Thank you for joining us on today’s live blog.
We will be closing this page down but please follow the latest Covid developments on our new live feed here.
Boris Johnson says UK doing ‘incomparably better’ against Covid
Britain is in an “incomparably better” position in the fight against Covid than it was at the end of 2020, Boris Johnson has said in his new year’s message.
The UK prime minister admitted there was anxiety about the Omicron variant and growing numbers of hospital admissions, and urged those who had not been vaccinated to get their jabs.
There was “one overriding reason” that tougher restrictions were not needed in the face of daily case numbers hitting record levels, he said – people “heroically, voluntarily and in almost incredible numbers heeding the call to get vaccinated”.
Johnson was buoyant about the speed of the booster rollout, saying it was “precisely because of that huge national effort that we can celebrate tonight at all”.
Read the full story here.
Isolating Quebec health staff may have to return to work early
Quebec healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19 may have to go to work sooner than expected if staffing levels in the Canadian province’s facilities reach a critical point.
Quebec’s health minister, Christian Dubé, made the announcement earlier this week, explaining that in a worst-case scenario the province would have no choice but to insist that isolating employees return to work.
Cases of the Omicron variant have surged in the province: on Thursday, a record-breaking 14,188 new cases were reported, with 939 Covid patients currently in hospital and 138 in intensive care. The Quebec newspaper La Presse
reported that hospitals in the province were getting close to activating the contingency plan.
Read the full story by Guardian reporter Tracey Lindeman here.
Israel approves fourth Covid jab
Israel has approved a fourth vaccine shot for vulnerable and immunocompromised people, becoming one of the first countries to do so, amid a surge in Covid in cases driven by the Omicron variant.
The country also received its first shipment of Pfizer’s anti-Covid pills.
Health ministry director-general Nachman Ash told reporters:
Today I approved giving the fourth vaccine for immunocompromised people.
I did this in light of studies that show the benefit of the vaccine, including the fourth vaccine, to this population, and in light of the fear they are more vulnerable in this outbreak of Omicron.”
Health authorities reported on Thursday more than 4,000 new cases, a high not seen since September.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Israel was in “a fifth wave”, with most cases probably related to the Omicron variant.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel, which was among the first countries in the world to offer a third shot to the general public, would be a trailblazer for the fourth jab.
“Israel will lead the way in administering a fourth vaccine to the Israeli people,” he said.
A US schoolteacher says she spent five hours in voluntary self-isolation in a plane’s toilet after testing positive for Covid on a flight to Iceland a few days before Christmas.
Marisa Fotieo says she performed a rapid test after noticing her throat hurt while travelling from Chicago to Reykjavik, in Iceland, on 20 December.
The test confirmed she was infected and so she remained in the toilet for the rest of the flight, with flight attendants providing food and drinks.
It was not immediately clear whether she had had to present a Covid-19 test before boarding the flight.
“It was a crazy experience,” Fotieo, who is from Michigan, told NBC News. “[There were] 150 people on the flight, and my biggest fear was giving it to them”.
Fotieo shared the experience in the plane’s bathroom in a TikTok video that has been viewed more than 4 million times.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as we count down the final hours until 2022.
As I’ll be reporting to you from Sydney for the next few hours here’s a quick rundown of how Covid is currently unfolding across Australia.
The state of NSW has recorded another 21,151 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths while Victoria has recorded 5,919 cases and seven deaths - up from 5,137 yesterday.
South Australia is refusing to adopt the new close close contact definition proposed by prime minister Scott Morrison on Thursday.
Other changes Morrison introduced include shortening isolation periods for positive cases and restricting close contacts to someone who has been with a confirmed case in a home-like setting for more than four hours.
The changes became active from midnight last night, with thousands now free to leave isolation. The new definition comes with a new standard for testing so that close contacts need to only get a rapid antigen test, with the hopes this will ease congestion on PCR testing sites.
Thursday Summary
Here’s a round-up of today’s Covid news from around the world.
- The number of people to die from Covid in Eastern Europe has reached 1 million, as Russia climbed above Brazil to become the country with the second-highest deaths behind the US.
- South Africa said the country had passed its Omicron peak without a major death surge, offering hope to countries hit hard by the mutated variant.
- France reported 206,243 new confirmed Covid cases, a tally above 200,000 for the second day running.
- The UK reported 189,213 new Covid cases, smashing Wednesday’s record-breaking tally of 183,037 positive tests.
- The UK is dogged by a shortage of tests, as Wales assists England with 4m tests amid fears of New Year’s Eve celebrations turning into breeding grounds for the virus.
- Scotland’s first minister urged people to avoid household mixing after a record high of nearly 17,000 cases.
-
India fears it is entering a new wave after cases surge, as confirmed Omicron cases also climb.
- Portugal cuts Covid isolation from ten days to seven, after the World Health Organization said on Wednesday slashing isolation was a trade-off between transmission and economic concerns.
- Germany will drop quarantine demands for UK travellers from 4 January after seeing its own Omicron cases jump above 3,000 recently.
- Malaysia detected 3,997 positive Covid cases, with the number among survivors of its recently deadly floods rising to 442 in total.
- Japan recorded over 500 new infections for the first time in two months.
- Five Bulgarian regions moved from yellow to red zones as the country recorded 3,449 new infections, a 139% jump on two weeks ago.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said all people should avoid cruises, following a rise in onboard Covid cases in a major blow to the industry.
That’s all from me, Jem Bartholomew in London, for today. I’ll be back in the new year. Do get in touch with tips and stories via email or on Twitter for then. Bye for now.
Updated
South Africa said on Thursday the country had passed its Omicron peak without a major death surge, the New York Times reports, which will offer heavilyhit countries a glimmer of hope as Covid case records are broken across the world.
The Times reports:
“We’ll be in for a tough January, as cases will keep going up and peak, and then fall fast,” said Ali Mokdad, a University of Washington epidemiologist who is a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist. While cases will still overwhelm hospitals, he said, he expects that the proportion of hospitalized cases will be lower than in earlier waves. ...
There are many caveats. The case figures might have been distorted by reduced testing during the holiday season. And many people in the most affected area had some measure of immunity, either from vaccination, prior infection or both, that might have protected them from serious illness.
