarah Gilbert, Covid vaccine creator who argues that the experimental technologies that helped develop vaccines in record time have expanded scientific ambitions.
The architect of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid jab, says vaccine development has been transformed and says others should now be developed to tackle other priority pathogens - like Mers, Zika and Ebola.
She says:
There’s a lot of vaccine development that we need to do now that we can do it.
The Department of Health said there are 81,641 active COVID-19 cases in the country as of October 17, 2021. #COVID19PH pic.twitter.com/F2UJ00aUso
— The Philippine Star (@PhilippineStar) October 17, 2021
Germany has reported 4,373,789 confirmed coronavirus cases, an increase of 8,682 and a total of 94,618 deaths, an increase of 17 according to the Robert Koch Institute.
This piece from Der Ziet is in German, but the RKI is warning of a new wave of new infections after the autumn holidays.
Das #RKI rechnet mit einer neuen Welle an Neuinfektionen nach den #Herbstferien. Laut Kinder- und Jugendmedizinern gibt es genug Daten zur #Impfung ab zwölf Jahren, um sie "uneingeschränkt" zu empfehlen. #Corona-News aus Deutschland https://t.co/cpFSGBM7rU
— ZEIT ONLINE (@zeitonline) October 17, 2021
Here is a loose translation of the gist:
Oliver Keppler, head of virology at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (LMU), has predicted a significant increase in the corona numbers for the coming months.
The virologist told the dpa news agency:
In the autumn and winter that lie ahead of us we must assume that the infection rate will worsen.
The virologist did not recommend tightening the corona measures again .
Melbourne to lift stay-at-home orders this week
Melbourne, which has spent more time under COVID-19 lockdowns than any other city in the world, is set to lift its stay-at-home orders this week, officials have said.
Reuters reports:
By Friday, when some curbs will be lifted, the Australian city of 5 million people will have been under six lockdowns totalling 262 days, or nearly nine months, since March 2020.
Australian and other media say this is the longest in the world, exceeding a 234-day lockdown in Buenos Aires.
While coronavirus cases keep rising in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, the state’s double-vaccination rate is set to reach 70% this week, allowing for the ease in restrictions.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said:
Today is a great day. Today is a day when Victorians can be proud of what they have achieved.
When hospitality venues and some businesses reopen, their capacity will remain heavily restricted. More easing, including the reopening of many retailers, will come once 80% of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated - estimated by Nov. 5 at the latest.
On Sunday, Victoria recorded 1,838 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths. Neighbouring New South Wales, which emerged last week from a 100-day lockdown, reported 301 cases and 10 deaths. Eighty percent of the state’s people have been fully vaccinated.
Australia, once a champion of a COVID-zero strategy of managing the pandemic, has been moving towards living with the virus through extensive vaccinations, as the Delta variant has proven too transmissible to suppress.
The new strategy makes lockdowns highly unlikely once 80% of the population is fully vaccinated. As of the weekend, around 68% of eligible Australians have been fully inoculated.
Australia’s health officials said on Sunday that quarantine-free travel from New Zealand’s South Island, where there is no outbreak, will resume on Wednesday. The government is also in discussions with Singapore about reopening travel between the two countries for the fully vaccinated.
Despite the rise in cases in recent months, Australia’s coronavirus numbers are low compared to many other developed countries, with just over 143,000 cases and 1,530 deaths.
Neighbouring New Zealand, which is also learning to live with COVID-19 by accelerating inoculations, reported 51 new cases on Sunday, 47 of them in the largest city Auckland, which has been in a lockdown since mid-August. On Saturday, New Zealand vaccinated more than 2.5% of its people as part of a government-led mass vaccination drive.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by William Mallard)
Pregnant women are being advised by some health professionals not to have the Covid vaccine despite an edict from the NHS that they should encourage them to get the jab. One in six of the most critically ill Covid patients requiring life-saving care are unvaccinated pregnant women, figures released last week show.
Yet messages sent to the Vaccines and Pregnancy helpline, launched on 20 August to help pregnant women navigate information about the vaccine, suggest that some midwives are advising against the jab.
Read the full story here:
UK Covid cases remain high
Cases of new coronavirus cases have continued to rise in recent days with a further 43,423 daily infections recorded on Saturday.
Cases fell at the end of July, and flutuated between August and September, but the average has been increasing in the last week.
Recent spikes have been driven by the Delta variant, which spread faster than the Alpha variant.
More than 100,000 lives can be saved in Africa by undertaking the emergency airlift of 240m unused vaccines in the next fortnight, Gordon Brown has urged.
The former prime minister called on a group of rich nations to back “the biggest peacetime public policy decision” by supporting an October airlift that would see unused vaccines handed to parts of the global south struggling the most.
He told the Observer’s Policy Editor Michael Savage:
While vaccines have been pledged for donation from all donors, we are not getting the vaccines into people’s arms and urgently need a month-to-month timetable to meet our interim targets and prevent further loss of lives.
An immediate emergency airlift of 240m vaccines this month from the global north to the global south should be followed by the transfer of a further 760m vaccines transferred by February. This would be the biggest peacetime public policy decision, which could save 100,000 lives and prevent many of the one million Covid-induced deaths projected over the next year.
With only 5% of the population vaccinated in Africa, Brown urged the leaders of the US, the EU, Canada and the UK to back an emergency airlift. He said that 40% of Covid deaths in Africa had happened since the start of August, making the need for action urgent.
Read the full story here:
