Hello and thanks for following along. We will be closing today’s Covid blog but you can keep up with all the latest coronavirus news here.
Paris to make face masks compulsory outdoors
Paris, France, is set to reimpose wearing face masks outdoors again in this week in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, French police said on Wednesday.
The mandate will apply from Friday to everyone over the age of 11 except those inside vehicles, cyclists, users of two-wheeled transport like scooters and those doing sport, Paris police HQ said in a statement.
France reported a new record-high daily Covid-19 case total of 208,000 on Wednesday as Omicron drives infections up after Christmas.
“I wouldn’t call Omicron a wave anymore... I would call it a tidal wave,” said French Health Minister Olivier Veran.
The government has announced new restrictions including an extension on the closure of nightclubs and encouraging more remote working.
However it has so far shied away from mass closures or lockdowns seen in other EU countries such as the Netherlands.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock here taking over from my colleague Leonie Chao-Fong.
As I’m reporting to you from Sydney here is a snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across Australia.
Victoria has recorded 5,137 new Covid-19 cases and 13 deaths while NSW recorded 12,226 new cases and one death.
Prime minister Scott Morrison has pinned responsibility for sourcing RATs on the states ahead of a national cabinet meeting today where premiers are expected to make a national definition of a close contact.
Confused anti-vaccine protesters entered a test-and-trace centre in Milton Keynes, England on Wednesday, appearing to believe it was a coronavirus vaccine centre, where they were filmed shouting abuse at staff and appearing to steal equipment.
Video shared on social media showed the group of several dozen activists, led by former Ukip candidate Jeff Wyatt, walking through the facility holding signs encouraging people not to get vaccinated and criticising the BBC.
Wyatt, a former deputy leader of the far-right For Britain Movement, addressed crowds at a rally held before the storming of the Covid-19 testing site, where he claimed there are “millions” of like-minded anti-vaccine activists who have “woken up”.
Piers Corbyn, a prominent anti-lockdown protester and brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, could not be seen in the footage but was pictured attending other stops during the so-called Freedom Rally including an invasion of the Milton Keynes Theatre.
Protesters were filmed walking towards the NHS test-and-trace centre while a man on a loudspeaker claims that it is where the “vaccine rollout” is taking place as activists walk by a sign that reads “Testing”.
Other demonstrators are heard shouting “disgrace” and “shame on you” as staff appear to run away and take shelter in offices.
Read the full article here:
Updated
Argentina reports daily record of 42,032 new cases
Today’s reported figure surpasses the country’s previous all-time high of 41,080 cases recorded in May. Argentina’s health ministry also reported a further 26 deaths in the latest 24 hour period, Reuters reports.
“We are at a very high level of contagion ... in the federal capital and Greater Buenos Aires the situation is serious,” local doctor Rodrigo Salemi told television.
Updated
New York City is exhausted, beleaguered and riddled with coronavirus thanks to the Omicron variant, according to the New York Times. The state reported a record high of 67,000 positive cases on Tuesday and a steady increase in hospitalisations over the past week.
One New York City subway line was suspended today and many others were running with delays because so many workers were off sick. At least 20 testing centres were closed because of staffing shortages and nearly one in three paramedics are currently off sick.
More than 110,000 people have tested positive just since Christmas Day, and in some neighbourhoods in the city, the positivity rate is approaching 30%.
Updated
Libya has confirmed its first cases of the Omicron variant, health officials said. The National Center for Disease Control did not provide any further details including the number of people who were found to have the variant.
The centre reported 665 new cases and nine deaths in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the country’s total to 387,540 cases and 5,685 deaths.
France has registered a national and European record for new coronavirus infections as the Omicron variant fuels a surge in cases across the continent, with multiple countries hitting new highs.
France on Wednesday reported 208,000 cases in the previous 24 hours, up from its previous record of almost 180,000 set the day before.
“This means that 24 hours a day, day and night, every second in our country, two French people are diagnosed positive for the coronavirus,” said the health minister, Olivier Véran. “We have never experienced such a situation,” he said, calling the increase “dizzying”.
He said the situation in France’s hospitals was already worrying because of the Delta variant. Although the “massive wave” of Omicron cases had yet to have an impact on the healthcare system, he said it would inevitably do so eventually.
The UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Greece have all reported new case records this week, while beyond Europe the rolling seven-day average of new cases in the US hit a high of 267,000 on Tuesday, with Omicron accounting for 59% of these.
Read the full article by my colleagues Jon Henley and Angela Giuffrida here:
More than 44,000 people in the US could die of Covid-19 in the next four weeks, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) showed at least 821,251 people have died of Covid-19 in the United States. The CDC forecast, published today, estimates that could rise to 866,000 deaths reported by 22 January.
The forecast could mean an average of up to 1,800 deaths per day, up from a current average of 1,523 each day, CNN reports.
The CDC included projections indicating that the quickest rise in deaths may happen in early January, with the average slowing after 22 January.
Updated
Ireland reports record-breaking 16,428 new cases
Ireland has confirmed 16,428 new cases today, representing the country’s highest daily figure since the pandemic began. The previous record was 13,765 cases reported on 25 December.
As of 8am on Wednesday, 568 people were in hospital with the virus, 93 of whom are in intensive care. That is a sharp rise on 378 people in hospital on 25 December.
In a statement, Ireland’s chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, said:
All of the latest epidemiological indicators are a cause of concern.
Given the very high levels of transmission nationwide, every individual should consider themselves potentially infectious, and strictly adhere to the public health measures.
It comes as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that infections fuelled by the Omicron variant will remain very high for the “next few days” but should peak “in the next week or so”.
Updated
Turkey reports highest daily cases since April
Turkey recorded 36,684 new cases today, the highest number of daily infections since 29 April, health ministry data showed. The country also recorded a further 142 deaths from the virus.
Today’s reported caseload is more than 4,500 up from the previous day when 32,176 cases were reported. Tuesday also marked the first time the country exceeded 30,000 daily cases since 19 October.
“Due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, it can be seen we are now entering a rising trend,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter yesterday, urging people to get vaccinated and receive their booster shots.
Last week, Turkey’s domestically developed Covid-19 vaccine, Turkovac, received emergency use authorisation from Turkish authorities.
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here, taking over from Lucy Campbell to bring you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
We’ll start in Belgium, where theatres, cinemas and concert halls are set to reopen after a court ruling found that entertainment venues were being unfairly singled out amid new restrictions intended to stem the spread of the Omicron variant.
The move followed protests by the cultural sector angry that it was being made to close its doors while bars and restaurants were allowed to keep working.
On Tuesday, the country’s highest administrative court suspended the decision to shut down the cultural sector, ruling that the government had not shown “how cultural venues are particularly dangerous to human health and life in so far as they promote the spread of the coronavirus, to the extent that it is necessary to order their closure.”
In a statement today, Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said: “We continue to follow closely the evolution of the pandemic in our country where Omicron is dominant.”
Updated
WHO chief urges governments to be 'careful' after calls to cut Covid isolation
A leading figure at the World Health Organisation has said it is not “advisable” to reduce Covid controls, including self-isolation periods, as increasing case numbers spiral across the globe.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, warned that governments need to be “careful” about reducing restrictions in the light of the Omicron variant.
At present in England, people who receive negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – no longer have to stay indoors for a full 10 days.
But calls are growing on the UK government to cut this further after the US slashed its self-isolation period to five days for asymptomatic people when the US Centres for Disease Control said most transmission of the virus happens in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.
Speaking at a WHO press conference on Wednesday, Dr Ryan said:
Even with the previous variants, most people will incubate and show symptoms or be positive within that first six days or so, and the chances then of being positive or transmitting the disease after that are lower – but it is then for governments to make that judgment call of when to allow people out of a quarantine situation with extra tests.
The most important thing at this moment is we need to be careful about changing tactics and strategies immediately on the basis of what we’re seeing in early Omicron data.
‘Oh, it’s less severe’ – maybe it’s not; ‘It’s more transmissible’ – maybe it is, but we have to wait and see if the vaccines work or they don’t work, we have to wait and see, and I think it will be advisable at this point if we don’t see huge shifts, huge moves in reducing control measures for Covid-19 purely on the basis of initial and preliminary studies.
On Tuesday, Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers – the membership organisation for NHS trusts in England – said many in the health service now fear staff shortages caused by people isolating could represent a “bigger challenge” than the number of patients needing treatment for Covid.
In a statement on Wednesday, he said:
Given the current pressures on NHS services due to staff absences, trust leaders are keen that everything possible is done, as quickly as possible, to maximise rapid safe return of staff to work.
That includes ensuring appropriate timely access to both PCR and lateral flow testing, both of which are currently proving problematic for some trusts.
Others have emphasised a need for an evidence-led approach.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation – a membership body for organisations that commission and provide NHS services – acknowledged staff absence “is a huge issue for the NHS right now”, but said the case for amending isolation rules further needs to be made clear.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Taylor said:
The government, with scientific advice, has to make an assessment of the balance of risk here, but it’s important to recognise that there are risks to anything that we do, and if we were to reduce to five days that would have to be based on very clear evidence that it is not going to increase the rate of infection.
Updated
Unions slam Québec for allowing some Covid-positive healthcare staff to work
Healthcare unions have lambasted Québec’s decision to allow some asymptomatic workers infected with Covid to stay on the job, even as an infectious disease specialist warned more Canadian provinces may be forced into similar steps as Omicron surges.
Québec said on Tuesday it had no choice but to allow some essential healthcare staff to continue working instead of isolating at home after testing positive, to prevent staff shortages from crippling healthcare services.
A number of unions said they are worried the decision will put healthcare networks under further strain, and workers and patients at risk.
“The network is not prepared to face the risks of the government’s decision to bring asymptomatic infected staff back to work. Right now, we are not even able to test staff in their workplace,” said Réjean Leclerc, president of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux, which represents 120,000 public and private sector healthcare workers in the province.
Leclerc called for better testing for workers and improved ventilation in hospitals.
“We cannot subscribe to this decision which endangers the health and safety not only of our members, but above all of the vulnerable people to whom they must provide essential care and services,” the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services said in a social media post.
The union represents 60,000 workers in public health and social services institutions across Québec.
Provinces across Canada, including heavily populated Québec and Ontario, are reporting new daily Covid case records as the highly infectious Omicron variant takes hold, forcing ten of thousands of people into isolation.
Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto, said on Wednesday other provinces were likely discussing similar measures to help tackle staffing shortages in hospitals.
“Every jurisdiction in the northern hemisphere is dealing with the same problem. The clear reality is we will not be able to function by keeping everyone isolated for 10 days,” he said.
Morris said he was not aware of other jurisdictions allowing infected healthcare staff to work, but noted that Norway had already shortened its isolation period during a wave of the Delta variant earlier this winter.
US health authorities on Monday also shortened the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic cases of Covid to five days from the previous guidance of 10 days.
Spain has also reduced its self-isolation period from 10 to seven days, even as the number of new infections recorded in the country hits record highs.
*I’m grateful to reader Ed for flagging this.
Updated
Here is my colleague Nicola Davis’s full report on the UK’s latest reported figures, which is the first time since 24 December that data on daily case numbers has been made available for all four nations.
UK reports record-breaking 183,037 new cases
The UK has reported another 183,037 Covid cases and a further 57 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data from the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
That is a new record high and more than 50,000 higher than the previous record.
The caseload figure breaks down to 138,287 new infections in England, 15,849 in Scotland, 5,929 in Wales, and 22,972 in Northern Ireland. The reported figures for Northern Ireland within that data set cover a 5-day period.
The figures reported on Wednesday are compared to 138,831 infections and 19 fatalities recorded in the 24 hours prior.
Updated
Italy reported another fresh record daily tally of Covid cases on Wednesday, with new cases hitting 98,030, up from 78,313 a day earlier, the health ministry said.
The number of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 148 from 202 on Tuesday.
Italy has registered 137,091 deaths linked to Covid since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after the UK and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 5.85 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid - not including those in intensive care - stood at 10,578 on Wednesday, up from 10,089 a day earlier.
There were 126 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 119 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,185 from a previous 1,145.
Updated
Spain shortens quarantine period to seven days amid record cases
Spain has reduced its Covid self-isolation period to seven days, even as the number of new infections recorded in the country hits record highs.
Previously those who tested positive had to isolate for 10 days. On Wednesday the country’s health ministry said that the new, shortened isolation period would also apply to non-vaccinated people who are in close contact with Covid cases.
The Spanish decision follows similar moves in countries such as the United States and England, where businesses had voiced fears that the fast-spreading Omicron variant would leave them with mounting staff shortages.
On Tuesday the number of cases in Spain hit an all-time pandemic high after nearly 100,000 cases were reported in the span of 24 hours.
The surge sent the 14-day infection rate soaring to 1,360 cases per 100,000 residents, though hospitals appeared to be under less strain than previous waves of the pandemic.
The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, was confident that the country’s high vaccination rate – hovering around 80% of the population – would translate into a milder wave this time around.
“We are obviously going to see high numbers of infections, but not hospitalisations and ICU admissions compared to previous waves,” he told reporters earlier this week.
Portugal reported a new record of 26,867 Covid cases over the last 24 hours on Wednesday, up from 17,172 the previous day, although daily deaths dropped to a fraction of early 2021 peaks.
Health authority DGS registered 12 fatalities, down from 19 on Tuesday, while the number of patients in intensive care units was steady at 151.
In late January, the number of daily deaths exceeded 300 and there were more than 900 patients in intensive care.
Portugal has one of the world’s highest Covid vaccination rates with around 87% of its 10-million population fully inoculated, but the fast-spreading Omicron variant has caused the recent surge in cases, amplified by an increase in mass testing.
The 14-day infection rate jumped to 923 cases per 100,000 people from 804 reported on Tuesday.
The health minister, Marta Temido, warned on Tuesday that the country could reach as many as 37,000 daily cases in the first week of January, although recently imposed restrictions should have a dampening effect.
Before Christmas, the government ordered nightclubs and bars to close and told people to work from home for at least two weeks.
After decades of decline and with the public wary of human interaction amid Covid fears, vending machines are back in fashion in Japan, writes my colleague Justin McCurry. Here is his report:
More than 90% of community Covid cases in England are now Omicron variant, UKHSA says
More than 90% of community Covid cases in England are the now Omicron variant, according to the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency.
As it is now by far the dominant variant, the UKHSA said it would stop providing Omicron-specific daily updates from 31 December.
Scotland has already stopped reporting Omicron cases separately from other Covid cases in daily reports.
Another 39,923 Omicron cases were detected across the UK as of Wednesday, the second-highest daily figure so far, taking the total number of Omicron cases identified in the country to 210,122.
#OmicronVariant latest information
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) December 29, 2021
39,923 additional confirmed cases of the #Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been reported across the UK.
Confirmed Omicron cases in the UK now total 210,122. pic.twitter.com/JE2hzOvkw4
Please note:
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) December 29, 2021
Scotland are no longer separating Omicron cases from other COVID-19 cases in daily reports, and will update Omicron numbers weekly.
Figures from Wales & Scotland have been backdated from 24 Dec, so figures may be inflated.
The last daily #OmicronVariant overview will be reported on Friday 31 December. As data has shown that Omicron cases now constitute more than 90% of all community COVID-19 cases in England, our daily dashboard will provide the most updated info on COVID-19 case figures.
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) December 29, 2021
A further breakdown of confirmed Omicron cases by nation and region will be published in the daily Omicron overview today: https://t.co/O8GfarKvCu
— UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) December 29, 2021
As we reported earlier, the US has broken its record for daily coronavirus infections, as the Omicron variant has surpassed Delta in distribution across much of the country amid a massive surge. The seven-day average of cases exceeded 267,000 on Tuesday, beating its January 2021 record of 251,232, according to a New York Times database. Here is my colleague Edward Helmore’s report:
Cuba will give booster shots to its entire population in January, according to a report in state-run media, in a bid to keep the highly contagious Omicron variant at bay.
Health authorities in the island, heavily dependent on tourism, last week reported a 35% week-on-week rise in coronavirus cases.
As of Tuesday, they had registered at least 44 cases of Omicron, though both infections and deaths from Covid-19 remain at 1% of their pandemic peak on 22 August, according to statistics compiled by the online database Our World in Data.
The health minister, José Angel Portal Miranda, said the threat from Omicron had prompted Cuba to fast-track its booster campaign, and that all those eligible would have a booster shot in January, according to the state news outlet CubaDebate.
Cuba has already administered nearly 1.5 million boosters in the capital Havana, and to high risk groups such as health care workers. That campaign will now spread across the island in the coming weeks.
The country has vaccinated 92% of its population with at least one shot, and 85% with a full course, of its homegrown vaccines, according to Our World in Data.
That puts it second in the world behind only the United Arab Emirates, among countries of at least 1 million people.
Cuba has vaulted ahead of its neighbours in Latin America and other emerging economies by developing its own vaccines instead of competing for those produced by wealthier nations.
Officials say Cuba’s protein-based shots - Abdala, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus - give upwards of 90% protection against symptomatic Covid when offered in three-dose schemes, though those claims have yet to be fully vetted in peer-reviewed journals, or by the World Health Organization.
Cuban scientists had previously called for boosters to be given six months after the first three shots, but have now halved that time, the CubaDebate report said.
The German health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said on Wednesday that the number of new Covid cases has been under-reported and the actual incidence rate of infections is about two or three times higher than the officially reported figure, Reuters reports.
Lauterbach said the under-reporting was due to fewer tests being performed at workplaces and at doctors practices during the holiday season, as well as only a few of those test results being submitted to authorities.
Lauterbach also expressed concern about a clear rise in cases of the Omicron variant and appealed to people to celebrate the new year only in small groups.
Hajo Zeeb of the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology also expressed doubts over the accuracy of Germany’s reported figures for the coronavirus and the Omicron variant.
“The figures now are certainly under-reported,” he told the media group RND.
The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases on Wednesday reported 2,686 new cases of Omicron, bringing the total number to 13,129. Four people have died with the variant.
The seven-day incidence rate, which has been a key metric for determining coronavirus policy, was reported as 205.5 cases per 100,000 residents, the lowest figure since early November. This translated into 40,043 new cases over the past 24 hours.
In neighbouring France, by comparison, authorities on Wednesday reported 208,000 new cases [see 2.31pm.].
A spokesperson for the German health ministry said earlier on Wednesday that the government expects a clearer picture of the infection situation early next year.
“The number of infections is an important indicator, but of course it’s not the only one,” the spokesperson said.
The sinking incidence rate comes despite repeated warnings by health officials of an impending fifth wave of infections.
The health ministry confirmed on Tuesday that Germany is buying 1m packs of Paxlovid from Pfizer, which has said that the pill cuts by 89% the chance of hospitalisation or death for adults at risk of severe disease.
Updated
WHO chief concerned about 'tsunami of cases' from Covid variants
The simultaneous circulation of the Delta and Omicron variants is creating a “tsunami of cases”, the World Health Organization (WHO) director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a news briefing on Wednesday.
“Delta and Omicron are now twin threats driving up cases to record numbers, leading to spikes in hospitalisation and deaths,” he said.
“I am highly concerned that Omicron, being highly transmissible and spreading at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases.”
Tedros repeated his call for countries to share vaccines more equitably and warned that the emphasis on boosters in richer countries could leave poorer nations short of jabs.
He said the WHO was campaigning for every country to hit a target of 70% vaccine coverage by the middle of 2022, which would help end the acute phase of the pandemic.
New Year’s Eve will mark the second anniversary of China alerting the WHO to 27 cases of “viral pneumonia” of unknown origin in the city of Wuhan.
More than 281 million people have since been reported to be infected by the virus globally and more than 5 million have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Updated
Bosnia has identified its first 10 Omicron infections and there are very likely more, with the highly transmissible variant expected to become dominant in the next couple of months, health officials said on Wednesday.
Goran Čerkez, the assistant health minister in Bosnia’s autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation, said the 10 cases were discovered in tests by the Clinical Centre of Sarajevo University.
“We have no doubt that Omicron has been already circulating in Bosnia and that it will become the dominant variant in the next couple of months,” Čerkez told Reuters.
Administratively fragmented Bosnia does not have a national health ministry but instead has 13 regional governments and ministries, each of which releases its own statistics.
Official statistics suggest that only about 30% of Bosnians have been inoculated against Covid. However, Čerkez said he believed the number was far higher because the figures did not take into account a mass exodus of Bosnians in recent years.
Updated
France reports over 200,000 daily cases, highest of pandemic so far
France is seeing a record rise in Covid infections, with 208,000 new cases reported over the past 24 hours, a national and European record, the health minister, Olivier Véran, told lawmakers on Wednesday.
France has been breaking Covid records repeatedly over the past few days, with Tuesday’s 180,000 cases already the highest for a country in Europe, according to data on Covidtracker.fr.
Every second, two people in France are testing positive for Covid, Véran said, adding that the situation in hospitals was worrying because of the Delta variant, with Omicron yet to have an impact. The flu will further complicate things for hospitals, he said.
Earlier we reported that, amid the record surge in infections, the French government was accelerating introduction of the so-called vaccine pass to increase pressure on the unvaccinated to get the jab. [see 1.20pm.].
Updated
The Scottish government has resisted pressure from businesses and opposition parties to cut the isolation period from 10 to seven days, and will only decide next week, Nicola Sturgeon has told MSPs.
Opposition and business leaders have urged the first minister to follow England’s lead by allowing infected people to leave self-isolation after seven days after a negative PCR test, arguing that would relieve the heavy pressure on businesses and services from staff absences.
Sturgeon agreed there was a clear need to limit staff absences. John Swinney, her deputy, indicted in media interviews on Wednesday that changes were being considered.
However, Sturgeon said the government would not make a final decision until next week: ministers wanted to greatly increase booster vaccinations first. So far, 75% of eligible Scots had had their booster jabs, five points short of the 80% target set for Friday, 31 December.
She said:
If Covid continues to spread rapidly, the economic impact in the form of staff absences and diminished consumer confidence will be severe. We’re already seeing those impacts. So doing nothing won’t help business.
We must protect public health and the economy together - by slowing the speed at which Covid is spreading, while we complete the booster programme.
[These] are finely balanced judgments and we are considering the current trends in infection carefully. However, I confirm that we hope to reach decisions in the next week with any changes taking effect from 5 January.
She said extra effort was being made to prioritise PRC testing for exempt workers, those in critical NHS or transport roles, who may be allowed to end self-isolation early.
Greece brings forward fresh curbs as Omicron pushes cases up
Greece is introducing new restrictions on the hospitality sector from Thursday, bringing forward measures planned for early January as coronavirus infections surge.
The decision came a day after authorities announced a new daily record of 21,657 cases, more than double compared with Monday. Authorities said the highly contagious Omicron variant appeared to be dominant in the community, barely a month after it was first detected.
Bars, nightclubs and restaurants will have to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, with the exception of New Year’s Eve when then can stay open until 2am.
“These measures, if they are applied in our entirety, will allow us from mid January to go back to our normal lives,” the health minister, Thanos Plevris, told a news conference.
Authorities had also tightened curbs last week, mandating masks in open spaces and banning Christmas and new year festivities in public places.
Updated
Scotland's reports record 15,849 cases on Tuesday
Nicola Sturgeon has told MSPs that Scotland recorded a record 15,849 Covid cases on Tuesday, with around 80% of them believed to be the new highly-infectious Omicron variant.
As she began an emergency update to the Scottish parliament, the first minister said the positive cases comprised 29% of all tests carried out yesterday. The previous record, also attributed to Omicron, came on Sunday this week, when 11,030 cases were reported.
She said 679 people were in hospital, an increase in 80 on yesterday’s total, with three deaths reported of people confirmed to have had Covid. She said over the past week, the number of cases had risen by 47%.
She told MSPs:
We should also bear in mind that any transmission over recent days will not yet be fully evident in the reported figures. It is reasonable to assume therefore that we will continue to see steep increases in cases in the days and possibly weeks ahead.
Updated
Up to 90% of people in ICU with Covid are not boosted, says Johnson
Boris Johnson has urged people to get their booster vaccine as he said up to 90% of those in intensive care had not had their third Covid jabs.
On a visit to a vaccine centre in Milton Keynes, the UK prime minister said people should enjoy their new year celebrations while taking extra precautions such as ventilation and testing, and he urged people to take up the offer of a third dose.
“I’m sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted,” he said. “I’ve talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90% of people in intensive care.”
He added:
If you’re not vaccinated, you’re eight times more likely to get into hospital altogether. So it’s a great thing to do. It’s very, very important. Get boosted for yourself, and enjoy new year sensibly and cautiously.
The NHS has called on people to have a “jabby new year”, highlighting research from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) that found that at the start of last month about three out of five patients in London’s intensive care units (ICU) had not received a jab, a figure that it said was rising.
Johnson, who spent the Christmas break at Chequers with his family, suggested people should take tests before heading out for new year events, but the system has been dogged by shortages. Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said the situation was “a total shambles”.
He said:
People are trying to do the right thing, follow the government’s own advice and test themselves regularly, but are prevented by the Conservative government’s incompetence. They need to get a grip and provide enough tests so people can keep themselves and everyone else safe.
Read the full story here: Up to 90% of Covid patients in ICU are unboosted, says Boris Johnson
Updated
Three people have died in Ukraine after a candle lit in memory of a patient who died of Covid set fire to an intensive care unit, officials said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a hospital employee in Kosiv, a western town on the edge of the Carpathian mountains, lit a candle in memory of a recently deceased patient according to local tradition, the emergencies services said.
The candle was lit in the hospital’s intensive care unit where five oxygen concentrators had been operating, with equipment instantly catching fire.
“Ignorance of the elementary laws of physics and disregard for safety rules have led to irreparable losses,” the emergencies services said, describing the incident as a “terrible mistake”.
Three people - including two patients - were killed. Four other people were treated for severe burns.
Updated
Malta registered a record number of Covid infections on Wednesday as the United States added the island to its highest-risk category for travel and urged its citizens not to visit.
Health authorities said 1,337 new cases were detected, marking a record high for the second day in a row. It is the fifth time in eight days that the number of new daily infections hit a national record.
However, hospitalisations remained low at just 82.
The US Centers for Disease Control advised against travel to Malta late on Tuesday, placing the country at the level 4, “very high” category, where more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents are registered in the previous 28 days.
“Because of the current situation in Malta, even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk of getting and spreading Covid-19 variants,” the advisory said.
The increase in infections came despite a high rate of vaccination, with 95% of Malta residents having received two doses of a vaccine. The island is currently vaccinating children aged over five.
The health minister, Chris Fearne, also said on Tuesday that 200,000 out of a population of some 500,000 - had already had a booster dose.
Business lobby groups on Wednesday urged the government to reduce a two-week quarantine period for patients and those who come into contact with them, saying it was impacting the economy.
The Times of Malta newspaper reported that at least 20,000 people were currently in quarantine, four times the population of the capital, Valletta.
Updated
France accelerates introduction of vaccine passes
France’s government is forging ahead with efforts to increase pressure on unvaccinated people to get Covid jabs, as the Omicron variant fuels a record surge in infections, the Associated Press reports.
At a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday afternoon, the health minister will defend a government plan to allow only the fully vaccinated to enjoy continued access to places such as restaurants, cinemas, theatres, museums, and sports arenas.
The accelerated introduction of the so-called “vaccine pass” forms part of a government strategy to use vaccinations, rather than new lockdowns, to try to soften the impact of the fast-spreading omicron variant on already overburdened hospitals.
France reported nearly 180,000 new cases of Covid on Tuesday, a record, and is bracing for that number to keep increasing, with forecasts warning of more than 250,000 daily infections likely by January.
France has vaccinated more than 75% of its population and is rushing out booster shots, again to combat Omicron. But more than 4 million adults remain unvaccinated.
The government wants the vaccine pass to be in place by mid-January. If approved by parliament, its introduction will mean that unvaccinated people will no longer be able to use negative test results to access places where the vaccine pass is required.
Updated
The Belgian government was set to reverse course on Wednesday by allowing theatres to reopen after a court suspended their closure ordered a week ago to stem the surge in infections from the Omicron variant, Reuters reports.
The ruling from the Council of State did not cover cinemas, but the government says they too can reopen because they operate like theatres, with audiences seated and obliged to wear masks and only allowed in with a Covid pass to prove vaccination, a negative test or a recent recovery.
Georges Gilkinet, the mobility minister, said in a tweet that the government had agreed to both opening. A final decision will be taken by ministers and regional chiefs later on Wednesday. Other indoor venues, such as casinos and bowling alleys, will remain closed.
Nous avons besoin de culture!
— Gilki (@GeorgesGilkinet) December 28, 2021
Les théâtres et les cinémas pourront rester ouverts, dans le respect de règles de prévention.
Et nous allons - enfin - finaliser des règles + proportionnelles.
Parce que la santé mentale est essentielle.
Plus que jamais en ces temps de pandémie.
The prime minister, Alexander De Croo’s, government and regional chiefs decided last week to close cinemas and theatres and play sporting fixtures behind closed doors, while allowing bars, restaurants, gyms and other indoor sports venues to continue as before.
Belgium has seen infections fall since a late November peak, but Omicron cases are rapidly rising, and now make up well over half of all Covid cases.
The country has recorded 881 cases per 100,000 people over past two weeks, less than half November’s peak.
Updated
Walk-in PCR tests available again in UK
For readers in the UK, walk-in PCR tests appear to be available to book once again in most parts of the country on the government’s website here.
Updated
UK new year celebrations should be ‘cautious and sensible’, warns Boris Johnson – video
Updated
Daily coronavirus infections in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf region’s tourism and commercial hub, have risen above 2,000 for the first time since June, Reuters reports.
Authorities on Wednesday recorded 2,234 new infections in the past 24 hours, without breaking down the cases by variant.
The UAE, which is hosting the Dubai Expo 2020 world fair, announced its first known case of the Omicron variant earlier this month.
Daily cases had fallen below 100 in October but started to climb again in December as tourists flocked to Dubai in the holiday period.
The UAE, a federation of seven emirates, saw daily infections hit a record near 4,000 last January amid the peak tourism season as millions of visitors travelled to Dubai to escape lockdowns at home.
Abu Dhabi this week reimposed restrictions requiring those entering the emirate from within the UAE to show proof of vaccination and negative PCR results, as of Thursday. It also instituted remote learning for the first two weeks of the new school term.
Dubai, which is hosting the Expo until the end of March and whose economy relies heavily on the travel industry, has not yet reintroduced restrictions that were largely lifted in mid-2020.
Mask-wearing in public has remained mandatory in the UAE, which does not give a breakdown of Covid cases for each emirate.
Chinese officials have admitted they have faced challenges getting enough supplies to residents in locked-down Xi’an, after the city’s inhabitants took to social media to complain they didn’t have enough food and to call for help, AFP reports.
Thirteen million residents in northern Xi’an are in their seventh day of home confinement, and national health officials have called for measures to be strengthened further as China battles its worst virus surge in months.
Beijing has followed a strict “zero Covid” strategy involving tight border restrictions and targeted lockdowns since the virus first surfaced in late 2019.
But officials admitted at a press conference on Wednesday that “low staff attendance and difficulties in logistics and distribution” had led to trouble providing essential supplies as the country faces a resurgence in infections.
A day before, many residents asked on social media for help acquiring food and other essentials, with some saying their housing compounds would not let them out even though they were running out of food.
Xi’an official Chen Jianfeng told reporters that the local government has mobilised enterprises to step up community distribution, with cadres supervising wholesale markets and supermarkets.
“We’re trying our best to assist in the problem of staff turnout, and are issuing passes for vehicles that guarantee the supply of necessities,” he said.
But some were still struggling with supplies. “How do we live? What do we eat?” one user wrote on Weibo.
“Days ago, we could go out once to buy groceries but that’s been cancelled... all online grocery apps are either sold out or beyond the delivery range,” the user added.
The city stepped up confinement measures on Monday, with many residents told not to leave their homes except for virus testing - after previously being told they could go out once every three days to buy supplies.
Authorities had previously insisted that supplies remain stable as they maintain strict controls of movement into and out of Xi’an.
The city has logged over 960 domestic virus cases since 9 December.
Although the surge in China is low in comparison with caseloads in Europe and the United States, Chinese officials imposed what they have called the “strictest” possible curbs in Xi’an.
Authorities have also detained at least seven people in the city over attempting to skip quarantine, disrupting order and spreading rumours, local media said.
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Calls for a reduction in England’s Covid self-isolation period from seven days to five in order to ease NHS staff shortages have been dismissed by a government minister.
Chloe Smith, the minister for disabled people, health and work, said the previous period of 10 days had only recently been cut by three. That came after a senior NHS official warned that staff absences due to Covid over the winter months – exacerbating the underlying shortages – was likely to pose the NHS a bigger problem than the number of Omicron-related patients being hospitalised.
“There are no current plans in England to change that period,” Smith told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday. “Of course, we have actually only recently taken it down from 10 to seven, and we want to look at that – we want to make sure that that is working as we believe it ought to.
“We think the current period, therefore, is the right one, so we haven’t any plans to change that further.”
On Tuesday, US health authorities halved the recommended isolation time for people with asymptomatic Covid to five days. A leading immunologist suggested the UK could follow a similar path if rapid testing capacity and quality could support it.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University and the government’s life sciences adviser, said illness associated with Omicron was proving less severe than with previous variants.
“My view is that lateral flow tests are quite a good way of marking who is infectious and who isn’t and, as you know, we’ve dropped from 10 days to seven days if you have sequential lateral flow tests. That is a much better way to measure and quantitate whether we are allowing people to go back into the community who are infectious,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday.
Asked if he thought that should lead to a further cut to the self-isolation period in England, he said: “If it was supported by lateral flow data, yes.”
Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, told Today that a decrease in the self-isolation period would help ease the staffing crisis. But he acknowledged that ministers needed to carefully balance that against the risk of increasing transmission.
More here: Minister rejects calls to reduce self-isolation to five days in England
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Scottish revellers planning to travel to English cities for Hogmanay celebrations have been urged to stay at home, to avoid spreading the Omicron variant.
John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister, said travelling to England to bypass the closure of all nightclubs in Scotland would be the “wrong course of action” and went against the spirit of Scottish policy.
“People are free to take those decisions, but I would discourage them from doing so,” Swinney said on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday. “I think it is the wrong course of action for people to take because we have a serious situation we have got to manage and we encourage everybody to play their part in addressing that.”
Swinney, the Scottish government’s Covid response minister, said the rate of spread of Omicron was “alarming” and rising far faster than any previous variant. Earlier this week, Scotland reported its highest ever number of daily cases reported on Sunday, at 11,030.