However, research teams in South Africa, Scotland and England have found that Omicron infections more often result in mild illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus, causing fewer hospitalizations.
The speed with which the Omicron driven fourth wave rose, peaked and then declined has been staggering. Peak in four weeks and precipitous decline in another two. This Omicron wave is over in the City of Tshwane. It was a flash flood more than a wave.
— Fareed Abdullah (@fareedabdullah0) December 30, 2021
Updated
Malaysia detected 3,997 positive Covid tests on Thursday, local media the New Straits Times reports, a 6% drop on the 4,262 on Thursday two weeks ago.
The country’s R rate is currently 0.95. About 98% of Malaysia’s adult population is double-vaccinated, and 17% of the total population has been boosted.
Deadly floods have hit Malaysia in recent days, with at least 48 people dead after the worst floods since 2014. There are fears the virus could hit survivors. Officials said on Thursday that Covid cases among flood victims stands at 442 people confirmed so far.
Updated
In Japan, 502 new Covid cases were confirmed on Wednesday, up from 159 on Wednesday two weeks ago and exceeding the 500 mark for the first time in over two months.
Japan narrowed its definition of an Omicron “close contact” on Tuesday, the Japan Times reports, amid concerns it would run out of quarantine facilities. The new rules bring Omicron in line with the definition for other Covid cases: on a plane, two rows in front of and behind where the infected person was sitting.
Health minister Shigeyuki Goto said the decision was based on infections data. (Japan’s government previously expanded the definition of in-flight close contacts of people infected with Omicron to all passengers, later deciding they must all quarantine for 14 days at special facilities.)
The Japan Times also has an interesting article on the human cost of its strict border controls.
Japan pulled up its drawbridge amid the emergence of the Omicron variant, with the measures being extended by prime minister Fumio Kishida after their initial end-of-December expiry date.
“What’s most stressful is the vagueness of the timeline,” said Kiki Lee, a 23-year-old exchange student from China.
Lee, a first-year graduate student at Keio University, is unable to recieve scholarship funds as they it require her to be physically present in Japan. In the meantime she’s paying full tuition for remote classes.
Michael Bugajski, 35 and from the US, has lived in Japan for over five years. Bugajski has lost his father, sister-in-law and her newborn infant since the pandemic began, but he couldn’t fly home to attend their funerals.
“To hold onto the people you have, and to mourn for the people you don’t anymore. … If I’m looking forward to anything it’s just to have that moment,” Bugajski said.
Read the full story here.
Updated
Bulgaria detected 3,449 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, public broadcaster BNT reports, a 139% increase on the 1,443 cases recorded on Thursday two weeks ago.
Bulgaria’s chief state health inspector, Angel Kunchev, said on Thursday the country should brace for a sharp increase in infections in early January, the Sofia Globe reports.
Kunchev added that Omicron, despite appearing milder, could lead to greater hospitalisations and have a “devastating effect” on the health service and economy if it provokes a “tsunami” of infections.
Five Bulgarian regions have been re-classified from yellow to red zones – Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil, Plovdiv, Haskovo and Silistra – based on the prevalence rate per 100,000 people on a 14-day basis. The nationwide 14-day morbidity rate is now 293.59 cases per 100,000 people.
Bulgaria has reported 30,819 deaths from Covid-related causes, according to a Reuters tally. The eastern Europe’s Covid death toll climbed above 1 million on Thursday, Reuters said.
Bulgaria has the lowest vaccine rate in Europe, with an estimated 26% of adults double-vaccinated.
Updated
The UK health secretary Sajid Javid is being urged to ensure National Health Service (NHS) workers are prioritised for Covid tests or risk a “devastating” impact on patient care, The Guardian reports.
Pressure is being piled on by the British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors.
The BMA warned that the system for ensuring NHS staff receive tests was “not working”. It said its members were reporting problems with obtaining PCR and lateral flow tests, despite healthcare workers supposedly being given priority for both.
The BMA’s chair of council, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, said:
Being unable to get the tests means staff may not be legally allowed to work and, at a time of acute workforce shortages and winter pressures, this could be devastating for the care that can be given right across the NHS.
It follows the Welsh government’s announcement on Thursday that it had lent an additional 4 million lateral flow testing kits to England to help alleviate the supply squeeze across the border, bringing the total offered to 10 million.
My colleagues have the full story here.
Ukraine recorded 5,930 positive Covid tests on Thursday, a 40% decrease on the 9,918 new cases on Thursday two weeks ago.
Ukraine’s most recent wave peaked in early November, with daily cases sometimes rising above 25,000. Recent infections have receded but Omicron threatens to spark a new epidemic.
A further 278 people died from Covid-related causes, local media Ukrinform reports – a 27% decrease on the 383 deaths two weeks ago.
Ukraine has recorded 95,690 deaths from Covid-related causes. A Reuters tally on Thursday found eastern Europe’s Covid deaths has now risen above 1 million.
Updated
UK breaks daily Covid infections tally again with 189,213
The UK reported 189,213 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, smashing Wednesday’s record-breaking tally of 183,037 positive tests.
Thursday’s new infections represent a 116% rise on the 87,565 new infections reported two weeks ago today – which was itself then a record-breaking daily tally.
A further 332 people died from Covid-related causes on Thursday, a 127% climb on the 146 deaths recorded two weeks ago.
It comes after a scarcity of Covid tests in the UK has sparked concern over New Year’s Eve celebrations, which prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed in recent days would go ahead, with no new restrictions until at least the New Year.
Peter Openshaw, who sits on the UK government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said: “It’s very worrying indeed.” He added:
We know the situations in which transmission happens and fortunately I don’t think we are facing the sort of lockdown that was necessary in order to cope in the very earliest part of this year.
But we do know that crowding together in poorly ventilated spaces, particularly if you are shouting over loud music and so on, is absolutely perfect in terms of transmitting this very, very highly transmissible virus.
Updated
Poland detected 14,325 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, a 35% decrease from the 22,096 infections on Thursday two weeks ago.
Poland experienced spiking cases in late November and early December, with daily infections receding in recent weeks. But Omicron has driven fears of a new wave.
