Here are the latest developments from across the world surrounding the coronavirus crisis:
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson is fighting for his political future after he belatedly apologised for attending a party during the coronavirus lockdown.
- Novak Djokovic’s deportation decision looms as Australian immigration minister Alex Hawke must decide whether to revoke his visa for a second time and throw him out of the country.
- France eases ban on UK allowing vaccinated people from Britain to visit from Friday providing they have a negative test, after the French authorities say they will ease curbs introduced last month due to the Omicron Covid variant.
- US president Joe Biden says the government will double its purchase of Covid-19 tests to one billion.
- Finland’s health authorities cut the recommended quarantine period for Covid-19 patients by up to half, as infections hit record levels.
- French teachers went on strike, with the biggest teachers’ union saying half of primary schools were closed as staff demand clarity from the government on coronavirus measures.
- Hungary says it will offer a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose to citizens.
- Spain agrees to cap the cost of Covid self-testing antigen kits at just under three euros and will make a fourth vaccine dose available to vulnerable citizens, including cancer patients.
- Greece’s government announces a 100-euro ($114) monthly fine on persons aged over 60 who refuse the anti-Covid vaccine.
- Poorer countries refused to take around 100m donated Covid-19 vaccine doses in December alone, chiefly due to their short shelf life, the United Nations says.
- Norway is to allow bars and restaurants to serve alcohol again from Friday, but only as part of table service and until 11pm.
The most deprived state schools in England have been hit much harder by staff absence with Covid, compared with those in better-off areas or private schools, according to a new survey of classroom teachers.
The TeacherTapp daily online survey of teachers found that 29% of those working in schools with high numbers of pupils from deprived backgrounds said at least one in 10 of their colleagues were off or isolating with Covid.
The survey done on 7 January revealed that nearly a third of all teachers said between 5% and 10% of their colleagues were off, across both primary and secondary schools.
Read the full story here.
US president Joe Biden has said he will send more military health workers to hospitals in six US states and provide free masks and more free tests to help Americans tackle the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
He announced the phased dispatch of 1,000 military health personnel beginning next week as US Covid-19 hospitalisations hit a record high and health facilities faced a staffing crunch.
“I know we’re all frustrated as we enter this new year,” Biden said, reiterating his message that Covid-19 remains a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.” He said the military deployment would help hard-pressed hospitals nationwide.
A day after dismissing the need for more restrictive measures to combat the coronavirus, the premier in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has tested positive for Covid-19.
“I’m feeling fine, but will be self-isolating and working from home for the next five days,” wrote Scott Moe on Twitter, alongside an image of a positive antigen test.
The news came just a day after the province announced it has no plans to restrict gatherings even while the highly-transmissible Omicron variant continues its rapid spread.
Read the full story here.
Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as my colleague Harry Taylor calls it a night in London. I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news from Sydney.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across Australia.
The state of NSW has recorded 29 Covid deaths and 63,018 cases with 2,525 Covid cases in hospital.
Victoria reported 18 deaths and 34,836 cases with 3,500 in hospital.
The federal government is also expected to rule on Novak Djokovic’s visa today.
Wales could lift some Covid restrictions by the end of January.
Limits are currently in place for the number of people who can attend sporting matches, and other curbs are in place on hospitality businesses.
First minister Mark Drakeford will set out a two-week plan on Friday to ease restrictions that kicked in on Boxing Day.
Covid curfews in Quebec, Canada will be lifted from Monday, the province’s premier has said.
François Legault said the order could be ended because officials estimated hospitalisations would peak in the next few days. A 10pm to 5am curfew was reimposed on 31 December after being used for five months between January and May 2021.
“The wave of hospitalization is expected to peak in the coming days. We’re going in the right direction but we have to remain very careful,” Legault said, according to AP reports.
He also announced that the province’s vaccine passport would be extended to big box retail stores, except for grocery stores and pharmacies. Legault has previously said adult residents who refuse to get vaccinated should be charged a financial penalty.
Earlier on Thursday, Quebec reported 45 more deaths and a rise of 117 coronavirus-related hospitalisations.
Updated
A French court has suspended an order that makes masks wearing on Paris streets compulsory.
The mandate, imposed by the Paris prefecture, the local arm of the interior ministry, had been in place since 31 December to curb Omicron cases.
The ruling by the Paris Administrative Tribunal comes a day after another court in Versailles, near Paris, suspended a similar order in the Yvelines region, according to Reuters.
The greater Paris region is France’s Omicron hotspot, although the variant is running rampant nationwide. Data showed an incidence rate of 3,899 infections per 100,000 residents over the past seven days.
Omicron becomes dominant variant in Germany
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has become the dominant variant in Germany, according to its Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.
In its weekly report, released on Thursday, it said it accounted for 73.3% of cases compared with 44.3% seven days ago.
Delta, which was for a long time the more prevalent variant of the virus, now accounted for just 25.9% of cases, the RKI said, according to Reuters.
“In the coming weeks we expect a strong increase in infections with the Omicron variant,” the report said. “First studies point to a lower share of hospitalizations in those who are fully vaccinated compared to infections with the Delta variant.”
Around 72% of the population in Germany was now double vaccinated and 44% have had a booster shot, it said. On Thursday it reported a new record amount of daily cases, 80,430 and another 384 deaths.
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Spain offers fourth dose to vulnerable
A fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose will be offered to vulnerable citizens in Spain, AFP reports.
Those included are people with cancer, those who have had a transplant or are receiving dialysis, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The latest dose will only be given five months after a third dose. For the population at large, a third dose will be available for people aged 18 and over. It is currently only available to those over 40. The time between doses will be cut from six months to five months.
More than 90% of people in the country aged 12 and over have had two doses. The country has had 90,508 deaths and 7.7 million cases during the pandemic.
Joe Biden will double the number of rapid Covid-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, as well as N95 masks, as he redoubles efforts to stop an increase in Covid infections in the US.
He announced that starting next month, 1,000 members of the armed forces will begin deploying across the country to help hospitals and medical clinics facing staff shortages due to Omicron.
He said six additional military teams will be sent to Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island. Many medical facilities are struggling because of people isolating at home. The president also encouraged people to get vaccinated.
Kits will be available from next week, with a new website being set up where people can request the free tests.
London’s Metropolitan police will not investigate alleged parties held at Downing Street in apparent breach of lockdown rules unless an upcoming inquiry finds evidence of criminality.
The force said it did not normally investigate breaches of coronavirus regulations “long after they are said to have taken place”.
The senior civil servant Sue Gray is investigating allegations of parties held at Downing Street while the UK was in lockdown due to Covid-19. The force added that if this showed criminality took place then the police force would “reconsider” its stance.
On Wednesday, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, admitted attending a gathering at 10 Downing Street on 20 May 2020, during the height of the first UK lockdown. An estimated 100 people were invited, with about 30 believed to have attended. Johnson said he was there for 25 minutes.
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Teachers in France went on strike on Thursday, as staff demanded clarity from the government over Covid measures.
Half of primary schools were closed as tens of thousands took to the streets with the interior ministry saying nearly 78,000 teachers and other school staff protested nationally.
Unions claim that teachers are not able to teach properly, are not adequately protected against infection and hear about changes to health precautions from the media rather than education bosses.
“The government announces things, but no-one thinks about what it means for staff on the ground,” Olivier Flipo, the head of a Paris school, told AFP this week.
The incoming government in the Czech Republic said that Covid was one of its priorities as it took power on Thursday.
Peter Fiala, a 57-year-old, heads a government of five parties with a slim majority in its 200-seat parliament.
He said the pandemic, along with rising energy costs and inflation would be a focus according to AFP.
“Our citizens are no doubt facing the most difficult year since our country gained independence [in 1993], but we are ready to tackle the situation and handle it well,” the prime minister said.
Teachers are being faced with half-empty classrooms in the US as pupils are off due to having Covid or their parents being concerned about infection.
Associated Press reports:
“This is really taking a toll on the learning. If you have three kids in your class one day and you’re supposed to have 12, you have to reteach everything two weeks later when those kids come back,” said Tabatha Rosproy, a teacher in Kansas, and the 2020 national Teacher of the Year.
Some of the country’s biggest school systems report absentee rates around 20% or slightly more, with some individual schools seeing far higher percentages of missing students.
In Seattle, attendance has averaged 81% since the return from winter break. Los Angeles schools marked about 30% of the district’s 600,000-plus students absent on Tuesday, the first day back after the break.
Adnan Bhuiyan, 17, has at times been one of seven or eight students in classes that normally have 30 at the Bronx Latin School in New York.
“Part of me was like, why are we sitting here doing nothing the whole day. Why can’t we just stay home” and learn remotely, he said. “The other part of me knows that the mayor wants to keep the school open for certain reasons, and I can understand that. But the more and more we went through it, I just kept thinking at this point it’s a waste of time for everyone because we’re not learning anything.”
Greece’s public health organisation, EODY, announced 20,409 coronavirus cases this evening and 80 deaths, a reduction of almost 4,000 infections since Wednesday.
Although by far the most cases are in Athens’ greater region of Attica, it is in northern Greece, where most anti-vaxxers reside, that authorities have rushed to reinforce the health system. With resources increasingly under strain in the region, the government ordered private sector physicians to weigh in earlier on Thursday.
The state-run news agency, AMNA, reported lung specialists and GPs being mobilised to provide services at hospitals, saying a total of 90 doctors had been ordered to help out. Of the 664 patients on life support, more than 83% (554) were either partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all, according to EODY.
The 11-million strong nation has registered a total of 21,732 Covid-related fatalities since the start of the pandemic and 1,612,869 cases in total, according to the health body.
The decline in cases in recent days has sparked cautious optimism among Greek epidemiologists, although health experts say the coming weeks are key. In a single day last week, officials registered a record 50,126 new Covid infections.
Yesterday the Greek government extended restrictions by a week at restaurants and bars in an attempt to stem the spread of the Omicron variant, now dominant nationwide.
In place since 30 December, the curbs have forced the entire hospitality sector to close by midnight and have banned music and customers from standing in bars.
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Met will not investigate No 10 lockdown parties yet
The Metropolitan police will not investigate gatherings held at Downing Street yet, despite the prime minister’s apology to the country for attending the garden event during the first lockdown in May 2020.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Scotland Yard indicated it would wait until the conclusion of the Cabinet Office inquiry into all the partygate allegations, led by Sue Gray, before deciding whether to launch a criminal investigation.
The Mirror has more on this story.
Statement from the Met re: alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at Downing Street and Department for Education. pic.twitter.com/ejDKawVCK6
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) January 13, 2022
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Summary
Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today:
- The UK reported 109,133 new cases and a further 335 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data from the UK government’s coronavirus dashboard. That is down from 129,587 infections on Wednesday and almost 24% lower over the last 7 days compared to the week before, and compares to 398 fatalities reported on Wednesday.
- The French health minister, Olivier Véran, is self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19. A health ministry spokesperson told AFP that Véran showed “mild symptoms”, adding that he had been vaccinated three times. “He will go into isolation and continue to work from his private quarters in the ministry,” they said.
- Finland’s health authorities cut the recommended quarantine period for Covid-positive people by up to half, as the prime minister faced criticism for stepping back from virus policy as infections hit record levels. The current 10-day quarantine period will in most cases be cut to five days, with people suffering symptoms advised to stay at home without seeking a laboratory test, public health body THL said. The change was in response to testing services becoming overwhelmed in many places, with home-testing kits also widely selling out due to the surging infections. [see 4.03pm.].
- Covid restrictions in the Netherlands will begin to be eased from Saturday despite a wave of new infections due to the Omicron variant, Dutch media reported. Non-essential stores, hairdressers and gyms will be allowed to reopen for a limited number of customers, broadcasters NOS and RTL said, citing government sources. Students will be welcomed back to their colleges and universities. Bars, restaurants, theatres, museums and other public places will remain closed. The government will decide formally on the changes on Friday.
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The UK health secretary, Sajid Javid, confirmed that the minimum time people with Covid in England have to spend in self-isolation is to be cut to five full days. From Monday, people will be able to leave isolation on day six if they tested negative on days five and six, Javid told the Commons. Javid was updating MPs on Thursday, a day after Boris Johnson said a decision would be made on the issue “as fast as possible”. The government has been under pressure to bring the situation in England into line with the US, where the isolation period has been cut to five days. Story here.
- Senegal authorised Covid vaccines for children over 12 and booster shots for adults. The booster dose will initially be aimed at people identified as vulnerable to severe illness. [see 2.38pm.].
- Rapid expiration dates and a lack of storage facilities left lower-income countries with no choice but to reject more than 100m vital doses of Covid vaccines distributed by the global Covax scheme last month, a Unicef official said. “More than a 100 million have been rejected just in December alone,” Etleva Kadilli, director of supply division at the UN agency, told lawmakers at the European parliament. The main reason for rejection was the delivery of doses with a short shelf-life, she said. Countries have also been forced to delay supplies because they are unable to store them properly, said Kadilli, citing a lack of fridges for vaccines. Unicef’s data on supplies and use of delivered vaccines show that 681m shipped doses are currently unused in about 90 lower-income nations across the world, according to Care, a charity, which extracted the figures from a public database.
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Germany’s Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommended that all children between the ages of 12 and 17 receive a Covid booster shot, even though the EU’s drugs regulator has not given approval for this age group. The move makes Germany one of the first countries in the world to make the recommendation, with the United States, Israel and Hungary among the handful of countries to have already done so. The committee said that the third dose should be an mRNA shot from BioNTech/Pfizer and should be given at the earliest three months after the child had their second shot. [see 1.57pm.].
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Hungary is to make a fourth Covid shot available to people who ask for it, after a consultation with a doctor, prime minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, announced. The government has also decided to shorten the required quarantine period to 7 days from 10 days, Gulyás said, adding that people can leave quarantine after 5 days with a negative Covid test. [see 11.54am.].
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There have been precious few positives during the Covid pandemic but British academics may have unearthed one: people look more attractive in protective masks.
Researchers at Cardiff University were surprised to find that both men and women were judged to look better with a face covering obscuring the lower half of their faces.
In what may be a blow for producers of fashionable coverings – and the environment – they also discovered that a face covered with a disposable-type surgical mask was likely to be deemed the most appealing.
Dr Michael Lewis, a reader from Cardiff University’s school of psychology and an expert in faces, said research carried out before the pandemic had found that medical face masks reduced attractiveness because they were associated with disease or illness.
“We wanted to test whether this had changed since face coverings became ubiquitous and understand whether the type of mask had any effect,” he said.
“Our study suggests faces are considered most attractive when covered by medical face masks. This may be because we’re used to healthcare workers wearing blue masks and now we associate these with people in caring or medical professions. At a time when we feel vulnerable, we may find the wearing of medical masks reassuring and so feel more positive towards the wearer.”
Get the full story here: Face masks make people look more attractive, study finds
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Boris Johnson is unlikely to be seen in public for the next week after a member of his immediate family tested positive for Covid, Downing Street has said.
While self-isolation for contacts of coronavirus cases is no longer mandatory, Johnson’s spokesman said the prime minister would heed guidance to limit outside contacts as much as possible for seven days after the test.
The spokesman declined to say whether it was Johnson’s wife, Carrie, or one of the couple’s two young children who had tested positive, saying only that it was an immediate family member with whom the PM lived.
The period stuck inside No 10 comes at an arguably fortuitous time for Johnson, who faces intense scrutiny over his attendance at a social event in the No 10 garden during the first lockdown in May 2020.
Here is the full story: Boris Johnson unlikely to be seen in public for a week, says Downing St
French health minister tests positive for Covid-19
The French health minister, Olivier Véran, is self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, he wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Je viens d’être testé positif au Covid.
— Olivier Véran (@olivierveran) January 13, 2022
En conséquence, je me mets à l’isolement et continue d’assurer mes fonctions à distance.
A health ministry spokesperson told AFP that Véran showed “mild symptoms,” adding that he had been vaccinated three times. They added:
He will go into isolation and continue to work from his private quarters in the ministry.
It comes as France registered its highest ever single-day tally of Covid cases on Tuesday, with 368,149 new infections recorded, and 361,719 new cases on Wednesday.
Updated
UK reports 109,133 new cases and 335 deaths
A further 109,133 lab-confirmed Covid cases have been recorded in the UK as of 9am on Thursday, according to the latest data from the UK government’s coronavirus dashboard.
That is down from 129,587 on Wednesday and almost 24% lower over the last 7 days compared to the week before.
A further 335 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the government tally to 151,342. That is compared to 398 fatalities reported on Wednesday.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 176,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Finland latest country to cut quarantine times over Covid pressures
Finland’s health authorities cut the recommended quarantine period for Covid-positive people by up to half on Thursday, as the prime minister faced criticism for stepping back from virus policy as infections hit record levels, Reuters reports.
The current 10-day quarantine period will in most cases be cut to five days, with people suffering symptoms advised to stay at home without seeking a laboratory test, public health body THL said.
The change was in response to testing services becoming overwhelmed in many places, with home-testing kits also widely selling out due to the surging infections.
“The dynamics of infection are faster with the Omicron variant,” THL senior physician Otto Helve told a press conference.
The change comes after the prime minister, Sanna Marin, came under fire for announcing late last week that she was stepping back from coronavirus policy, delegating decision-making to a group of ministers headed by the health minister, Krista Kiuru.
“I have to make sure I also have time for other issues,” Marin told newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.
On Tuesday, the prime minister’s move drew criticism from her principal coalition partner, finance minister Annika Saarikko.
“I would be so bold as to say that at the moment the corona situation is the largest and most complicated of society’s problems with an impact on many things,” Saarikko told the Uutissuomalainen newspaper.
The Nordic nation of 5.5 million has maintained some of the EU’s lowest incidence rates throughout the pandemic. But infections have surged by 105,000 over the last fortnight, nearly a third of its 360,000 total cases recorded since the start of the pandemic.
On Thursday, health ministry officials called on the public to regularly use home-testing kits if they suspect infection or exposure.
But at four to six euros per test, costs for users could quickly mount up, while tests have been widely sold out in recent weeks.