The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon is due to update the Scottish parliament later on Wednesday and may unveil further restrictions. She said the country should be braced for even more cases in the near future.
The Scottish government ordered all nightclubs to close for at least three weeks from 27 December in an effort to suppress the latest waves. At the same time, outdoor events were limited to 500 people.
The country’s main open-air Hogmanay and New Year’s Day events, including the street party and concerts organised in Edinburgh, have been cancelled. With Omicron infections surging, Scottish ministers have urged people to limit any celebrations to a maximum of three family groups.
Swinney said he was asking for voluntary restraint, but his request echoes restrictions on travel over the Scotland-England border in July 2020 after a significant outbreak in the Dumfries area, with linked cases in Carlisle. That led to Sturgeon ordering people not to travel further than five miles from home.
Swinney said:
People have got to make their own choices, they have got to follow the advice we put in place. We have the power in Scotland to put in place certain restrictions and we have done those on what we consider to be a proportionate and appropriate basis.
Read the full story here: Scottish revellers urged not to travel to England for New Year’s Eve
A lack of lateral flow tests (LFTs) in UK pharmacies is a “huge” problem as people have been requesting them every five minutes over the Christmas period, providers have warned.
Leyla Hannbeck, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, said a lack of LFT kits over Christmas and new year had put those “doing the responsible thing” in an impossible situation.
“What our members are telling us is that demand for the lateral flow tests is very high at the moment due to the current guidelines around self-isolation. Pharmacies are reporting that every five minutes, approximately, somebody comes into the pharmacy asking for a test,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
She went on:
But, unfortunately, because of the issues around supply being patchy and inconsistent, it means that those who come for the test don’t always get it, which is very stressful; not just for the pharmacy team, but for the patient.
The scale of the problem is huge because the demand is high, because of the current guidelines.
People are doing the responsible thing by wanting to be tested. And we are in the Christmas area of time and the new year is just around the corner and people want to be with family and friends.
Current rules in England allow anyone who has tested positive to cut their self-isolation from 10 days to seven if they have negative LFTs on days six and seven. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the self-isolation period for those who test positive remains 10 days.
The UK Health Security Agency has said nearly 900,000 test kits are being provided each day, double the supply before 18 December.
The government’s policy has driven demand for LFTs in England, adding to the seasonal demand throughout the UK among those wanting to see family and friends over Christmas, and the underlying testing requirements.
Read the full report here: Lack of lateral flow tests is ‘huge’ problem, UK pharmacies warn
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US Covid cases hit record high of 258,312
The average number of daily Covid cases in the US has hit a record high of 258,312 over the past seven days, a Reuters tally showed, as officials weigh the impact of the more transmissible Omicron variant.
The previous peak for the seven-day moving average was a figure of 250,141 recorded on 8 January of this year.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Rochelle Walensky, in a round of television interviews, said she was watching the nation’s case load and its potential impact on health care providers.
Meanwhile, the White House Covid-19 Response Team is scheduled to hold a news conference at 11am.
While there was some data from other countries that showed less disease with Omicron, it was too early to say what the impact might be across the United States, particularly given its uneven vaccination rates, Walensky told MSNBC.
“We may have many, many more cases and so we may still very well see a lot of severe disease in the hospitals,” she said.
“What I am focused on now is making sure that we can get through this Omicron surge, that we do so with minimal amount of hospitalisation and severe disease,” she added, pointing to vaccines and booster shots as top tools to curb infections.
“We are seeing and expecting even more cases of this Omicron variant,” even if many are mild, she said separately on CNN.
States showing the highest daily infection numbers on Tuesday included New York, which reported as many as 40,780 cases, and California, which reported over 30,000. Texas reported more than 17,000 cases and Ohio over 15,000.
The Omicron variant was estimated to make up 58.6% of the coronavirus variants circulating in the US as of 25 December, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday.
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The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which represents all NHS community pharmacies in England, says deliveries of lateral flow device test kits to pharmacies have restarted today after four days of no deliveries.
Alastair Buxton, director of NHS Services at the PSNC, said:
The wholesaler which supplies the LFD test kits to pharmacies, on behalf of the UK Health Security Agency, made its last deliveries on Friday afternoon, following which all deliveries were paused until this morning, when they fully re-opened, as all pharmacies also returned to their normal opening hours.
Many pharmacies were open over the four-day Christmas break, but as deliveries of medicines and LFD kits would not be made during that period, it is likely that their supply of test kits will once again have been exhausted.
More stock of test kits will have been delivered to pharmacies this morning and they will be able to order more for delivery tomorrow and on Friday.
Good morning from New Orleans. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
British prime minister Boris Johnson said the vaccination campaign had allowed England to maintain its current level of coronavirus controls.
He said:
The Omicron variant continues to cause real problems. You are seeing cases rising in hospitals. But it is obviously milder than the Delta variant and we are able to proceed in the way that we are.
That was due to the “huge proportion of the British public” which had been vaccinated.
“That is allowing us to go ahead with New Year in the cautious way that we are.”
Johnson said people should enjoy the New Year in a “cautious and sensible way”.
He said:
I cannot stress too much” how important it is to get a booster jab against Covid-19 to be able to enjoy the New Year “sensibly and cautiously”
The prime minister said there were 2.4 million eligible double-jabbed people who were yet to take up the offer of a booster.
He told reporters:
I’m sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted.
I’ve talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90% of people in intensive care, who are not boosted. If you’re not vaccinated, you’re eight times more likely to get into hospital altogether.
So it’s a great thing to do. It’s very, very important. Get boosted for yourself, and enjoy New Year sensibly and cautiously.
Asked about reports of people travelling across the border from Wales and Scotland into England to celebrate, he told reporters:
I think everybody should enjoy New Year but in a cautious and sensible way. Take a test, ventilation, think about others – but above all, get a booster.
Updated
Boris Johnson said the UK government had looked at the “balance of the risks” on Covid policy.
Asked why England had acted differently to the devolved nations, Johnson told reporters:
I think that we’ve looked at the balance of the risks together, we generally concert our strategies together, we see the data showing that, yes, the cases are rising and, yes, hospitalisations are rising, but what is making a huge difference is the level of booster resistance or level of vaccine-induced resistance in the population.
What we need to do now is really finish off that work. I’ve no doubt at all that by 1 January, by the new year, every adult in the country will have been offered the slot to get a booster. They’ll be given a slot to get one.
The question is, are we getting people coming forward to take advantage of those slots? And that’s what needs to happen.
Johnson urged people to think about the risk they are running with their own health if they fail to get a booster jab.
He told reporters:
We’re looking at the data and what we’re seeing is that we’ve got cases certainly going up, we’ve got a lot of cases of Omicron.
But, on the other hand, we can see the data about the relative mildness of Omicron. What we can also see is the very, very clear effect of getting those jabs, getting those boosters in particular – and that’s what’s making a huge difference.
According to some of the surveys I’ve seen, 90% of the patients in ICU are people who are not boosted. So, think about that. Think about the risk you’re running with your own health if you fail to get a booster.
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Walk-in PCR tests unavailable in England and Northern Ireland
There are no walk-in PCR tests available to book anywhere in England or Northern Ireland.
Appointments had been unavailable in every region of the country, although there were some in Scotland and Wales.
The NHS website also said no home tests were available either for the general public or for essential workers.
On Monday, the UKHSA said the problem was due to “high demand” and the problem only lasted for a few hours before people could book appointments again.
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A fear of catching Covid-19 is not a protected belief under the Equality Act, a judge has ruled, after a woman claimed she was discriminated against by her employer when she refused to go into work during the pandemic.
A tribunal held in Manchester this month heard that the claimant refused to return to her workplace in July 2020 because she had a “genuine fear” of contracting coronavirus and passing it on to her partner, who was at high risk of becoming seriously unwell.
Neither the woman nor her employer were named in the judgment.
In a statement given to the tribunal, the worker said her employer had refused to pay her and she had suffered financial detriment as a result.
She said:
I claim this was discrimination on the grounds of this belief in regard to coronavirus and the danger from it to public health. This was at the time of the start of the second wave of Covid-19 and the huge increase in cases of the virus throughout the country.
Asked what her belief was, she told the tribunal: “A fear of catching Covid-19 and a need to protect myself and others.”
In his ruling, the employment judge Mark Leach said he accepted that the woman had a genuine fear, but he did not believe it met the criteria for a “philosophical belief” that would be protected under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010.
Read the full story here:
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The World Health Organization says the number of Covid-19 cases recorded worldwide increased by 11% last week compared with the previous week, with the biggest increase in the Americas. The gain followed a gradual increase since October.
The UN health agency said in its weekly epidemiological report released late Tuesday that there were nearly 4.99 million newly reported cases around the world from Dec. 20-26, AP reports.
Europe accounted for more than half the total, with 2.84 million, though that amounted to only a 3% increase over the previous week. It also had the highest infection rate of any region, with 304.6 new cases per 100,000 residents.