A further 709 people died from Covid-related causes on Thursday, according to local media Polskie Radio – a 20% rise on Thursday two weeks ago.
Poland has now recorded 96,415 deaths from the virus. A Reuters tally on Thursday found Eastern Europe’s Covid deaths had reached 1 million people.
Poland’s health minister, Adam Niedzielskion, on Thursday announced a “fundamental reform” of Polish hospitals, with draft legislation planning to “professionalise hospital management”, he said.
Updated
France will allow people from the UK to drive through as they return to EU countries, suspending a ban on British people returning to their homes in the EU after spending the holidays in the UK.
The UK government clarified: “The French authorities confirmed on 30 December that UK nationals who are resident in other EU member states and who have travelled to the UK for the Christmas period will be able to transit France over the New Year period in order to return home to their country of residence.”
“Transit for less than 24 hours in the international zone of an airport is listed under ‘essential reasons’ to travel,” the UK government guidance added.
Updated
Eastern Europe's Covid death tolls reaches 1 million people
The number of people to die from Covid in eastern Europe has reached 1 million, according to a tally from Reuters.
It follows Russia climbing above Brazil to become the country with the second-highest death toll, behind the US, with over 835,000 pandemic excess deaths. Russia said 87,527 people died from Covid-related causes in November, its deadliest month since the pandemic began.
(The Reuters count includes Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.)
Omicron has yet to batter eastern Europe – as it currently is western Europe – but there are fears it might spark another wave imminently.
Updated
Germany drops quarantine mandate for UK travellers
Germany will drop quarantine demands for UK travellers from 4 January.
Previously, even double-vaccinated people needed a negative test to enter and then had to quarantine for 14 days.
The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said it was a “welcome development”.
With effect from 0:00 hours CET on Tuesday, 4 January 2022, the ban on carriage of persons travelling from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Germany and the associated entry restriction will be lifted.
— German Embassy London (@GermanEmbassy) December 30, 2021
More information ⤵️https://t.co/EmMuH1IuVo
Germany has now reported thousands of Omicron cases. Uwe Janssens, who heads the German Society of Internal Medicine and Intensive Care, told German media DW infections caused by the highly-mutated strain will dominate in Germany in the weeks to come.
“It can be assumed that the omicron variant will certainly dominate in January, like in the other countries such as Great Britain, Norway, Denmark and Portugal,” Janssens said.
Updated
Here’s a look at the UK’s record-breaking tally daily Covid infections yesterday in context.
Ministers will be keeping keen eye on hospitalisations in the coming days and weeks.
UK Covid figures for Thursday are delayed, the government’s data portal says, until around 8pm GMT.
This is Jem Bartholomew taking over from my colleague Lucy Campbell for the next few hours. Do get in touch with tips and stories from around the world via email or on Twitter.
France reports over 200,000 new daily cases for second day in a row
France reported 206,243 new confirmed Covid cases in a 24-hour period on Thursday, a tally above 200,000 for the second day running.
The record of 208,099 was set just the day before, on Wednesday, as the health minister, Olivier Véran, warned of a “tsunami” of infections.
At the beginning of December, there were fewer than 50,000 daily cases. One month before that, the daily data broke the 10,000 threshold for the first time since mid-September.
Updated
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people should avoid cruise travel regardless of vaccination status, following a rise in onboard Covid cases, in a major blow to the industry that has been ravaged by the pandemic.
The CDC on Thursday raised its Covid travel health notice level for cruise ships to 4, its highest warning level.
“Even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants,” the health agency said. With several cruise ships already on the seas, the CDC said the passengers should get tested three to five days after their trip ends, and self-monitor for Covid symptoms for 14 days.
The CDC has investigated or started an investigation into Covid cases on more than 85 ships already. It had eased its warnings for cruises by a notch from the highest level in June after cases had eased.
Updated
As New Year’s Eve approaches, further changes are being made to coronavirus measures in different UK nations. Both Wales and Northern Ireland have announced a cut to self-isolation rules, the same as has been introduced in England.
The PA news agency has broken down how Covid measures currently compare in the four nations.
Northern Ireland
On Thursday, it was announced the self-isolation period for confirmed Covid-19 cases will be reduced in Northern Ireland from 10 days to seven in line with England. The new rule will be subject to negative lateral flow tests on days six and seven, will apply retrospectively and take effect from Friday.
It has already been announced that nightclubs will be closed on New Year’s Eve, while dancing will also be prohibited in hospitality venues. This will not apply to weddings. People must remain seated for table service, while table numbers will be limited to six.
Ministers have also agreed that sporting events can continue with no limits on capacity, while the work-from-home message is being bolstered and legislation introduced to require social distancing in offices and similar workplaces. The guidance is for mixing in a domestic setting to be limited to three households.
The first minister, Paul Givan, said on Thursday following a virtual meeting of the Stormont executive that no further restrictions would be introduced at this time, but that the executive would continue to assess the data as more information emerged.
Wales
The Welsh government also announced on Thursday that the mandatory isolation period for people who test positive with Covid-19 will drop from 10 days to seven, subject to two negative lateral flow tests on days six and seven. Initially the new rule was to be introduced on 5 January, but it will now come into force on Friday.
Current rules in Wales state groups of no more than six people are allowed to meet in pubs, cinemas and restaurants. Licensed premises can offer table service only, face masks will have to be worn and contact tracing details collected, and 2-metre social distancing rules are in place. Nightclubs have been closed since Boxing Day and there is a requirement to work from home wherever possible. A maximum of 30 people can attend indoor events and a maximum of 50 people at outdoor events.
People attending weddings or civil partnership receptions or wakes are also being told to take a lateral flow test before attending.
Scotland
Events have 1-metre social distancing and are limited to 100 people standing indoors, 200 people sitting indoors and 500 people outdoors. One-metre physical distancing is in place in all indoor hospitality and leisure settings. Table service is also required where alcohol is being served.
Since 14 December, people have been asked to reduce their social contact as much as possible by meeting in groups of no more than three households. Allowing staff to work from home where possible has become a legal duty on employers. Care home visits have also been limited to two households.