Last week, Kiuru recommended twice-weekly testing for all schoolchildren, prompting the head of the country’s National Security Supply Agency to warn that procuring that number of tests would take “many weeks”.
Covid restrictions in the Netherlands will begin to be eased from Saturday despite a wave of new infections due to the Omicron variant, Dutch media reported on Thursday.
Non-essential stores, hairdressers and gyms will be allowed to reopen for a limited number of customers, broadcasters NOS and RTL said, citing government sources. Students will be welcomed back to their colleges and universities.
Bars, restaurants, theatres, museums and other public places will remain closed.
The government will decide formally on the changes on Friday.
Public places, except essential stores, have been shut since mid-December as hospitals struggled to deal with a wave of patients with Covid, driven by the Delta variant.
Hospital numbers have since improved, but are expected to rise again in the coming weeks. New infections have jumped to record levels since Omicron became the dominant variant.
The improved situation in hospitals increased pressure on the government to ease restrictions, especially from shopkeepers in areas close to the German and Belgian borders, who said customers now went abroad for their shopping.
Local authorities in the south and east of the Netherlands this week said they would not intervene if shops chose to ignore orders to close.
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With Omicron cases leading to more hospital admissions and staff sickness in England, my colleague Clea Skopeliti has spoken to five NHS workers about the pressures they are under, including understaffing, waiting times and bed-blocking.
Here is the moment the UK health secretary, Sajid Javid, confirmed that the minimum time people with Covid in England have to spend in self-isolation is to be cut to five full days.
From Monday, people will be able to leave isolation on day six if they tested negative on days five and six, Javid told the Commons.
Later, in a heated exchange with Javid, the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said Boris Johnson was not fit to lick the boots of NHS staff.
Senegal authorises jabs for over-12s and boosters for vulnerable adults
Senegal has authorised Covid vaccines for children over 12 and booster shots for adults, Reuters reports.
The booster dose will initially be aimed at people identified as vulnerable to severe illness, the health ministry said in a Twitter post on Thursday that included a ministry letter dated 11 January.
Les nouvelles orientations sur les vaccins anti-Covid-19 utilisés au Sénégal , l’administration d’une 3ème dose est autorisée. Les enfants âgés de 12 ans et plus sont autorisés à se vacciner #cov19sn #SENEGAL pic.twitter.com/eOM1ETSUvS
— Ministère de la Santé et de l'Action Sociale SEN (@MinisteredelaS1) January 13, 2022
After struggling with lack of access to vaccines at the beginning of the global rollout, Senegal, like many countries across Africa, has had additional problems in recent months getting shots into arms.
Factors including vaccine hesitancy and logistical problems have resulted in hundreds of thousands of doses expiring without being used late last year.
So far the country has fully vaccinated about 8% of its 17 million population, according to health ministry figures.
It has seen a surge in Covid cases since late December, after the highly contagious Omicron variant was detected.
A handful of other countries on the continent, including Guinea, Namibia and South Africa, have already started vaccinating children 12 and up.
The Omicron-fuelled fourth wave is flattening on most of the continent, but North and West Africa are still experiencing a rise in cases, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
Senegal has officially reported more than 81,000 Covid cases and 1,903 deaths since the pandemic began.
Updated
Lower-income countries forced to reject 100m expiring vaccine doses in December
Rapid expiration dates and a lack of storage facilities left lower-income countries with no choice but to reject more than 100m vital doses of Covid vaccines distributed by the global Covax scheme last month, a Unicef official has said.
“More than a 100 million have been rejected just in December alone,” Etleva Kadilli, director of Supply Division at UN agency Unicef told lawmakers at the European Parliament.
The main reason for rejection was the delivery of doses with a short shelf-life, she said. Countries have also been forced to delay supplies because they are unable to store them properly, said Kadilli, citing a lack of fridges for vaccines.
Unicef’s data on supplies and use of delivered vaccines show that 681m shipped doses are currently unused in about 90 lower-income nations across the world, according to CARE, a charity, which extracted the figures from a public database.
More than 30 countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, have so far used fewer than half of the doses they have received, CARE said, citing Unicef data.
Updated
STIKO recommends booster jab for 12 to 17-year-olds in Germany
Germany’s Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) has recommended that all children between the ages of 12 and 17 receive a Covid booster shot, even though the EU’s drugs regulator has not given approval for this age group, Reuters reports.
The move makes Germany one of the first countries in the world to make the recommendation, with the United States, Israel and Hungary among the handful of countries to have already done so.
The committee said that the third dose should be an mRNA shot from BioNTech/Pfizer and should be given at the earliest three months after the child had their second shot.
“The current situation, with a sharp increase in the number of cases due to the Omicron variant and the feared consequences for the health system in Germany, makes it necessary to extend the vaccination campaign,” said STIKO in a statement.
While data on the effectiveness and safety of the booster vaccination for 12- to 17-year-olds was still limited, the risk of severe side effects was estimated to be very low, it added.
As the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not given regulatory approval, Germany would be responsible for any liabilities linked to the booster for this age group.
The EMA said this week it was reviewing whether to extend the booster approval for Pfizer shots to adolescents aged 16 and 17, and expected drugmakers to apply for the 12-15 age group as well.
Germany, struggling to slow the spread of the Omicron variant that a week ago accounted for about 44% of coronavirus infections, reported a record 81,417 daily cases on Thursday, bringing the seven-day incidence to 427.7 per 100,000 residents.
More than 115,000 people have died with Covid and some 45.1% of the population has received a booster.
The health minister, Karl Lauterbach, welcomed the move from STIKO, which has in the past drawn criticism for hesitating in making such recommendations.
“These are important assessments with current everyday relevance. It’s a good thing that the vaccination commission reacted so quickly,” he said.
Covid cases in Sweden could peak by the end of the month amid the rise in Omicron infections, said the country’s health agency.
Sweden could see a substantial increase in coronavirus cases for two more weeks, with a peak at the end of January, Reuters reports. The health agency gave a statement today:
The calculations in the health agency’s updated scenarios show a massively increasing infection spread for another two weeks, with a peak at the end of January.
It added the worst-case scenario would see around 69,000 daily cases at the peak. A record 60,000 cases were detected last week, despite limited testing capabilities. This week, the country introduced more measures to curb the nationwide surge in cases that have piled pressure on the healthcare system. The latest restrictions include a work from home mandate, where possible, and a cap on the number of people allowed at large public events.
The health agency’s previous scenarios, from 21 December, said Sweden could, in a worst-case scenario, see more than 15,000 new Covid-19 cases per day with a peak in mid-January.
Updated
The Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, has insisted the prime minister was “very, very sincere” when he apologised for attending an alcohol-fuelled gathering in the Downing Street garden, but did not believe he had broken the rules.
Boris Johnson told MPs on Wednesday he thought he was at a “work event” when he dropped into what his own principal private secretary had called “socially distanced drinks”.
Lewis told Sky News:
The prime minister has outlined that he doesn’t believe that he has done anything outside the rules. If you look at what the investigation finds, people will be able to take their own view of that at the time.
Johnson’s apology failed to assuage the concerns of many Conservatives, with the Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, and the senior backbencher William Wragg calling for him to resign.
My colleagues Caroline Davies and Heather Stewart report: Boris Johnson does not believe he broke Covid rules at party, says minister
Air travel in the US remains rocky as Delta Air Lines announced a loss of $408m (£297m) in the fourth quarter of 2021 and one in ten of its workforce have been infected with Covid, reports AP.
The major US carrier pointed to the Omicron surge late last year as the cause of the slump, and predicted on Thursday that it will suffer one more quarterly loss before travel perks up in spring and summer. Delta’s fourth-quarter loss compared with a profit of $1.1bn in the same quarter before the pandemic.
As AP reports:
Cancellations have dropped sharply in the past few days, but the spate of spiked flights cost the airline $75 million and the latest outbreak, caused by the omicron variant of the virus, is expected to push the industry’s recovery back by two months.
CEO Ed Bastian said 8,000 employees (of about 74,000) have contracted Covid-19 over the last four weeks. Sick workers and winter storms have led to more than 2,200 cancelled flights since 24 December.
“I don’t think we’re going to see a pickup in bookings or travel during January and probably the first part of February,” Bastian said in an interview. “It’s always the weakest part of the year, and it’s going to be that much weaker because of omicron. We need confidence in travel returning once the virus recedes.”
As things have opened up in the US, the travel industry is having to confront new obstacles. AP’s David Koenig continues:
Earlier this week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby sent a letter to employees saying that 3,000 employees had tested positive for COVID-19. On a single day at Newark, nearly a third of United’s staff called out sick and the airline has cut back on scheduled flights systemwide.
Costs other than fuel will jump about 15% from 2019, and jet fuel is getting pricier too.
The Omicron surge wreaked havoc on holiday travel – airlines cancelled more than 12,000 flights between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, and New York City suspended several subway lines due to staffing issues.
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Covid self-isolation in England being cut to five full days from Monday
The period of self-isolation for those who test positive is being reduced to five full days in England from Monday, health secretary Sajid Javid has announced.