WHO said that new cases in the Americas were up 39% to nearly 1.48 million, and the region had the second-highest infection rate with 144.4 new cases per 100,000 residents.
The US alone had more than 1.18 million cases, a 34% increase. Reported new cases in Africa were up 7% to nearly 275,000.
The agency said that “the overall risk related to the new variant omicron remains very high.” It cited “consistent evidence” that it has a growth advantage over the delta variant, which remains dominant in parts of the world.
It noted that a decline in case incidence has been seen in South Africa, and that early data from that country, the UK and Denmark suggest a reduced risk of hospitalisation with omicron. But it said that more data is needed “to understand the clinical markers of severity including the use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation and death, and how severity may be impacted by vaccination and/or prior infection”.
WHO said that the number of newly reported deaths worldwide last week was down 4% to 44,680.
Updated
Any decision to cut the Covid self-isolation period to five days in the UK “would have to be based on very clear evidence” that it will not drive a rise in infections, an NHS leader has said.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, acknowledged staff absence “is a huge issue for the NHS right now” but said the case for amending isolation rules further needs to be made clear.
At present, people who receive negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – no longer have to stay indoors for a full 10 days.
Calls are growing on the government to cut this further after the US slashed its self-isolation period to five days if people are not showing symptoms.
The US Centres for Disease Control said most transmission of the virus happens in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Taylor suggested he had not seen a process where the evidence on cutting isolation could be assessed.
He said:
The government, with scientific advice, has to make an assessment of the balance of risk here, but it’s important to recognise that there are risks to anything that we do, and if we were to reduce to five days that would have to be based on very clear evidence that is not going to increase the rate of infection.
He pointed to Omicron being a new variant and the fact that Covid hospital admissions are still rising.
He said:
The news about the acuity of those patients is good. It seems as though they are suffering less bad symptoms, and indeed many people who’ve got Covid are not coming to hospital because of Covid and it’s then been subsequently found out – that’s good.
It’s also important to recognise the hospitals are full of people who are very vulnerable and, for those people, even a relatively mild form of the virus can have serious consequences, so whilst anyone in the NHS would be delighted if people were able to come back to work earlier, if they are safe, we need to be absolutely sure that that is the case.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth also said the government should avoid “rushing into” cutting Covid isolation times.
Asked about reducing it to five days, he told Sky News:
I think we should always follow the advice of our leading scientists, medical scientists like Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, and I don’t think they’ve given an opinion on this.
Let’s see what they say on this before rushing into this.
Updated
Sajid Javid has criticised the Welsh government for banning parkrun as a measure to control the spread of Covid.
The health secretary tweeted: “I can’t see how restricting outdoor exercise in this way is justified or proportionate.”
Parkrun has helped so many people improve their health across the UK. I can’t see how restricting outdoor exercise in this way is justified or proportionate. https://t.co/GUyryHo91N
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) December 28, 2021
Since 26 December, all outdoor gatherings of 50 or more adults have been prohibited in Wales. The rule has put a temporary stop to Welsh parkruns – free, weekly 5km runs that take place across the world every Saturday at 9am.
Junior parkruns, which are for children aged four to 14, can continue.
“We know that some Welsh parkrun events regularly have fewer than 50 people attending, however it would take a very small influx (at what is typically a very busy time of year) for them to exceed the limit,” parkrun said in a statement.
“We understand that this news will be incredibly disappointing to many Welsh parkrunners, and we’d like to reassure you all that we will do everything we can to bring parkrun events back across Wales as soon as these restrictions are lifted.”
The former communities secretary Robert Jenrick called the Welsh decision “madness”.
“Having worked with councils to restart parkrun in England this summer, it would be madness to stop it again in Wales or elsewhere,” he tweeted.
Having worked with councils to restart Parkrun in England this summer, it would be madness to stop it again in Wales or elsewhere.
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) December 28, 2021
It’s outdoors, and quite obviously brings huge health benefits. https://t.co/WWfI9cjjb7
Read more here:
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Plaid Cymru has backed Welsh Conservatives’ calls for the Labour-led Welsh government to publish the advice from its scientific advisers on which it has based its post Christmas restrictions.
The government has been criticised by many in the hospitality and sporting industries for rules that severely limit how people can celebrate the new year and watch and take part in sporting events.
Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, joined the attacks after Parkrun cancelled its free, 5km runs in Wales because of a rule banning more than 50 people gathering together.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, the Plaid leader, Adam Price, said he supported the Welsh administration’s cautious approach but said: “I agree we should be seeing more up to date information on the advice. We need to see the advice.”
Plaid and the Tories have been briefed on the advice but have not actually seen it.
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Thai health authorities warned on Wednesday that residents should brace themselves for a potential jump in coronavirus cases after classifying the country’s first cluster of the Omicron variant as a super-spreader incident.
The Omicron cluster identified in the northeastern province of Kalasin on Christmas eve has been linked to a couple who had travelled from Belgium and visited bars, concerts and markets, Reuters reports.
The ensuing cluster had infected hundreds, with cases spreading to 11 other provinces, said senior health official Opas Karnkawinpong, citing how one of the bars linked to the cluster had been packed and did not have good ventilation.
“During the New Year, if you visit any place and it does not look safe, just don’t go,” Opas told a briefing.
Up to now, Thailand has reported 740 cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, including 251 in people who had come into contact with foreign arrivals, said Opas.
After coronavirus infections peaked in August above 20,000, daily case numbers have fallen to around 2,500 in the past week.
But the health ministry’s planning scenario indicated that by March daily infections could hit 30,000, with more than 160 deaths, without a faster rollout of measures like vaccinations and testing, as well as greater social distancing.
If restrictions were tightened, daily cases could peak at 14,000 in February, with fewer than 60 daily deaths, the scenario showed.
In the first two weeks of January, government employees have been advised they can work from home, coronavirus taskforce spokesman Taweesin Wisanuyothin told a separate briefing, where he urged the private sector to follow suit.
Wales’ leading doctor, Chris Jones, has warned that a “huge surge” of Covid cases is expected in January because of mixing over the festive period.
A record seven-day Covid rate – 1,004 per 100,000 people – has been reported by Public Health Wales.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales on Wednesday, Jones, the country’s deputy chief medical officer, said he was very worried at the figures:
We are really concerned. We are at the beginning of a fourth wave of the pandemic with a very transmissible version of the virus. We are still not out of the third wave, the Delta wave. Our hospitals are already full.
Omicron has been increasing in Wales with a doubling time of less than three days. During the last two to three weeks it has gradually replaced Delta and is now the dominant variant. Because of that I expect we will see a further acceleration.
We are in a better position than we were a year ago due to the booster campaign. But the difficulty we have got is the sheer number of cases we anticipate in January where we have the new year weekend coming up with all the social mixing. We don’t yet know the effect of mixing over Christmas as well as new year. If that generates a huge surge in cases, which I fear we may see, then there will be a lot of people who will be very ill and end up in hospital.
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People in the UK should “persevere” in their efforts to secure Covid tests amid reports of patchy supply, the work and pensions minister Chloe Smith said.
She told BBC Breakfast:
Of course, what we’re seeing is increased demand for testing, which is good and sensible because that’s part of people having been cautious, I think, and being sensible around Christmas and around New Year. So, we’re seeing spikes of demand.
What we’ve done in response to that then is double the delivery capacity – so we’ve taken action to make sure that people can get testing kits delivered to them at home. An additional method to that, of course, is going to a pharmacy.
I quite understand that people will be wanting to make sure that the testing kits are there - that follows on from people having been doing the right thing in being cautious and in wanting to be tested, perhaps before big events or family gatherings.
What I would say is to please persevere with either making use of your friendly local pharmacy or using the delivery method on the gov.uk website.
Even whilst there have been periods of great demand on that, and every so often we’ve had to replenish the means behind the scenes there, that is happening and the delivery is occurring.
Updated
People in Australia testing positive to Covid using rapid antigen tests are being turned away from, or are giving up on, getting a PCR test, as the New South Wales government warns that the actual number of Covid cases could be much higher than the 11,201 reported on Wednesday.
Wait times for testing clinics have ballooned across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.
Guardian Australia has spoken to people who have developed Covid symptoms after being in contact with a confirmed positive case, or who have a positive rapid antigen test, who have been trying for several days to get a PCR test but have been turned away.
Others were tested before Christmas but are still waiting on their result.
Long queues result in wait times of several hours. Some people had been turned away half an hour after a testing site opened because it was over capacity. At others people camped out overnight to ensure they were at the top of the queue.
Read the full story here:
Nightclubs in France will remain closed for a further three weeks, it has been announced, after nearly 180,000 new Covid cases smashed the record for daily cases since the pandemic began.
Approximately 1,600 clubs were ordered shut on 6 December for four weeks as officials hoped to avoid a wave of infections prompted by holiday travel and festivities, fuelled by the highly infectious Omicron variant.