England
On Monday, it was announced that no further coronavirus restrictions would be imposed in England until the new year, meaning the country has the most relaxed rules in the UK.
However, Covid passes for entry into nightclubs and other venues have been in place as of 15 December. This applies to indoor events with 500 or more attendees where people are likely to stand or move around, such as music venues, certain outdoor events, such as music festivals, and any events with 10,000 or more attendees.
Face coverings have also been made compulsory in most indoor public settings, as well as on public transport, and people have been told to work from home if they can.
If a person in England has tested positive or has symptoms, they can stop self-isolating after seven days instead of 10 days if they receive two negative lateral flow test results on days six and seven. Those who are unvaccinated close contacts of positive cases must still isolate for 10 days.
England’s guidance is that people should work from home if they can. Anyone who cannot work from home should continue to go in to work but is encouraged to consider taking lateral flow tests regularly.
Updated
There were winners and losers as work patterns transformed during the pandemic - and perhaps forever - with repercussions for city centres and society as a whole. My colleague Joanna Partridge reports:
Welsh government comes to Westminster's aid with 4m lateral flow tests
The Welsh government has come to the aid of Westminster by lending England 4m lateral flow tests, as ministers scramble to secure supplies from around the world.
There has been a surge in demand for Covid tests as people try to comply with advice to limit the spread of the Omicron variant by ensuring they do not have the virus before socialising.
But by 9am on Thursday, home delivery slots for lateral flow tests were unavailable on the gov.uk website. Pharmacies have also complained about patchy supplies of lateral flow kits.
The Welsh government has agreed to loan four million more tests to the NHS in England, bringing the total the country has given England to a total of 10 million.
The first minister, Mark Drakeford, said:
Wales has a significant stock of lateral flow tests, sufficient to meet our needs over the weeks ahead.
In a letter to MPs, the health secretary Sajid Javid said the supply of lateral flow devices (LFDs) was being tripled in January and February from a pre-Omicron plan of 100m to 300m a month.
“To respond to anticipated demand over the coming few weeks we are buying hundreds of millions more LFD tests, bringing new products on board and accelerating their deployment to the public,” he said.
But “in light of the huge demand for LFDs seen over the last three weeks, we expect to need to constrain the system at certain points over the next two weeks to manage supply over the course of each day, with new tranches of supply released regularly throughout each day”.
The prime minister, Boris Johnson, previously urged people in England heading out for New Year’s Eve festivities on Friday to get tested.
Prof Peter Openshaw, who sits on the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said the conditions at a New Year’s Eve gathering were “perfect” for spreading coronavirus.
The UK Health Security Agency said on Wednesday that 8m lateral flow test kits would be made available to pharmacies by New Year’s Eve.
Updated
Germany announced it would in early January lift strict travel rules introduced amid fears over the Omicron variant, AFP reports.
All countries currently listed in the “virus variant” category, including the UK and several southern African nations, will be reclassified as “high risk” from 4 January, said government health agency, the Robert Koch Institute.
The change eases a ban on entry for travellers who are not German residents or citizens, instead allowing anyone to enter as long as they observe quarantine and testing rules.
Germany introduced its “virus variant” travel category in a bid to stop new variants that have not yet spread widely on its territory.
Only citizens and residents of Germany are permitted to enter from a “virus variant” country and are subject to a two-week quarantine, regardless of whether they are fully vaccinated or can provide a negative Covid test.
By contrast, anyone double-vaccinated can enter from a high-risk country as long as they provide a negative test on arrival.
Travellers from high-risk areas are exempt from quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated.
Germany has so far recorded 16,748 cases of Omicron but the real number is thought to be much higher due to delays in reporting over the Christmas period.
The health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said on Wednesday that he expects a significant rise in the number of Omicron cases in Germany within “in a few weeks”.
Updated
Russia Covid death toll climbs to world's second highest
Russia has overtaken Brazil to have the world’s second-highest death toll from the coronavirus pandemic, behind the United States, data from Russia’s state statistics service and Reuters calculations showed on Thursday.
The statistics service, Rosstat, said 87,527 people had died from Covid-related causes in November, making it the deadliest month in Russia since the start of the pandemic.
Russia’s overall pandemic death toll reached 658,634, according to Reuters calculations based on Rosstat figures up to the end of November and data from the coronavirus task force for December, overtaking Brazil, which has recorded 618,800 deaths.
The death toll in the United States is higher, at 825,663 people, according to a Reuters tally, but its population is more than twice as big as Russia’s.
Reuters calculations also showed Russia recorded more than 835,000 excess deaths since the beginning of the outbreak in April 2020 to the end of November, compared to average mortality in 2015-2019.
Some epidemiologists say that calculating excess deaths is the best way to assess the true impact of a pandemic.
So far, Russia’s death toll has not been affected by the Omicron variant and was mostly caused by a surge of infections in October and November, which health authorities blamed on the Delta variant and a slow vaccination campaign.
On Thursday, Russian authorities ordered hospitals to get prepared for a possible surge in Covid cases.
Updated
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, which represents NHS community pharmacies in England, says some pharmacy staff are being verbally abused when stocks of lateral flow tests run out, following “exceptionally high” levels of demand.
Alastair Buxton, the PSNC’s director of NHS services, said:
Public demand for test kits remains exceptionally high, and despite UKHSA delivering some two million tests to pharmacy wholesalers on some days, this is still falling short of demand.
Pharmacies are restricted to ordering one carton of tests per day, with not every pharmacy able to have one every day, and they say that any stock that does arrive is handed out very quickly given the constant demand.
Members of the public being directed to pharmacies for tests are rightly frustrated when they cannot get them, but it’s concerning that some pharmacy teams say they are still being verbally abused when this happens.
Pharmacies are getting as much stock as they can, and while we too are frustrated by this ongoing situation, we would ask people not to take their annoyance out on pharmacy teams: they are doing their best to meet demand in impossible circumstances, alongside providing other important healthcare services.
Scotland’s health secretary has admitted the country is likely to miss its target of getting 80% of the eligible population boosted by the end of December, despite a concerted effort to promote the booster programme.