The change effectively shaves a day off the current rules as people will be required to isolate for five full days and be freed after negative lateral flow tests on days five and six.
Javid said the move aims to “maximise activity in the economy and education” while also minimising the risk of infection from people leaving isolation. The health secretary said reducing the isolation time would help workplaces cope with staffing shortages, including the NHS.
The announcement means England’s isolation period is now in line with the US, with the exception of the negative test. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the move in December to halve the isolation time to five days for people with asymptomatic Covid.
Updated
Hello from London, I’m Georgina Quach – here to continue our live Covid coverage while Lucy Campbell dips out for a bit. Please get in touch with thoughts and comments, by emailing georgina.quach@theguardian.com or tweeting me @georginaquach.
Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary is expected to confirm that the time Covid cases have to spend in self-isolation is to be cut, PA Media reports.
Javid is currently updating MPs in the Commons, a day after Boris Johnson said a decision would be made on the issue “as fast as possible”. The government has been under pressure to bring the situation in England into line with the United States, where the isolation period has been cut to five days.
The current UK Health Security Agency guidance is for cases to isolate for at least six full days from the point at which they have symptoms or get a positive test, whichever is first, with release from self-isolation after two negative lateral flow test results on days six and seven. People can leave self-isolation on day seven.
The changes are expected to see people being allowed to leave self-isolation after completing five full days, with negative tests on days five and six.
My colleague Andrew Sparrow is covering Javid’s statement over on the UK politics live blog:
Hungary makes fourth Covid jab available and cuts quarantine period
Hungary is to make a fourth Covid shot available to people who ask for it, after a consultation with a doctor, prime minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, Reuters reports.
Gulyás made the announcement just as the country of 10 million expects a substantial further increase in Covid cases over the coming weeks due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
“Anyone can get a fourth Covid-19 shot based on a consultation with a doctor, the [government] decree about this will be published this week,” Gulyás told a news conference on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Denmark said it would offer a fourth coronavirus jab to the most vulnerable citizens.
The European Union’s drug regulator has expressed doubts about the need for a fourth dose and said there was no data to support this approach as it seeks more information on the fast-spreading variant. Chile and Israel have already begun a rollout.
Gulyás said the number of daily new infections would likely hit all-time peaks, adding however that the government did not expect a similar increase in hospitalisations and deaths.
In Hungary, there are practically no restrictions in place and schools are operating as normal. Mask-wearing is mandatory in indoor places and on public transport.
Hungary’s daily tally of new Covid infections rose to 9,216 on Thursday from 7,883 on Wednesday, but the number of patients treated in hospital declined.
In Hungary 40,164 people have died of Covid. There are currently 2,647 patients in hospital with Covid, including 249 on ventilators.
The government has also decided to shorten the required quarantine period to 7 days from 10 days, Gulyás said, adding that people can leave quarantine after 5 days with a negative Covid test.
Other EU countries including Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece, as well as others like the US and UK, have made similar moves in cutting isolation times amid fears of staff shortages in key sectors. The World Health Organization, however, continues to recommend that people who test positive for Covid should isolate for 14 days.
Just over six million Hungarians have received at least two shots, and 3.3 million have also received a third booster, but the country’s vaccination rate still lags most western European levels.
Updated
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd has said that transfer and transit services at Hong Kong International Airport will be banned to passengers coming from places deemed at high Covid risk from midnight on 16 January until 15 February, Reuters reports.
Those high-risk places include the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.
Passengers on flights arriving from cities in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan may continue to connect to onward flights, the airline said in a statement on its website, saying the measure is in response to the rising number of Omicron cases around the world.
It comes after the airline hit back at Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, on Thursday after it was blamed for the city’s first Omicron outbreak, even as her government battles a scandal over a birthday party which saw senior officials and legislators sent into Covid quarantine.
Lam has ordered an investigation into Cathay in connection with crew violating pandemic regulations and warned on Tuesday that the city’s flag carrier could face legal action.
In a video to staff released on Tuesday, Cathay’s chair, Patrick Healy, said the “non-compliance of this tiny minority should not be allowed to overshadow the remarkable discipline and professionalism of the overwhelming majority of Cathay Pacific crew over so many months”.
The FT (paywall) has that story.
Updated
Africa’s top public health body is in talks with Pfizer about bringing in supplies of its antiviral Paxlovid treatment pills for Covid-19 to the continent, Reuters reports.
Paxlovid was nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalisations and deaths, and data suggested it retains its effectiveness against Omicron, Pfizer has said.
“We are in really close discussions with Pfizer to see what can be done to make the drugs available on the continent and accessible on the continent, that is the Paxlovid drugs,” said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control.
Governments around the world are scrambling to buy Paxlovid, while Merck’s Molnupiravir has faced setbacks after disappointing trial data.
Nkengasong said that obtaining supplies of Covid drugs was one of three key strategies for combating the pandemic in Africa in 2022, along with scaling up vaccinations and expanding testing.
Drugs for treating Covid would be crucial in the eventuality of another highly transmissible variant emerging and public health systems becoming overwhelmed, he said.
“The only way to relieve that will be if we have drugs like Paxlovid where people can take that drug and stay home and get relief, and that way the burden and the constraints on the health system will be limited,” Nkengasong told an online news briefing. “That’s why we are working on those three things this year very, very actively.”
The continent has officially recorded just over 10 million cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, although the real number is likely much higher due to patchy testing.
Several African countries are going through fourth or fifth waves of infections. Nkengasong said just 10% of Africans were fully vaccinated.
South Korea will begin treating patients with Covid with Paxlovid on Friday, the first Asian country to do so.
Good morning from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Today so far …
- France will lift its ban on UK holidaymakers from Friday morning, the country’s tourism minister, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, has announced. The requirement to isolate on arrival in France will also be scrapped.
- Teachers in France are on strike in protest at the imposition of Covid measures on the education sector. Unions have said they expect many schools to be closed for the day and large numbers of teachers - including about 75% in primary schools and 62% in high schools - to join the one-day strike.
- In the UK, prime minister Boris Johnson has pulled out of a first public appearance since offering a qualified apology in parliament for attending a lockdown party at Downing Street, having previously told parliament he had no knowledge of there being any parties at Number 10 at all.
- A statement said a Johnson “family member” had tested positive for Covid, leading to the prime minister ducking out of visiting Lancashire. Labour’s Lisa Nandy has said she thinks it is “insulting to the country” that Johnson continues to hold office.
- The deputy chief medical officer who has been at Johnson’s side in many Covid TV briefings, Jonathan Van-Tam, is to step down from his role at the end of March.
- Hungary has experienced another steep rise in daily confirmed Covid cases – up to 9,216 on Thursday from 7,883 reported on Wednesday. The government has said it expects a substantial further increase in Covid-19 cases over the coming weeks due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
- Germany has broken a new daily Covid record for the second day in a row . Chancellor Olaf Scholz has argued Covid vaccinations should be mandatory for all adults.
- New Covid-19 infections in cities in India such as capital New Delhi and Mumbai could peak next week after rising rapidly, experts said, as the country reported the highest number of daily cases since late May.
- Two hospitals in China’s locked-down city of Xi’an, including one that refused to treat an eight-month pregnant woman who later miscarried, have been closed for three months while they “rectify” mistakes, authorities said.
- Beijing has begun operating its “closed loop” that will isolate athletes and delegates at the forthcoming Winter Olympics from the rest of the country.
- The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said it expects omicron to become the predominant coronavirus variant in the Americas in the coming weeks, where confirmed cases have reached record levels.
- Novak Djokovic has been confirmed in the official draw for the Australian Open, despite uncertainty over whether the government will cancel his visa for a second time.
- Djokovic could face a fine or even prison in Serbia after his admission that he broke isolation while he had Covid last month, lawyers have said, as the Serbian prime minister warned his behaviour appeared to be “a clear breach” of the rules.
Andrew Sparrow is on live blog duties for another busy day of UK Covid politics. Lucy Campbell will be here shortly to carry on with our global coronavirus coverage for you. And I’m off to host our Thursday quiz. I will see you here tomorrow.
Updated
“We had reached such a level of exasperation, tiredness, and anger that we didn’t have any other option but to organise a strike to send a strong message to the government,” said Elisabeth Allain-Moreno, national secretary of the SE-UNSA teachers union in France, where teachers are on strike today.
Unions have said they expect many schools to be closed for the day and large numbers of teachers - including about 75% in primary schools and 62% in high schools - to join the one-day strike. Unions representing school directors, inspectors and other staff have also joined the strike.
Schools in Paris and beyond offered a mixed picture on Thursday morning, with some entirely closed because of the strike, some partly open, others operating normally. Some were open only for children of health workers.
Mirlene Pouvin, whose child is in a high school where some teachers were on strike and others present, told Reuters she sympathised with those who walked off the job.
“I understand them, because the (Covid) protocol is impossible to apply - whether it’s in schools or in hospitals. I hold no grudge against them,” she said after an early morning school drop-off in Paris.
Their arguments have cut little ice with ministers. “I know it’s tough, but a strike does not solve problems. One does not strike against a virus,” the education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told BFM TV.