But on Tuesday, France’s health agency said 179,807 Covid cases had been reported over the previous 24 hours, exceeding the previous record of 100,000 reported on Saturday, AFP reports.
Tourism minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne told France Inter radio that the decision to extend nightclubs closures was part of a series of new measures announced by the government this week in a bid to halt the Omicron spread.
“I can imagine the distress for these employees and entrepreneurs,” he said. Financial aid would be provided for the huge loss of holiday business, he added.
Interior minister Gerald Darmanin this week encouraged local officials to limit public New Year’s Eve gatherings, in particular by requiring face masks outdoors and stepping up police patrols to enforce a ban on public alcohol consumption for the night.
Parliament will start debating on Wednesday a new law to require a “vaccine pass” for entering restaurants, cinemas, museums and other public venues in a bid to spur further Covid jabs.
France already has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, at 90% of the eligible population.
Previously, the so-called “health pass” could also be obtained by providing a recent negative Covid test in the absence of vaccination.
Updated
The UK’s shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the government should avoid “rushing into” cutting Covid isolation times.
Asked about calls for the isolation period to be reduced to five days, he told Sky News:
I think we should always follow the advice of our leading scientists, medical scientists like Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, and I don’t think they’ve given an opinion on this.
He added: “Let’s see what they say on this before rushing into this.”
Ashworth said politicians “should always be careful to listen to scientific experts”.
Updated
The current daily supply of almost 900,000 lateral flow tests in the UK is not enough to meet demand, the chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, Leyla Hannbeck, has said.
She urged the government to improve the consistency of deliveries.
She told the BBC’s Today programme:
It just simply isn’t enough to meet the demand and it’s patchy. Some days you get one box delivered and other days none. It isn’t enough for the pharmacies to deliver to the patients.
We want to make sure that the message is clear to the government that the supply needs to be consistent. People can get it easily from pharmacies if the supply is consistent.
The UK Health Security Agency has said there are now nearly 900,000 test kits being supplied per day – which is double the delivery capacity seen before 18 December.
Updated
Mistakes in a Sydney laboratory that led to nearly 1,000 people getting incorrect Covid test results will cause positive cases to ripple through the community, but epidemiologists say Australia’s infection rate is now so high it might not make a significant difference.
Over the Christmas period, St Vincent’s hospital told 886 people their result was negative when in fact they were positive.
The hospital’s pathology department, SydPath, has apologised for the “specific human error” that led to the wrong results being delivered.
Initially 400 people were sent text messages saying they had a negative result, but were later told they were positive. A further 950 people were told they were negative when the results were not yet known, with 486 of them later told they were positive.
“Once again, we are sincerely sorry for this error and acknowledge the significant impact it has had on those involved,” SydPath said in a statement, adding that it had procedures in place to ensure it would not happen again.
Read the full story here:
Updated
UK pharmacies issue warning about low supplies of lateral flow tests
People in the UK are turning up to pharmacies for lateral flow tests approximately every five minutes and often not being able to get one due to low supplies, according to the chief executive of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies.
Leyla Hannbeck told the BBC’s Today programme:
What our members are telling us is that demand for the lateral flow tests is very high at the moment due to the current guidelines around self-isolation.
Pharmacies are reporting that every five minutes, approximately, somebody comes into the pharmacy asking for a test.
But, unfortunately, because of the issues around supply being patchy and inconsistent, it means that those who come for the test don’t always get it, which is very stressful not just for the pharmacy team but for the patient.
The scale of the problem is huge because the demand is high, because of the current guidelines.
She said that people are doing the responsible thing by wanting to be tested.
She added:
We are in the Christmas area of time, and the New Year is just around the corner and people want to be with family and friends.
Updated
A run on rapid antigen tests in chemists and supermarkets across Australia has left governments scrambling for supplies as they seek to change the way people get tested for Covid.
Rapid antigen tests (RATs) have been available in the US, Europe and parts of Asia since March this year, but the Australian testing regime has relied on the more expensive PCR tests as its program’s cornerstone.
Now, as case numbers surge and the system comes under increasing strain, state and federal governments have sought to promote RATs as an intermediate step before people join a queue to be tested.
In response, RATs have been flying off shelves in supermarkets and pharmacies, raising concerns about a lack of supply.
(CW: dead animal)
— Tim (@TimothyJ_23) December 29, 2021
Australians looking for the last Rapid Antigen Test, circa 2021 pic.twitter.com/oagYnK9u4C
Jini Maxwell, a games journalist from Melbourne, said that while they had been able to easily find tests a week and a half ago, they had struggled to find any since Christmas “anywhere”.
“There are two chemists near me that I’ve been checking every day that have been sold out for the past three or four days,” they said.
Read more here:
Updated
Poland is reporting 794 Covid-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest daily number in the fourth wave of pandemic.
Deputy minister of health Waldemar Kraska made the announcement on broadcaster Polsat News on Wednesday morning, adding that 600 people were not vaccinated at the time of their deaths.
Kraska told the outlet:
They could go on living if they had the vaccine. The average age of the remaining deceased is over 75; They were burdened with many diseases: obesity, hypertension, heart diseases or cancer.”
The country also reported another 15,571 new daily coronavirus cases.
Poland has been dealing with persistently high daily case numbers in a fourth wave that has forced authorities to tighten restrictions.
Updated
Thailand is reporting 2,575 new confirmed coronavirus cases: 116 from abroad, and 2,459 from local transmission.
A further 17 deaths were also reported, according to recent figures published by the ministry of health.
As the UK wakes up for what will be one of the final days of 2021 here is a quick visual snapshot of how the coronavirus is unfolding across Britain.
New Zealand reports first community exposure to Omicron
New Zealand has reported its first community exposure to the Omicron variant from a person arriving from the United Kingdom earlier this month.
The person, who tested positive for the Omicron variant of Covid-19, had briefly been active in the community in Auckland.
The recent international arrival reportedly returned a positive result on day nine of their self-isolation period but had previously returned three negative tests for Covid-19 while completing seven days of managed isolation at a facility in Auckland, the ministry of health said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The case arrived on a flight from the United Kingdom via Doha on 16 December and is fully vaccinated with a mRNA vaccine. No other Covid-19 infections have been identified from the individual’s flight,” the statement read.
Read the full story here.
Summary
Good morning/evening/afternoon wherever you may be in the world.
Countries across Europe have reported a record high number of infections as authorities scramble to stem the surge while the US also reported its single highest number of daily cases on Tuesday.
In the latest reporting period, the UK saw a record 129,471 new Covid cases, up from 98,515 reported on Monday. France reported 179,807 new cases, by far the highest number since the start of the pandemic. Greece also reported a new daily record of 21,657 Covid cases, more than double the number the day before. Denmark and Iceland similarly broke pandemic records with Denmark recording the world’s highest infection rate at 1,612 cases per 100,000 people.
If you’ve just tuned in to our live Covid blog here is a quick rundown of the latest developments:
- New Zealand reports its first community exposure to the Omicron variant in a person arriving from the UK who had been active in the community in Auckland. The person reportedly arrived in New Zealand from the United Kingdom on 16 December and tested positive on 27 December, the health ministry said in a statement.
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Japan will consider bringing forward Covid-19 vaccine booster shots amid concern over the spread of the Omicron variant.
- The Chinese city of Xi’an has entered its seventh day of lockdown on Wednesday, with many of the 13 million residents unable to leave their homes and dependent on deliveries of necessities.
- The US reported its single highest number of daily cases on Tuesday. The 512,553 daily new cases was by far the single highest number of cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released by the Johns Hopkins University. The previous record was 294,015 set on 8 January 2021.
- California became the first state to record more than 5 million known coronavirus infections.
- Hundreds more US flights have been cancelled in the fifth day of travel chaos. US airlines Delta Air Lines and Alaska Air Group cancelled hundreds of flights on Tuesday due to adverse weather conditions and rising cases of the Omicron variant.
- The World Health Organization has warned that the Omicron coronavirus variant could lead to overwhelmed healthcare systems even though early studies suggest it sparks milder disease.
Updated
Japan will consider bringing forward Covid-19 vaccine booster shots amid concern over the spread of the Omicron variant.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida told Kyodo News in an interview on Tuesday:
Besides 31 million health care workers and elderly people, we’d like to consider bringing (the schedule for third shots) forward as much as possible.”
New Zealand says it has recorded its first community exposures from a border-related Omicron case, Reuters reports.
We will have more on this story as it develops.
India has recorded another 9,195 confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, according to recently released data from its health ministry.
A further 302 deaths were also recorded, bring the total death toll to 480,592.
China's Xi'an marks first week of lockdown
The Chinese city of Xi’an has entered its seventh day of lockdown on Wednesday, with many of the 13 million residents unable to leave their homes and dependent on deliveries of necessities.