Humza Yousaf told BBC Scotland an “exceptionally high” number of people would need to come forward for their booster or third vaccinations in the final hours before New Year’s Day to hit the 80% target.
He estimated that on Thursday morning the government was 120,000 people short of that target despite repeated calls on Scots to get “boosted by the bells” – a reference to the bells that traditionally ring out at midnight on 31 December to welcome in the new year.
He said:
Our target was always to get to as close to 80% as we possibly could, we could get to 80% because the capacity is absolutely there, it will really be dependent on how many people come forward today and tomorrow.
NHS Scotland data published at 2pm on Thursday showed that 2,944,977 booster or third vaccinations had been administered in Scotland, and the daily figures suggest the rate has slowed down during the Christmas holidays.
Yousaf urged those who had not yet been boosted to book appointments in January, to continue the programme. He said there was plenty of capacity. Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, told MSPs on Wednesday some people had missed appointments because they had either caught Covid or were self-isolating as close contacts.
When the target of boosting nearly all UK adults by the end of December was first set by Boris Johnson, the prime minister, on 12 December, Yousaf had been quite sceptical it could be achieved.
He said it would prove “extremely challenging” and would require diverting NHS staff to vaccination clinics, calling in military support and using trainee doctors and private firms to achieve it. Several days later Sturgeon said the revised target was to give 80% of eligible adults a booster by New Year’s Day.
Updated
Sturgeon urges Scots to avoid household mixing as cases hit new peak
Nicola Sturgeon has again warned people to avoid mixing with other households after Covid cases in Scotland hit another record high of nearly 17,000 new cases, and hospitalisations increased by nearly 20% in one day.
The first minister urged Scots to behave very cautiously in a series of tweets after 16,857 new cases were reported – equivalent to 27% of all tests taken yesterday. The NHS data showed 810 people were in hospital with Covid, an increase of 19.3% on yesterday’s figures, and the highest daily total since early November.
1/ Yet another record tally of reported cases in 🏴 today - reflecting fact that Omicron is very, very infectious.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) December 30, 2021
Likelihood of getting it just now if you mix with others is high.
💉 Tho remember - being boosted gives you significant protection against becoming v ill with it https://t.co/pnjRWJWb0e
Warning people about the risks of social mixing on Hogmanay, Sturgeon tweeted:
1/ Yet another record tally of reported cases in 🏴 today - reflecting fact that Omicron is very, very infectious.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) December 30, 2021
Likelihood of getting it just now if you mix with others is high.
💉 Tho remember - being boosted gives you significant protection against becoming v ill with it https://t.co/pnjRWJWb0e
2/ Just as notable than cases is the steep rise in hospital occupancy, the largest single day increase in a while - a reminder that even if there is a lower % hospitalised through Omicron, sheer volume will still put acute pressure on NHS - and result in serious illness for many
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) December 30, 2021
3/ Concerning those these numbers are, they would be even higher but for good compliance with public health advice.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) December 30, 2021
As we approach the New Year, I am appealing to everyone to keep following this advice - for you own sake and also to help the NHS…
4/ 🙏
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) December 30, 2021
✋ limit contacts with people in other households as much as possible
🦠 if you do mix with others, take a test just before you go…if positive, isolate
😷 wear face coverings in indoor places
🙌 wash hands
AND
💉 Get #BoostedByTheBells https://t.co/eSO1YM7pre
Another nine deaths were reported of people with confirmed Covid, taking the total under that measure to 9,845, but the number in intensive care fell slightly by two to 49. Hospitalisations peaked in Scotland in late January 2021, at 2,053 cases.
Scotland’s rolling seven-day average is now 11,838, compared with a recent low of 2,532 in late November.
Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary, confirmed in a BBC Scotland interview on Wednesday night it was unclear how many of those patients had been hospitalised because they had Covid, or were found to be positive after being admitted for another reason.
Interviewed on The Nine, Yousaf was pressed on whether evidence from English hospitals which suggested only about 50% of patients with Covid had been admitted because of the virus was true for Scottish hospitalisations.
As figures for England suggest that almost half of hospital patients in London didn’t know they had Covid before going in, #TheNine’s @mmgeissler asks Scottish health secretary @HumzaYousaf about Scottish Covid hospitalisations. pic.twitter.com/4GmCpmMpmT
— The Nine (@BBCScotNine) December 29, 2021
The minister said the Scottish government was waiting for corroborated data from Public Health Scotland before disclosing those figures. Yousaf was unable to say how many patients in intensive care had the Omicron variant, but said statisticians were working on releasing that data.
Updated
Portugal reduces Covid isolation from 10 days to seven
Portugal has cut the mandatory isolation period for people who test positive for Covid but are asymptomatic from 10 days to seven, even as new infections hit record highs.
The move, which also applies to high-risk contacts, came after health experts urged the government to rethink its policy amid concerns that the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant and lengthy quarantines could paralyse the country.
“This decision is aligned with guidelines from other countries and is a result of a technical and weighted consideration, given the incubation period of the now predominant variant, Omicron,” the DGS health authority said in a statement.
Portugal’s decision follows similar moves in other countries like Spain and the UK, where several industries reported disruption as staff had to isolate even if they weren’t showing symptoms.
The Portuguese island of Madeira on Wednesday also decided to cut mandatory isolation for asymptomatic people who test positive to five days, as well as for people who have close contact with confirmed cases.
Daily coronavirus cases have risen in Portugal this week, peaking at a record 28,659 on Thursday, due to the fast-spreading Omicron and amplified by an increase in mass testing.
Although the number of infections has skyrocketed, deaths and patients in intensive care units are not growing exponentially. Portugal has one of the world’s highest Covid vaccination rates, with around 87% of its 10-million population fully inoculated.
DGS registered 16 deaths on Thursday, up from Wednesday’s 12, while the number of patients in intensive care units fell to 144 from 151.
In late January, the number of daily deaths exceeded 300 and there were more than 900 patients in intensive care.
Updated
Wales shortens self-isolation period from 10 to seven days
The number of people with Covid in hospitals in Wales has increased to 446 - 49% higher than last week, the Welsh government has said.
It has also announced that from Friday, people who have tested positive for Covid will have to isolate for seven rather than 10 days to help get people in critical jobs back to work.