Just a little bit more from Hungary here. Prime minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, has told reporters that the government expects a substantial further increase in Covid-19 cases over the coming weeks due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. However, Reuters report that he said they did not expect a similar increase in hospitalisations and deaths.
Martin Quin Pollard and Pawel Kopczynski have been in Beijing for Reuters looking at preparations for the Winter Olympics. They report that arrivals for next month’s Winter Olympics are met by staff in white protective suits and undergo COVID-19 tests and swabs of luggage before being whisked in police-escorted buses to fenced-off hotels.
The perimeters of Beijing’s “closed loop” are sealed and guarded. Once inside, people cannot leave until they either depart the country or complete several weeks of quarantine. This includes about 20,000 Chinese volunteers and staff at the venues who will enter the loop.
Authorities are determined to create a physical barrier between participants and the general population. There will be no international spectators at the Beijing Games, and organisers have yet to say how many local spectators will attend.
Everyone in the loop must have a daily PCR test administered by staff. Food delivery from restaurants outside the loop is not allowed. More than 2,000 international athletes are set to come to China for the Games, along with 25,000 other stakeholders, according to organisers, a large number from overseas. Organisers did not say how many would be in the closed loop.
New Covid-19 infections in Indian cities such as capital New Delhi and Mumbai could peak next week after rising rapidly, experts said, as the country reported the highest number of daily cases since late May.
“Our modelling, and those of others, suggests that the big Indian cities should see their peaks in cases close to 20 January, while the overall peak in India may be shifted a bit later, to early February,” said Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University near the capital.
Reuters report the health ministry has said common pain relievers like paracetamol should be enough for people with mild fever due to Covid-19. It has warned, though, against complacency as infections have now started rising in as many as 300 districts from fewer than 80 a week ago.
“The experience from other countries informs us that it is more practical to track and monitor hospitalisations rather than new cases,” said Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“Non-pharmaceutical interventions – lockdowns, etc – are increasingly losing their relevance with rapid and inexorable community transmission.”
Ben Butler and Peter Hannam report for us that in Australia, small businesses and unions have condemned as inadequate Scott Morrison’s response to a burgeoning staffing crisis caused by the Omicron wave.
The crisis has pushed supply chains to breaking point, emptied supermarket shelves and forced some retailers and hospitality operators to close.
Under new rules announced by the prime minister after a national cabinet meeting on Thursday, workers in a swathe of industries including food distribution and transport will be allowed to go straight back to work after recording a negative rapid antigen test.
However, Morrison again rebuffed calls from small businesses and unions for free rapid antigen tests in the workplace, and industries including general retail and hospitality have been excluded from the relaxed regime.
Read more here: PM’s response to Omicron staffing crisis falls short, Australian businesses and unions say
A quick snap from Reuters here that Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic has said it had granted temporary approval to Regkirona, an antibody medicine that can be used for the treatment of Covid in adults. It can be used to treat adult Covid patients if oxygen therapy or hospitalisation is not required, and there is a high risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19.
Two hospitals in China's Xi'an closed over lockdown failures
Two hospitals in China’s locked-down city of Xi’an, including one that refused to treat an eight-month pregnant woman who later miscarried, have been closed while they “rectify” mistakes, authorities said today.
The city has been subject to strict home confinement for three weeks in line with Beijing’s “zero-Covid” strategy.
Top health officials were forced to apologise last week after a distressing social media post - including photos and video of the woman sitting on a plastic stool outside Gaoxin Hospital in a pool of blood - prompted outrage over the megacity’s harsh imposition of the rules.
She was refused treatment because her negative Covid-19 test fell slightly outside the 48-hour requirement.
In a separate incident at the second hospital, a Xi’an resident said her father had died last week after he could not get medical treatment for a heart ailment due to “pandemic-related rules”.
Both hospitals have been given warnings and made to “suspend operations for three months for rectification”, and will only be allowed to reopen after getting approval.
The city’s health commission said in a statement Thursday that the two hospitals had “failed to perform their duties of saving lives and rescuing the wounded”.
“This led to delays in the rescue, diagnosis and treatment of critically ill patients, arousing widespread public attention and having a bad social impact,” health authorities added.
Andrew Sparrow has launched what I imagine will be another very busy day for his combined UK Covid and politics live blog. You can follow that here.
I’ll be carrying on here with the latest global coronavirus news.
France to lift ban on UK tourists from Friday, says tourism minister
France will lift its ban on UK holidaymakers from Friday morning, the country’s tourism minister, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, has announced.
The requirement to isolate on arrival in France will also be scrapped. PA Media note that travellers will continue to need evidence of a negative coronavirus test taken within 24 hours of departure.
On those two latest developments in the UK, ITV’s political correspondent Daniel Hewitt has tweeted more details about Boris Johnson pulling out of a trip today, quoting this from Downing Street:
The prime minister will no longer be visiting Lancashire today due to a family member testing positive for coronavirus. He will follow the guidance for vaccinated close contacts, including daily testing and limiting contact with others.
Meanwhile The Sun’s Harry Cole says his sources are “adamant” that the departure of Jonathan Van-Tam as deputy CMO has been “in pipeline for a long time”, but points out the timing of the announcement today is unlikely to go down well with a government trying to regain its balance after events of the last couple of days. Van-Tam will continue in his role until the end of March.
Health sources adamant this has been in pipeline for a long time. But suspect that will do little to quell febrile mood. https://t.co/BDQhPlnJ65
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) January 13, 2022
The health secretary Sajid Javid has just tweeted to pay tribute to the work of deputy CMO Jonathan Van-Tam. It has been announced he is stepping down from the role.
It has been an honour to work with JVT and I am hugely grateful for his advice & the vital role he has played in our vaccination programme.
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) January 13, 2022
I wish him all the best for the future at @UniofNottingham @UoNFacultyMHS
Boris Johnson cancels trip to Burnley vaccination centre after positive Covid test from 'family member' – reports
And this has just happened as well – reports that someone within the Boris Johnson family has tested positive for Covid, leading to the prime minister cancelling a planned excursion to a vaccination centre today, where he would have had to face the public for the first time since apologising in parliament for attending a lockdown party in Downing Street.
NEW: Boris Johnson has cancelled a visit to a vaccination centre in Burnley today after a family member tested positive for Covid, Downing St has said.
— Daniel Hewitt (@DanielHewittITV) January 13, 2022
The PM won’t have to isolate but No10 say he’s taking advice not to travel. He was due to give a pooled TV interview.
Jonathan Van-Tam to leave post as deputy CMO – reports
This news is just breaking that Jonathan Van-Tam is to leave his post as Deputy Chief Medical Officer. He has been in the role since October 2017.
EXC: Jonathan Van-Tam is leaving is his post as deputy chief medical officer. More in @timesredbox
— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) January 13, 2022
Van-Tam has been on a repeatedly-extended secondment from the University of Nottingham since 2017 and told senior health officials yesterday that his loan was up.
— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) January 13, 2022
Understand not directly related to parties or policy – but in this of all weeks...
There’s a very stark contrast in tone between the statements coming out of the Conservative Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis and Labour’s Lisa Nandy on the airwaves in the UK this morning.
On Sky News, Lewis said this: “The prime minister has outlined that in his view he hasn’t actually done anything outside of the rules.”
By contrast, Nandy has just told ITV’s Good Morning Britain viewers:
We’ve got a prime minister who has lied to the country. My inbox is full of stories of people who lost loved ones, who weren’t able to say goodbye, absolutely heart-breaking stories about what was happening to them on the day that this party took place.
They are appalled, horrified and re-traumatised about the fact that we’ve got a prime minister who is still refusing to come clean about what other parties he attended, what parties the members of his cabinet attended, and how it could have been that we could have had senior ministers and the prime minister telling us about the impact the pandemic was having on the country, that we all must continue to do what they were telling us to do, and yet they weren’t doing it themselves.
Hungary has experienced another steep rise in daily confirmed Covid cases – up to 9,216 on Thursday from 7,883 reported on Wednesday.
The government said the Omicron variant “was spreading fast”, fuelling new infections, and urged people to take up booster vaccine shots. However, Reuters note that the number of patients being treated in hospital again declined. There are 2,647 coronavirus patients in hospital, including 249 on ventilators.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, has told Times Radio that data showed Covid-19 cases were coming down, but she warned “we are still seeing very high levels of hospital admissions and we are still seeing significant numbers of patients on mechanical ventilation”.
She said the numbers in intensive care are not as high as the peak of the pandemic, but were still posing a challenge for the NHS.
PA Media quote her saying: “I think there is considerable uncertainty still about how this will play out because levels come down in London, but they’re going up in the North West, they’re going up in the East of England, so we need to think really carefully about how it’s impacting, and impacting differentially across the country.”
Asked if the NHS was in a “middle phase” between being overwhelmed and working at full capacity, she said: “I think we’re somewhere between the middle phase and going towards still being beyond full stretch, really, because what we have to remember is that the NHS isn’t an island, we have a huge impact of Covid across all of the different services that work alongside and with the NHS.”
Cordery suggested it was “premature” to look at “living with Covid” as being in the next few months, adding there would be “a gradual return to a new kind of normality for the NHS”.