Xian reported 151 domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms for Tuesday, or nearly all of the 152 cases nationwide, bringing the total number of local Xian cases to nearly 1,000 during the 9-28 December period. No cases of the Omicron variant have been announced in the city.
While the Xian outbreak is small compared with outbreaks in many other places around the world, officials imposed tough curbs on travel within and leaving the city from 23 December, in line with Beijing’s drive to immediately contain outbreaks as they appear.
Since Monday, the Xian government has stopped granting permission to people seeking to leave their homes to buy essentials, as epidemic containment measures rose a notch.
It said in-person shopping could be resumed for people in less risky areas once mass testing returned negative results, but it did not say exactly when stay-at-home order would be lifted.
Updated
Germany is reporting another 40,043 new daily coronavirus cases and 414 deaths, according to recently released data from the Robert Koch Institute.
The new figures bring the nationwide tally to 7,066,412 confirmed coronavirus cases and 111,219 deaths.
US reports single highest number of daily cases
The US recorded 512,553 daily new cases on Tuesday – by far the single highest number of cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released by the Johns Hopkins University.
The previous record was 294,015 set on 8 January 2021.
The figure takes the seven-day average of US cases to 267,000, according to a New York Times database. This eclipses the previous 7-day average daily high of 248,209 on 12 January.
However, mitigating factors such as the delay in reporting over the Christmas weekend are important to consider. Many testing centres were likely closed over the holiday, meaning some test results would have been likely rolled over to Monday and today.
Updated
Infectious disease epidemiologist and World Health Organization Covid-19 Technical Lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, has cautioned against becoming “numb” to rising case numbers.
Do not become numb to these numbers. Each one is a person, a family, a friend, a loved one… Do not become complacent.
Even if Omicron is less severe. Many places are seeing record numbers of cases and hospitalisation rates… We can do more. We need to end this pandemic.”
Do not become numb to these numbers. Each one is a person, a family, a friend, a loved one…
— Maria Van Kerkhove (@mvankerkhove) December 28, 2021
Do not become complacent. “Even if” Omicron is less severe. Many places are seeing record numbers of cases and hospitalisation rates…
We can do more. We need to end this pandemic.
South Korea has just released its daily Covid report.
The Asian nation recorded another 5,409 confirmed coronavirus cases and 36 deaths, according to data released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
California first US state to record more than 5m infections
California became the first state to record more than 5 million known coronavirus infections, according to the state department of public health and data from Johns Hopkins University.
The state with 40 million residents was poised for a surge in new infections amid holiday parties and family gatherings forced indoors by a series of winter storms.
California’s caseload is ahead of other large states but can attributed to its larger population. In the last week the state averaged 16.4 new cases per 100,000 people, less than a third of the national rate.
Coronavirus related hospitalisations have been rising slowly in California, up about 12% in the last 7 days to 4,401. That’s less than half as many as during the late summer peak and one-fifth of a year ago, before vaccines were widely available.
California has recorded more than 75,500 deaths related to Covid-19 with 27,555 in Los Angeles alone.
WHO warns Omicron could overwhelm health systems
The World Health Organization has warned that the Omicron coronavirus variant could lead to overwhelmed healthcare systems even though early studies suggest it sparks milder disease.
The WHO warned against complacency even though preliminary findings suggest that Omicron could lead to milder disease.
WHO Europe’s Covid incident manager, Catherine Smallwood, warned:
A rapid growth of Omicron … even if combined with a slightly milder disease, will still result in large numbers of hospitalisations, particularly amongst unvaccinated groups, and cause widespread disruption to health systems and other critical services.”
However, the WHO highlighted the 29% decrease in the incidence of cases observed in South Africa - the country which first reported the variant to the WHO on 24 November.
It said early data from Britain, South Africa and Denmark - which currently has the world’s highest rate of infection per person - suggested there was a reduced risk of hospitalisation for Omicron compared to Delta.
However, further data was needed to understand Omicron’s severity in terms of clinical markers, including the use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation and death. More data was also required on how the severity might be being impacted by previous Covid infection, or vaccination.
Read the full story here.
Hundreds more US flights cancelled in fifth day of travel chaos
US airlines Delta Air Lines and Alaska Air Group cancelled hundreds of flights on Tuesday due to adverse weather conditions and rising cases of the Omicron variant.
Delta said it expected to cancel more than 250 of 4,133 scheduled flights on Tuesday, while Alaska Air cancelled 150 flights to and from Seattle and warned of more cancellations and delays throughout the day, Reuters reports.
Total cancellations as of 2pm ET within, into, or out of the United States stood at 1,034, with 2,694 flights delayed, marking a fifth day of flight cancellations.
Delta said it was working to reroute and substitute some planes.
Thousands of flights were grounded over the Christmas holiday weekend as airlines struggled with staff shortages from Covid-19 infections and bad weather in parts of the country.
Updated
Hello and welcome back to our live Covid blog. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest coronavirus developments as they happen.
In two days time, on 31 December, it will be two years to the day since health authorities in Wuhan reported an unknown pneumonia outbreak to World Health Organization (WHO) colleagues in Beijing.
It is also just over one month since the first case of Omicron was announced by South Africa.
Countries across Europe have reported a record high number of infections as authorities scramble to stem the surge. On Tuesday, the UK saw a record 129,471 new Covid cases, up from 98,515 reported yesterday. France reported 179,807 new cases, by far the highest number since the start of the pandemic. Greece also reported a new daily record of 21,657 Covid cases, more than double the number the day before. Denmark and Iceland similarly broke pandemic records with Denmark recording the world’s highest infection rate at 1,612 cases per 100,000 people.
Meanwhile South Africa, officially the most affected country in Africa, has recalled rules that no longer required people without symptoms of Covid-19 to isolate or test if they have been in contact with a positive case, the government announced on Tuesday.
If you have any stories, tips or feedback please get in touch via email at samantha.lock@theguardian.com or Twitter @Samantha__Lock. I would love to hear from you.
Here is a quick snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across the world:
Europe:
- Omicron “appears to be less severe and many people spend a relatively short time in hospital,” Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University and leading immunologist has said.
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson said he will not introduce further Covid restrictions in England before 2022 giving mass events the go-ahead and leaving nightclubs open for New Year’s Eve. Scientists say it is “the greatest divergence between scientific advice and legislation” seen since the start of the pandemic.
- The UK recorded 129,471 new Covid cases on Tuesday, the highest recorded total ever, and up from 98,515 reported yesterday.
- More than 500 children admitted to hospital with Covid in England in week up to Boxing Day.
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France has reduced the waiting time for a third booster shot to three months from four. From Monday, all indoor gatherings will be limited to 2,000 people, and to 5,000 people for outdoor events. Consumption of drinks and food will be banned in long-distance transport and home working will become mandatory for at least three days per week where possible.
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France reported 179,807 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, by far the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
- Denmark and Iceland reported record daily Covid cases on Monday. Denmark now has the world’s highest infection rate, with 1,612 cases per 100,000 people.
- Greece will impose further restrictions from January 3 including the closure of bars and restaurants at midnight, no standing customers at entertainment venues and a maximum limit of six people per table.
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Greece reported a new daily record of 21,657 Covid cases on Tuesday, more than double the number the day before.
- Germany toughens Covid restrictions with indoor and outdoor gatherings restricted in size and leisure facilities closing in several states.
Asia:
- Daily cases in Australia exceeded 10,000 for the second consecutive day, with a total of 11,264 new Covid cases across the country – the highest figure since the beginning of the pandemic.
- In Yan’an, China, hundreds of thousands more people were ordered to stay at home, joining millions under strict lockdown in Xi’an. China’s coronavirus cases rose for a fourth consecutive day on Monday.
- Delhi, India, announces new Covid restrictions. Schools, colleges and educational institutions will close as well as sports complexes, cinemas, conference halls, stadiums and swimming pools. Offices will operate at 50% capacity, as will restaurants with a 10pm curfew.
- Japanese officials have detected a five-person cluster of Omicron cases in the city of Osaka.
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Hong Kong will tighten quarantine rules for air cargo crew.
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Malaysia will cut the booster vaccine waiting time to three months and has banned mass celebrations for New Year’s Eve with negative Covid tests required for private gatherings.
- India has approved Merck’s Covid-19 pill and two more vaccines for emergency use.
United States:
- Omicron accounts for 58.6% of all Covid cases in the US, new CDC data shows. Delta accounts for 41.1% of Covid cases for the week ending 25 December.
- The US recorded 512,553 daily new cases on Tuesday – by far the single highest number of cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.
- Dr Anthony Fauci said a vaccine mandate should be considered for all passengers in the US.
- The US Centre for Disease Control has reduced the recommended isolation time for people recording a positive test from 10 days to five.
- Joe Biden said the dramatic surge in US Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant “should be a source of concern but it should not be a source of panic”.