In a written statement, the first minister, Mark Drakeford, said the public health situation in Wales had deteriorated with the seven-day case rate at more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people across Wales. Cases are highest among 20- to 39-year-olds.
The first minister said hospitalisations remained lower than in previous waves, but these too are starting to increase. However, Wales is not seeing a rise in the number of patients with Covid-19 needing critical care.
Drakeford said Wales had a “significant stock of lateral flow tests, sufficient to meet our needs over the weeks ahead” and was loaning millions of tests to England.
On the isolation rules, Drakeford said:
People who have tested positive for Covid-19 must self-isolate for seven days. On days six and seven of their self-isolation period they should take lateral flow tests and if these tests – taken 24 hours apart – are positive, they should continue to self-isolate.
We are bringing the change forward because the balance of harms has changed and the rising number of cases has begun to have an impact on the number of people, in critical jobs, who are excluded from the workplace because of self-isolation.
Updated
Southern has cancelled trains to and from London Victoria for two weeks as a result of pandemic-related staff shortages.
Disruption to rail services has been worsening over the Christmas period while industrial action continues. Southern has now announced that none of its trains will run to or from London Victoria until 10 January owing to “coronavirus isolation and sickness”.
London Victoria is one of the UK’s busiest stations, and is normally connected by Southern to locations such as Brighton, Eastbourne and Portsmouth.
Many other operators in addition to Southern have cancelled trains owing to the pandemic. They include Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, London North Eastern Railway, Northern, ScotRail, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales.
The suspension of Southern’s London Victoria services means it will not serve Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Common or Battersea Park.
More on this story here: Southern cancels London Victoria trains for two weeks over Covid
The Tories in Wales are trying to ratchet up the pressure on the Labour-led Welsh government to publish the scientific evidence behind its post-Christmas Covid restrictions.
They point out that little has been seen of Welsh ministers and are calling for them to also publish the latest figures of people with Omicron in hospital and NHS staff absence rates
The Welsh Conservative Senedd leader, Andrew RT Davies, said:
Over the past week, I’ve heard more from the prime minister, Sajid Javid and even Nicola Sturgeon but Labour ministers in Cardiff Bay have been nowhere to be seen.
The fact we are still waiting on the government to publish the scientific advice behind the recent restrictions is quite frankly appalling.
Updated
Pope Francis has cancelled his traditional New Year’s Eve visit to the Nativity scene in St Peter’s Square over concerns of spreading coronavirus among the gathered crowds, AFP reports.
The pontiff is normally met by wellwishers when he visits the crib on 31 December, after presiding over the end-of-year Vespers and chanting of the Te Deum prayer.
But the Vatican said in a diary note on Thursday that “the event will not be held, to avoid gatherings and the subsequent risks of Covid-19 infection”.
Francis, 85, on Wednesday held his weekly general audience as usual in the Paul VI hall in the Vatican, with masks and social distancing.
But as elsewhere in Europe, Italy - and by extension the Vatican City State - is facing a surge in coronavirus cases fuelled by the Omicron variant.
Updated
Earlier I posted an entry about seven European countries barring Turkish travellers. Reuters said that story was based on a travel guidance table from Turkey’s civil aviation authority (SHGM), which has been updated to remove references to such bans. The story has now been withdrawn by Reuters and has been removed here too. You may have to refresh the page.
Updated
Indian authorities started to impose stringent rules on Thursday to prevent mass gatherings at new year parties and public venues to combat a surge in Covid infections, even as top leaders led large political rallies, Reuters reports.
Night curfews have been imposed in all major cities and restaurants ordered to limit customers.
However, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the home minister, Amit Shah, presided over public rallies in northern states with footage from the events showing thousands of people gathered in open grounds to hear their speeches.
Last week an Indian court urged Modi’s government to suspend political rallies and election campaigns in poll-bound states amid the rising number of Omicron cases.
Elections to the state assembly in Uttar Pradesh, home to over 220 million people, is a key battleground for Modi and opposition parties because of its size and because the performance of political parties there will be a barometer for the 2024 national elections.
Final dates for polls are yet to declared but all political parties have launched their campaigns, disregarding social distancing.
The country reported 13,154 new Covid cases and 268 deaths in the last 24 hours, the federal health ministry said, with urban centres reporting a big rise. Cases of Omicron infections rose to 961.
Police in the financial capital Mumbai prohibited public gatherings of five or more residents until 7 January as it recorded a sharp rise in cases with 2,510 infections, the highest daily increase since May, local authorities said.
“It is being seen that social gatherings are going on in an unrestricted manner with people flouting all social distancing norms... we are trying our best to control the spread of the virus,” said Rajesh Tope, the health minister of the western state of Maharashtra of which Mumbai is the capital.
Tope said the next 48 hours were critical for authorities to prevent an escalation of fresh Covid cases.
While the government in the capital, New Delhi, closed cinemas, schools and gyms, state leader Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday held a public rally to celebrate victory in local polls in neighbouring Chandigarh city.
An Indian newspaper, Mint, quoted Paul Kattuman, professor at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge which has developed a Covid-19 India tracker stating that new infections will begin to rise in a few days, possibly this week.
“It is likely that India will see a period of explosive growth in daily cases and that the intense growth phase will be relatively short,” said Kattuman.
Updated
Now Christmas is over, the key to understanding the next part of the pandemic will be the number, and length, of hospitalisations, writes Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, in the Guardian today.
An extract reads:
How the next few weeks – never mind the next few months – play out in the UK is still far from clear. Even though the Omicron variant appears to be less severe than Delta, and for many the infection is just a mild, cold-like illness, that is clearly not the case for all. Ultimately the amount of pressure on the NHS will depend on how many people become ill enough to be admitted to hospital and that will depend on how high infection rates go, especially in the older age groups.
If, as was the case in South Africa, cases increase very rapidly, peak and fall rapidly then the pressure on the NHS may be short-lived and manageable. But the epidemic in the UK may not follow what happened in South Africa.
So where does this leave us with knowing how to best manage as we move beyond new year? It all depends on how much pressure Omicron will place on the health service at its peak and how long that period of high demand lasts. We probably won’t know until a week or so after the holiday period what is likely to happen in January and beyond.