Lisa Nandy: 'insulting to the country' that PM remains in office after attending lockdown party
In the UK, Labour’s Lisa Nandy is on Sky News, and has said of the prime minister’s apology “This just doesn’t wash. I think he’s taking the public for fools.”
She said:
I listened carefully to what the prime minister had to say in the House of Commons. He is clearly sorry, but he’s not sorry that he did it. I think he’s very sorry that he got caught. He told us over and over again that no rules have been broken. He expressed real anger at those aides who laughed about parties taking place. He’s said that people around him in his inner circle who broke the rules must go, and yet it seems to believe those rules don’t apply to himself.
Even now he’s not coming clean about what he knew. About whether the email was sent out with his own authority and his knowledge to nearly 100 staff to invite them to bring their own booze to a party, while other people were being fined and cautioned because they were breaking rules that he himself was breaking.
I just don’t think this is good enough, and I agree with the very small number of Tories who’ve had the courage and integrity to come out and say that he must go. He’s just not fit to hold office.
I think it is insulting to the country that he continues to hold office.
UK minister says Johnson will win next general election
While he didn’t have much to say of any substance about the Downing Street parties themselves, the Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis did give on Sky News in the UK one of the more ringing endorsements of Boris Johnson. He said:
I personally think the prime minister is the right person to be prime minister. I think we will be able to go forward and win a general election.
We have got work to do. We have got to deliver on exactly on what the prime minister set up, which is some of the biggest important reforms dealing with issues the country would have liked to have dealt with years ago, like health and social care, issues in Northern Ireland that haven’t been dealt with in decades.
This is somebody who wants to deal with that and do it in a way that delivers for everybody in the UK, and that is why I think he will win the next election.
Updated
Just a quick reminder that if you fancy something to get your ears around, then our Today in Focus podcast is Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland discussing with Nosheen Iqbal whether Boris Johnson’s apology will be enough to save him.
Back to the UK and Downing Street party scandal, Conservative MP Jake Berry has been on the BBC Today programme defending the prime minister.
Operation fight back
— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) January 13, 2022
Jake Berry on Boris Johnson “he has done an exceptional job over the past two years…had he got everything right? No. Is he a perfect human being? Absolutely not..”
But he says on the big calls the PM got things right #today
Meanwhile, Henry Zeffman, chief political correspondent at the Times, makes this point about Sue Gray. She must feel a little bit like she is being used as a human shield, the number of times her name has been invoked in the last 24 hours to avoid answering a tricky question.
People keep calling Sue Gray’s report “independent”. Jake Berry just did it on Today, several broadcast journalists have too. She might be independent-minded but she’s a serving permanent secretary — it’s not an independent report. Subtle distinction but really matters
— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) January 13, 2022
Rajeev Syal profiled her for us earlier this week:
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said it expects omicron to become the predominant coronavirus variant in the Americas in the coming weeks, where confirmed cases have reached record levels.
The health agency added that although healthcare systems face challenges with rising hospitalisations, vaccination has meant that Covid-19 deaths have not increased at the same rate as infections.
“While Delta is still causing new infections in the Americas, based on current trends, Omicron is on track to become the dominant strain in our region,” Carissa Etienne, director of the agency, said during an online news conference.
PAHO said coronavirus virus infections across the Americas almost doubled to 6.1m on 8 January, from 3.4m cases on 1 January.
The US is reporting the highest number of cases, while Canada is also registering a rebound. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have seen the highest increases in the Caribbean, while Belize and Panama have seen rises in Central America.
In South America, Argentina and Paraguay have both reported a 300% increase in coronavirus cases over the past week, according to the health organisation.
Associated Press report that almost 60% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean has been fully vaccinated, but some 10 countries in the region — especially in the Caribbean — did not reach the goal of 40% set by the World Health Organization for the end of 2021. That goal is 70% for the middle of this year.
Lisa Nandy: PM was 'sorry he got caught'
In the UK, while the Conservatives’ Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has been busy saying nothing on Sky News, opposition party Labour’s shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy hasn’t been mincing her words on BBC Breakfast. PA Media quote her saying:
If you listen closely to what he said in the House of Commons yesterday, he was apologising for the perception of what had happened when he attended this drinks party during lockdown.
He was apologising as well, it sounded like, because he was sorry he got caught.
What he’s not done is come clean about all the parties that were attended not just by him but by other members of the cabinet – he told us over and over again that no rules had been broken.
I think the MPs who have come out and said his position is completely untenable are absolutely right. The amount of hurt and anguish that this has caused for people is just unbelievable.”
So far in his interview on Sky News, the Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis has said that he can’t comment on “the hypotheticals of a report that hasn’t been released yet” regarding Boris Johnson’s admission that he was at a party in Downing Street during lockdown.
He’s also said he wasn’t at parliament yesterday, so can’t comment on what the prime minister may have said behind the scenes before and after PMQs, and he wasn’t at any party at Downing Street so he can’t comment on what happened there. I’ll bring you the quotes if he says anything of any substance that we haven’t already heard.
Our science editor Ian Sample has put together a Q&A on what things might look like on the other side of an Omicron wave. It includes this:
Mass vaccination, boosters, and the spectacular infection rates seen in the Omicron wave are building high levels of population immunity that will drive infection rates down. The wave will peak at different times from place to place, with adherence to Plan B and shifts in people’s behaviour before and after Christmas all playing into the timing and speed at which infections fall.
The more likely scenario is that Omicron continues to circulate, with cases rising and falling in line with people’s mixing patterns and changes to measures that prevent transmission. When plan B is lifted and more people return to work, cases may well rise. But in the summer, as people spend more time outdoors, infections may fall again, then rise next winter. It will all come down to human behaviour.
With Omicron spreading fast and causing less severe disease, some researchers believe it is time to rethink how Test and Trace is done. “I think we are already at the point where PCR testing is a waste of resources, and contact tracing is probably a waste of resources too,” said Tim Colbourn, professor of global health systems and epidemiology at UCL. One option is to rely more on lateral flow tests and for people to message their close contacts whenever they test positive.
Read more of Ian Sample’s report: What lies on the other side of the UK’s Omicron wave?
Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London. With all the politics surrounding Covid in the UK yesterday, you might have missed the latest numbers, so here’s an update.
There were 129,587 new Covid cases recorded yesterday. Over the last seven days there have been 1,038,500 new coronavirus cases recorded in the UK. Cases have decreased by 19% week-on-week.
There have been 1724 deaths recorded in the last week. Deaths have increased by 44% week-on-week.
Hospital admissions have increased by 5% week-on-week. At the latest count on the UK government’s own dashboard, there were 19,735 people in hospital in total, of whom 793 are in ventilation beds. According to the government’s figures, the peak of hospitalisations during the pandemic was in January 2021, with 39,254 patients in hospital.
I believe that Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis is going to be the government minister facing the media this morning. I’ll have quotes from him in due course. You may recall, yesterday the government didn’t want to put anybody up on TV or radio before Boris Johnson’s appearance at PMQs.
Summary of key developments
Just before I hand over the blog to my fantastic colleague Martin Belam over in London, here is a rundown of all the key developments from the past 24 hours.
- British prime minister Boris Johnson faces anger and derision after he admitted attending a drinks party during the first lockdown on 20 May 2020, claiming that he believed it to be a work event that did not break the rules.
- Teachers in France will walk off the job en masse on Thursday over what they say is the government’s failure to adopt a coherent policy for schools to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, or properly protect pupils and staff against infection.
- India reported a daily rise of almost 250,000 new coronavirus cases and 380 deaths on Thursday, the highest single-day rise since May.
- Novak Djokovic has been confirmed in the official draw for the Australian Open, despite uncertainty over whether the government will cancel his visa for a second time.
- Djokovic could face a fine or even prison in Serbia after his admission that he broke isolation while he had Covid last month, lawyers have said, as the Serbian prime minister warned his behaviour appeared to be “a clear breach” of the rules.
- The French Senate approved the government’s latest Covid measures, including a vaccine pass, on Thursday.
-
South Korea will begin treating coronavirus patients with Pfizer’s antiviral pills on Friday, health officials said.
- Germany has broken a new daily Covid record for the second day in a row after reporting a daily rise of 81,417 coronavirus cases, according to the latest figures released by the Robert Koch Institute.
-
Israel has also reported a new daily record of 43,815 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, according to the ministry of health.
- In Africa, more than 85% of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference on Wednesday.
- The Omicron variant is especially dangerous for those who have not been vaccinated, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.
- Quebec’s proposal to tax unvaccinated people may be lawful but may also go against the spirit of Canada’s universal public health system, rights and medical experts say.
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German chancellor Olaf Scholz has argued Covid vaccinations should be mandatory for all adults as the European country reported a record of 80,430 coronavirus infections on Wednesday.
India has reported a daily rise of almost 250,000 new coronavirus cases and 380 deaths on Thursday.
The 246,912 new infections are a 27% jump on yesterday’s numbers, the Times of India reports citing health ministry data.
It is the highest single-day rise since May. Daily cases in the country have now grown more than 10-fold in under two weeks, according to the Hindu Times.
Thank you once again to astute reader Francisco Javier Torres Tobar for bringing these figures to my attention.
Djokovic included in Australian Open draw as visa call delayed
Novak Djokovic has been confirmed in the official draw for the Australian Open, despite uncertainty over whether the government will cancel his visa for a second time.
Australian immigration minister Alex Hawke is weighing exercising discretionary powers to revoke Djokovic’s visa, which could scuttle the Serb’s bid for a record 21st major title and 10th at Melbourne Park.
After the draw was delayed by more than an hour on Thursday, Djokovic was drawn to play fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanović in the opening round of the year’s opening grand slam tournament.
French Senate approves Covid vaccine pass
The French Senate approved the government’s latest Covid measures, including a vaccine pass, on Thursday.
The pass has so far encountered some opposition among the public after president Emmanuel Macron’s harsh criticism of the unvaccinated.
The Senate backed the Covid measures and legislation for a Covid vaccine pass by 249 in favour, versus 63 against, Reuters report. The legislation had already been approved earlier this month by France’s lower house of parliament.
Macron stepped up his campaign this year against those not vaccinated against Covid, telling Le Parisien paper this month that he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people by making their lives more complicated.
On Wednesday, France reported 361,719 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, and a further 246 Covid deaths in hospitals.
Djokovic has just been drawn in the first round of the Australian Open to face Serbian player Miomir Kecmanovic.
Novak Djokovic's name is, as expected, still in the AO men's draw for at least another day.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) January 13, 2022
He has been drawn against Miomir Kecmanovic.
The decision over whether to allow Novak Djokovic to stay in Australia to compete in the Australian Open later this month remains unanswered.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison was just asked a question about the decision during a press conference on Thursday afternoon (AEDT).
Morrison referred to the most recent statement from the immigration minister, Alex Hawke –which said the decision was still being considered – and said he will not comment further.
Guardian reporter Paul Karp asked a general question in very hypothetical terms, whether someone who is a non-citizen and unvaccinated should be able to stay in Australia.
Morrison replied:
All I will simply say is the reason we have had since 15 December where fully vaccinated eligible visa holders could travel to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption and enter those states allowing them to enter quarantine free, the individual has to show they are double vaccinated or must provide acceptable proof that they can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons.
Morrison continued:
That relates to people who are coming to Australia. These are noncitizens, nonresidents, are visa holders and may have acquired a visa recently, they may have acquired a visa some time ago, and be returning, when some of these issues weren’t even standing at the time. It’s important to distinguish between the visa and the condition to enter the border. They aren’t ... the same thing.
You can ... be a citizen or resident returning ... and what happens after that will depend on vaccination status and so on, if you are a citizen or resident, of course you could come back into your own country but you would have to quarantine in those circumstances.
If you’re not a citizen or resident, the health rules we have in place to protect our borders and our border protection policies have been central to the government’s achievements ... and Australia’s achievements generally in having one of the lowest death rates, strongest economies and highest vaccination rates in the country.”
Read the full story here.
Updated
South Korea to deploy Pfizer Covid pills
South Korea will begin treating coronavirus patients with Pfizer’s antiviral pills on Friday, health officials said.
At least 21,000 of the pills, called Paxlovid, will arrive on Thursday and be sent out to some 280 pharmacies and 90 residential treatment centres, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The medication will be used to treat more than 1,000 people a day, with priority groups including patients with a high chance of developing critical symptoms, those aged 65 or older and those with reduced immunity, the KDCA said.
on 5 January. Photograph: Heo Ran/Reuters
Another 10,000 of the pills are expected to arrive later in the month.
Paxlovid was nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalisations and deaths in patients at high risk of severe illness, and data suggested it retains its effectiveness against Omicron, Pfizer has said.
South Korea has been exploring additional pharmaceutical tools to head off a surge of infections caused by the Omicron variant and approved the use of Novavax Inc’s vaccine on Wednesday.
More on the developing story occurring in France as teachers prepare to strike on Thursday by walking off the job.
Up to three-quarters of educators in the country plan to take action against the government, arguing there has not been a coherent policy for schools throughout the pandemic and pupils and staff have not been properly protected against infection.
More recently, Covid and testing rules for classrooms changed three times in the space of a week.
A total of 11 unions are to participate in Thursday’s walkout, in a rare show of unity that could make for the biggest strike in decades and threatens to close half of French schools.
A statement from the unions reads:
The exhaustion and exasperation of the entire educational community have reached an unprecedented level.
The responsibility of the minister and the government in this chaotic situation is total because of incessant changes of footing, unworkable protocols and the lack of appropriate tools to guarantee (schools) can function properly.”
The strike “demonstrates the growing despair in schools”, the largest teachers’ union Snuipp-FSU added.
The unions argue that their members cannot adequately “ensure the safety of students, staff and their families” and are unable to teach properly.
In a letter to parents, Snuipp-FSU said:
The daily life of teachers and families [is] unclear or even unmanageable: repeated tests, not always accessible, late results, regular comings and goings of students, overnight adaptation to changes..”
... It is not the school that is open, it is a form of ‘daycare’.
Under the current conditions, children cannot learn properly, the number of pupils fluctuate and hybrid teaching between face-to-face and distance education [is not] feasible.”
The government this week eased rules on Covid checks for students who have been exposed to an infected person.
Updated
Will Boris Johnson’s apology be enough to save him?
The British prime minister faced anger and derision after he admitted attending a drinks party during the first lockdown on 20 May 2020, claiming that he believed it to be a work event that did not break the rules.
Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland tells Nosheen Iqbal that the prime minister faces a make-or-break moment in his premiership. With anger at Boris Johnson growing among his colleagues, his ability to shake off scandals and maintain popularity in the country appears to be waning fast. Douglas Ross, the Conservative party’s leader in Scotland, has joined Labour leader Keir Starmer in calling for Johnson to resign. But for the prime minister and his allies, the matter now rests with senior civil servant Sue Gray, whose inquiry into rule-breaking in Downing Street is ongoing.
Listen to the latest Today in Focus episode here.
More from Guardian reporter Justin McCurry on the situation unfolding in Japan.
Media reports say the government is planning to speed up booster shots for the under-65s, while older people will be able to receive their third vaccination from next month.
But the governor of Osaka, Hirofumi Yoshimura, said the reduction in intervals between the second and third jabs had come too late, telling reporters that “it has already become impossible to suppress the Omicron variant through booster shots,” according to the Kyodo news agency.
Japan had initially hospitalised everyone who tested positive for Omicron, but has since said only those at risk of developing serious symptoms should go to hospital, in an attempt to ease pressure on health services.
Staff at about 16,000 medical institutions will monitor patients recuperating at home, the health ministry said, while the government is considering shortening the current 14-day isolation period for people identified as close contacts of those diagnosed with Omicron.
Japan, where 78.5%% of the 125 million population has been double-jabbed and mask-wearing is habitual, has fared better than Britain, the US and other comparable countries during the pandemic, with 1.79 million cases and 18,424 deaths.
Japan plans to start offering vaccinations to children aged under 12 from March, according to Kyodo.
Daily coronavirus cases in Japan have exceeded 13,000 for the first time in more than four months, as the country confronts a sixth wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant.
It reported 13,244 new cases on Wednesday, including 2,198 in Tokyo and 1,711 in Osaka. The number of new infections in the Japanese capital was more than double that recorded the previous day and a fivefold increase from the same day the previous week.
Authorities in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, where an outbreak at US military bases last month has spread to the local civilian population, reported 1,644 cases on Wednesday.
The island, which hosts tens of thousands of US service personnel, and two other prefectures have been under quasi-state of emergency measures since Sunday, including restrictions on bar and restaurant opening hours.
The Omicron variant appears to have taken hold in some parts of the country, weeks after the government imposed a travel ban on all arrivals except Japanese citizens and returning foreign residents.
Germany breaks record for daily Covid cases for second day in a row
Germany has broken a new daily Covid record for the second day in a row after reporting a daily rise of 81,417 coronavirus cases, according to the latest figures released by the Robert Koch Institute, the country’s national disease control agency.
The figure is a new daily record for the European nation after recording 80,430 new cases on Wednesday.A further 316 deaths were also recorded.
Although Omicron variant is dominating in parts of the country, hospitalisations rates remain relatively low.
A vaccine mandate – so-called Impfpflicht – is being hotly discussed across the political parties.
Updated
Novak Djokovic faces fine or prison for breaking isolation while Covid positive
Novak Djokovic could face a fine or even prison in Serbia after his admission that he broke isolation while he had Covid last month, lawyers have said, as the Serbian prime minister warned his behaviour appeared to be “a clear breach” of the rules.
The 34-year-old Belgrade-born tennis player on Wednesday acknowledged that he knew he had tested positive when he attended a newspaper interview and photoshoot in the Serbian capital on 18 December, saying in a statement on social media he had made an “error of judgment”.
The player also blamed “human error” by his support team for a mistake in his immigration paperwork, saying they had failed to declare that he had travelled outside Serbia – to Spain – in the two-week period before entering Australia.