You can read the full piece here: Now Christmas is over, how bad is the Omicron situation in England?
The UK health secretary, Sajid Javid, has warned MPs he may need to “constrain” the Covid testing system over the next fortnight, as demand for lateral flow kits surges.
Ministers have repeatedly encouraged members of the public to test themselves using a lateral flow device (LFD) before attending gatherings or meeting vulnerable relatives.
However, test kits have repeatedly been unavailable online in recent days, and many pharmacies have complained of being unable to secure them.
Labour has accused the government of presiding over a “shambles”, with many members of the public struggling to obtain tests despite ministers putting testing at the centre of efforts to control the spread of Omicron.
Demand for the tests has also been boosted by a change in quarantine rules that allows people to emerge from self-isolation after seven days instead of 10, as long as they carry out two negative lateral flow tests.
In a letter sent to MPs on Wednesday evening, Javid acknowledged the intense strain being put on the system as cases of the Omicron variant continue to increase, with 183,037 new infections recorded on Wednesday.
He wrote:
In light of the huge demand for LFDs seen over the last three weeks, we expect to need to constrain the system at certain points over the next two weeks to manage supply over the course of each day, with new tranches of supply released regularly throughout each day.
Javid reiterated the advice that the public should take a test “when engaging in activities that carry the greatest risk, and before coming into contact with people at risk of serious illness”.
He said MPs should suggest that constituents unable to source testing kits online or find any at their local pharmacist, should, “see whether their local authority is distributing tests” or seek them out at local community facilities, such as libraries.
Read the full story here: Lateral flow tests to be ‘constrained’ over next two weeks, warns Sajid Javid
Martti Ahtisaari, Finland’s former president and Nobel peace prize winner, is in hospital after testing positive for Covid for a second time, AFP reports.
The 84-year-old former mediator of international conflicts first contracted the illness in March 2020.
“President Ahtisaari is doing well under the circumstances, but is being treated in hospital,” his foundation said on Thursday.
The president of Finland from 1994 until 2000, Ahtisaari was awarded the Nobel prize in 2008 for his work to end conflicts in Indonesia, Namibia, Northern Ireland and the Balkans.
Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, he announced his withdrawal from public life in September.
The former UN diplomat oversaw negotiations for reconciliation in 2005 between the Indonesian government and GAM rebels as well as Kosovo’s path toward independence.
Updated
Three-quarters of people across the UK with new cold-like symptoms are likely to have Covid but exponential case growth seems to have stopped, scientists have said.
According to new analysis, the Zoe Covid study estimates that 75% of people experiencing new cold-like symptoms are likely to have symptomatic Covid-19, PA reports.
That is up from about 50% last week, with the study reporting that the data was showing a fall in the number of non-Covid “colds” and a rise in symptomatic Covid infections.
It also said the incidence figures show there are currently 192,290 new daily symptomatic cases of Covid in the UK on average, based on test data from up to three days ago. That is up 33% from the 144,284 reported last week.
The study also found that while the rise in cases appeared to be slowing in the 0 to 55 age groups it was “rising sharply” in the 55- to 75-year-old groups. It said this was “worrying” because this older age group was more at risk of needing hospital treatment.
Dr Claire Steves, a scientist on the Zoe study app, said that while the number of daily new symptomatic Covid cases was more than double what it was this time last year, exponential growth appeared to have stopped.
But symptoms such as a sore throat, headache, and runny nose needed to be added to the government list of Covid symptoms as soon as possible, she added.
The number of daily new symptomatic Covid cases are more than double what they were this time last year and we are just a day or two away from hitting over 200,000.
However, the exponential growth in cases appears to have stopped, and the rise is more steady.
Hospitalisation rates are thankfully much lower than this time last year, but they are still high, especially in London.
It’s good news to see that fewer people are newly sick than a few weeks ago.
However, the fact that 75% of new cold-like symptoms are Covid, and the classic symptoms are much less common, means the government advice needs to be urgently updated. We want to see symptoms like sore throat, headache and runny nose added to the list as soon as possible.
The new figures, published on Thursday, come after a new record was set for the daily number of Covid cases on Wednesday, as all four UK nations reported their figures for the first time since Christmas Eve.
The Zoe study also found there were 78,748 new daily symptomatic cases in the vaccinated population – those with at least two doses – across the UK, up 40% from 56,346 last week.
It estimates that on average one in 32 people in the UK currently have symptomatic Covid, rising to one in 30 in England.
In Wales it is one in 41, in Scotland it is one in 51, and in London one in 16 have symptomatic Covid, it added.
The Zoe study incidence figures are based on reports from around 840,000 weekly contributors.
Updated
Seven European nations have barred Turkish passengers from entering their countries as the Omicron variant spreads, according to travel guidance by Turkey’s civil aviation authority (SHGM).
Daily Covid cases in Turkey have reached their highest level since April this week, surging to nearly 37,000, but the number is still significantly below figures reported in parts of Europe.
The SHGM’s Covid-19 travel guidance, last updated on 28 December, said the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Croatia, Iceland and Switzerland would no longer accept Turkish passengers. It said Turkish passengers would need to show proof of vaccination when entering Portugal or Sweden.
“Entry cannot be made from our country,” the SHGM list said for the seven European countries, without elaborating.
The SHGM also updated travel restrictions for Iraq and Iran, saying passengers travelling to the two countries may be subject to 14-day quarantine upon entry, while other travellers would need a negative PCR test.
It was not immediately clear when the new restrictions were put in place or how long they would be in effect.
The Netherlands announced a snap Christmas lockdown earlier this month, which will be reviewed on 14 January.
Other countries have seen record number of coronavirus cases in recent weeks, working to balance restrictions while keeping economies running.
Turkey has said it was not considering new restrictions for the moment, instead urging citizens to ramp up personal measures and get vaccinated. Ankara launched a nationwide rollout of its domestic Covid vaccine, Turkovac, on Thursday [see 11.26am.].
Updated
Three in 10 local authority areas in the UK are recording their highest rate of new Covid cases since mass testing began in summer 2020, new analysis shows.