Lawyers in Serbia told local reporters that breaking the country’s strict isolation rules was an offence under article 248 of the criminal code, and subject to a fine or prison sentence of up to three years – although community service was more likely.
Read the full story here.
More than 85% of people in Africa yet to receive vaccine
In Africa, more than 85% of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference on Wednesday.
“We cannot end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gap,” Tedros added.
The Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) programme has shipped much-needed vaccines to the region, with the one billionth vaccine dose expected to be delivered in coming days.
The worldwide initiative directed by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization aims to provide equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.
“We are making progress,” Tedros said. “In December, COVAX shipped more than double the number of doses it shipped in November, and in the coming days, we expect COVAX to ship its 1 billionth vaccine dose.”
However, the WHO chief acknowledged there was still a long way to go to reach the target of vaccinating 70% of the population of every country by the middle of this year.
Some 90 countries have still not reached the 40% target, and 36 of those countries have vaccinated less than 10% of their populations.
WHO warns Omicron especially dangerous for unvaccinated
The Omicron variant is especially dangerous for those who have not been vaccinated, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.
The WHO said the global surge in cases was being driven by Omicron, which is more transmissible than the previously dominant Delta variant.
More than 15 million cases were reported to the WHO last week - with millions more cases thought to have gone unrecorded.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference:
While Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus - particularly for those who are unvaccinated.
We mustn’t allow this virus a free ride or wave the white flag, especially when so many people around the world remain unvaccinated.
The overwhelming majority of people admitted to hospitals around the world are unvaccinated.”
While vaccines remain very effective at preventing death and severe Covid-19 disease, they do not fully prevent transmission, Tedros said.
More transmission means more hospitalisations, more deaths, more people off work - including teachers and health workers - and more risk of another variant emerging that is even more transmissible and more deadly than Omicron.”
Tedros said that the numbers of deaths worldwide had stabilised at around 50,000 per week.
“Learning to live with this virus does not mean we can, or should, accept this number of deaths,” he said.
Israel has also reported a new daily record of 43,815 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, according to the ministry of health.
Citing official figures released Wednesday, the Times of Israel said that out of 360,038 virus tests carried out, 12.09% returned positive, the highest value since September 29, 2020, when it was 15.29%.
The number of seriously ill patients was 254, one fewer than the day before, and of those, 84 are considered critical.
Norway has surpassed 10,000 daily Covid cases for the first time, breaking a new record for a second day in a row on Wednesday.
A total of 11,825 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours after 9,622 new cases of infection were registered on Tuesday, local media reports.
The figure is an increase of 4,960 on the previous seven-day average of 6,865.
Teachers to strike over France's Covid strategy in schools
Teachers in France will walk off the job en masse on Thursday over what they say is the government’s failure to adopt a coherent policy for schools to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, or properly protect pupils and staff against infection.
Teachers, parents and school administrators have struggled to keep up with new testing rules, announced before the end of Christmas holidays but changed twice since following criticism, Reuters reports.
The government, having reversed an earlier policy of quickly shutting down classes with positive coronavirus cases, says some degree of complication is the price to pay for keeping schools open.
But a new-year surge in infections to record daily levels close to 370,000 in France has led to cases soaring within schools too.
That has meant many schools have been hard pressed to keep teaching anyway, partly because of infections among pupils and staff but also because each positive case has resulted in dozens being sent to labs and pharmacies for testing.
Eleven unions said in a joint statement:
The exhaustion and exasperation of the entire educational community have reached an unprecedented level.
The responsibility of the minister and the government in this chaotic situation is total because of incessant changes of footing, unworkable protocols and the lack of appropriate tools to guarantee (schools) can function properly.”
Unions said they expected many schools to be closed on Thursday and very large numbers of teachers - including about 75% in primary schools - to join the one-day strike.
Urging teachers not to walk off the job, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told BFM TV: “One does not strike against a virus.”
In response, unions said they had called the strike not against a virus but over disorganisation caused by the test and contact-tracing rules, heightened contagion risk and a shortage of face masks for staff.
Quebec's proposed tax on unvaccinated sets risky precedent, experts say
Quebec’s proposal to tax unvaccinated people may be lawful but may also go against the spirit of Canada’s universal public health system, rights and medical experts say.
Premier François Legault announced the new “contribution” for the unvaccinated on Tuesday, though his government would not say how the tax would be levied, when or against whom.
Canada’s Civil Liberties Association said it could violate Canadians’ fundamental rights, while health advocates expressed concern about its broader implications.
Danyaal Raza, a doctor with Unity Health in Toronto and former chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, told Reuters:
I’ve not seen anything like this in Canada before. I’m worried about the precedent it would set.”
Dr Yv Bonnier-Viger, public health director of the Gaspé region, asked Quebec to “think seriously” about the repercussions of such a measure, saying: “these are not measures that correspond to public health values” in an interview with Montreal’s CTV news.
I think that we would be completely forgetting our system of coverage and universal health insurance. We know that about 40 per cent of illnesses are preventable. If we start taxing all the sick people for the bad decisions they made at some point in their lives, we’re going off the rails.”
Cara Zwibel, acting general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said it might however violate Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms if viewed as “a way of compelling people to get vaccinated”.
McGill University biomedical ethicist Phoebe Friesen was also concerned the logic of taxing unvaccinated people could be extrapolated to other behaviours seen as driving health spending such as obesity, but that are tied to marginalisation.
If you want to be consistent and logical, you should charge all sorts of people for their hospitalisation if it’s based on behaviour that they’re ‘responsible’ for,” she said “... And it’s incredibly tricky to figure out what that looks like.”
Quebec, Canada’s second-most populous province, is struggling with surging Covid hospitalisations. The province’s public health director stepped down earlier this week citing an “erosion” of public trust in anti-pandemic measures.
Guardian reader and Montreal resident, Chris Batory, said the fact that more than 7,000 people lined up to receive their first vaccination in Quebec on Wednesday shows the strategy has worked, “for one day anyway!” he added.
“Our highest in several days,” Quebec’s health minister Christian Dubé tweeted, noting that 5,000 appointments were also made on Monday. “This is encouraging.”
Updated
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog, ready to take you through all the Covid news this Thursday.
Let’s start off with news from the United States where Covid hospitalisations increased by 33% and deaths are up by 40% from a week earlier, the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said US Covid cases are expected to peak in the coming weeks.
“The magnitude of this increase is largely related to the Omicron variant, which now represents about 90% of the Covid-19 cases in the country,” she told reporters.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has argued Covid vaccinations should be mandatory for all adults as the European country reported a record of 80,430 coronavirus infections on Wednesday.
“With the decision not to get vaccinated, one ultimately is not just making a decision for oneself but also for 80 million others,” Scholz said.
Scholz credited his new government’s measures to tighten curbs on public life and step up booster doses for preventing an even worse onslaught.
Here’s a comprehensive snapshot of how the coronavirus is unfolding across the world.
Europe:
-
Switzerland will halve its quarantine time to five days.
- France is poised to lift blanket ban on UK travellers ‘by end of the week’.
- Denmark is to offer a fourth coronavirus vaccination to vulnerable citizens as it faces record infection numbers from the Omicron variant.
- Sweden will cut the recommended time interval between the second and third Covid vaccine shot to five months from six.
- Greece will extend restrictions by a week at restaurants and bars to help curb the Omicron variant.
- Doctors in Spain will be awarded up to €49,000 (£40,882) each in compensation for working without proper personal protection gear in the first few months of the pandemic.
- Boris Johnson has admitted and apologised for attending a No 10 garden drinks event in May 2020. Johnson said he went to thank staff before going back into his office 25 minutes later.
- The UK government’s operation of a “VIP lane” for suppliers of personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic was illegal, a judge has ruled.
- Germany has reported 80,430 coronavirus cases - a new daily record - and 384 deaths, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute.
- Austria also set a new record of 18,427 daily Covid cases.
- Russia’s deputy prime minister Tatiana Golikova said that the government will prepare new measures to combat Covid by the end of the week.
- More than half of people in Europe could contract the Omicron in the next two months if infections continue at current rates, the WHO said.
Asia:
- China is battling coronavirus outbreaks in several cities, severely testing the country’s strict “zero-Covid” strategy just weeks before Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics. The northern city of Tianjin has ordered a second round of Covid testing on all 14 million residents after the discovery of 97 cases of the Omicron variant during initial screenings that began Sunday.
- A Chinese woman became an overnight sensation after she posted video diaries documenting her life after being stuck at a blind date’s house when the city was put under lockdown. Story here.
- In Australia, state and territory leaders will consider relaxing isolation requirements for the trucking and logistics sector, as the prime minister, Scott Morrison, calls for patience over the country’s disrupted supply chains.
- Novak Djokovic has blamed his agent for an “administrative mistake” when declaring he had not travelled in the two weeks before his flight to Australia and acknowledged an “error of judgment” by not isolating after he tested positive for Covid.
Americas:
- Quebec, Canada’s second-most populous province, has announced plans to impose a ‘health tax’ on residents who refuse to get the Covid-19 vaccination for non-medical reasons.
- World Health Organization experts have warned that repeating booster doses of the original Covid vaccines is not a viable strategy against emerging variants.