The areas include around three-quarters of authorities in north-west England, nearly two-thirds in the West Midlands and almost half in the East Midlands.
But no London boroughs are on the list, while only a tiny number of areas in the south-east and eastern England are at record levels, suggesting the latest surge in cases may have peaked in these parts of the country.
In a similar survey in the week before Christmas, two-thirds of local authorities in London were reporting record case rates.
The new figures, which have been compiled by PA Media, show that:
- 29 of the 39 local authorities in north-west England now have record Covid-19 case rates, led by Barrow-in-Furness (1,554.1 cases per 100,000 people), Bury (1,489.7) and Warrington (1,471.4). Other areas at record levels include Blackpool, Bolton, Liverpool and Wigan.
- In the West Midlands, 18 of the 30 local authorities are seeing record rates, led by Stafford (1,178.7), Lichfield (1,119.9) and Cannock Chase (1,085.9).
- 17 of the 40 local authorities in the East Midlands have record case rates, including Chesterfield (1,189.4), Leicester (1,036.3) and Lincoln (1,087.5).
- London still has the highest local rates in the UK, accounting for nine of the top 10 and 17 of the top 20. Lambeth has the highest rate of all, 2,415.4, though this is down week-on-week from 3,029.1.
- Only one of the 11 local authorities in Northern Ireland is currently not at a record high: Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon.
- Northern Ireland also has the highest rate of the four UK nations (1,310.2), followed by England (1,226.0), Wales (1,150.4) and Scotland (1,068.2) - all of which are record highs.
Figures are for the seven days to 25 December, as data for more recent days is still incomplete.
In total, 112 of the 377 local authority areas in the UK (30%) are recording their highest Covid case rates since mass testing was rolled out across the country in May and June 2020.
Figures for case rates in the early months of the pandemic are not directly comparable, as only a small number of people were being tested, mostly in hospitals and care homes.
The contrast between the south and east corner of the UK, and the rest of the country, reflects the way the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has spread in recent weeks – in particular how London was the first area of the UK where Omicron became the dominant variant.
Of the 112 local authority areas with record case rates, only two are in south-east England (Cherwell and Worthing) and four are in eastern England (Bedford, King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Mid Suffolk and South Norfolk).
In Scotland, 11 of the 32 local authorities are seeing record rates, along with eight of the 22 authorities in Wales.
In addition, 11 of the 21 local authorities in Yorkshire and Humber are at record levels, plus two of the 12 authorities in north-east England.
Updated
The number of deaths involving Covid registered each week in England and Wales dropped slightly ahead of Christmas, though it is too soon to see any impact in the figures of the current surge in Covid-19 cases, PA Media reports.
A total of 755 deaths registered in the week ending 17 December mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
That is down 1% on the previous week and is the lowest number of deaths since the week to 15 October, when the total was 713.
6.1% of all deaths registered in the week ending 17 December mentioned #COVID19 on the death certificate in England and Wales (755 deaths).
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) December 30, 2021
This was a decrease in the number of deaths from the previous week (764 deaths, 6.4% of all deaths).
Deaths have remained at a low level throughout the latest wave of cases, with the weekly total between roughly 700 and 1,000 for the past few months.
By contrast, 8,433 deaths involving Covid were registered in England and Wales in the week to 29 January, at the peak of the second wave of the virus.
The rollout of vaccines has played a major role in keeping the number of deaths across the UK at a relatively low level since the second wave.
It is too early to tell if the surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant is affecting the number of Covid deaths, however.
Due to the typical length of time between infection, hospital admission and death – two to three weeks – the impact of the current record levels of cases will not be evident until January at the earliest.
The latest ONS figures also show that 60 care home resident deaths involving Covid in England and Wales were registered in the week to 17 December, down slightly from 65 the previous week.
In total, 44,466 care home residents in England and Wales have had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began.
The figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes.
Overall, 174,392 deaths have now occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.
The highest number on a single day was 1,485 on 19 January 2021.
During the first wave of the virus, the daily toll peaked at 1,461 on 8 April 2020.
Updated
Updated
Within weeks, the Omicron variant has fuelled thousands of new Covid hospitalisations among US children, raising new concerns about how the many unvaccinated Americans under the age of 18 will fare in the new surge, Reuters reports.
The seven-day average number of daily hospitalisations for children between 21 and 27 December is up more than 58% nationwide in the past week to 334, compared with about 19% for all age groups, data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. Fewer than 25% of the 74 million Americans under 18 are vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Omicron cases are expected to surge even faster across the US as schools reopen next week after the winter holiday, experts cautioned.
Doctors say it is too early to determine whether Omicron causes more severe illness in children than other coronavirus variants, but that its extremely high transmissibility is one key factor that is driving up hospitalisations.
“It is going to infect more people and it is infecting more people. We’ve seen numbers go up, we’ve seen hospitalisations in kids go up,” said Dr Jennifer Nayak, an infectious disease expert and paediatrician at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
What we are seeing is that children under five remain unvaccinated so there’s still a relatively large population of children who are naive, so they have no pre-existing immunity to this virus.
Even in New York City, which has some of the highest vaccination rates in the country, only around 40% of 5- to-17-year-olds are fully vaccinated compared with more than 80% of adults, city health data shows.
There is no authorised vaccine for US children under the age of five.
Hospitalisations in NYC of people aged 18 and younger increased from 22 the week starting 5 December to 109 between 19 and 23 December. Children under five represented almost half of the total cases.
Hospitalisations of people 18 and under in the entire state were at 184 from 19 and 23 December, up from 70 from 5 to 11 December.
Other parts of the country are also seeing a surge in cases among children. Ohio has seen a 125% increase in hospitalisations among children 17 and under in the past four weeks, according to data from the Ohio Hospital Association.
Florida, New Jersey and Illinois have witnessed an increase of at least double in the seven-day average daily hospitalisation of underage patients with the coronavirus over the past week, CDC data shows.
Young children have far lower vaccination rates than other age groups, with some families hesitating to introduce a new vaccine to their youngest members.
Fewer than 15% of US children aged 5-11 have been fully vaccinated since the Pfizer/BioNTech jab was authorised for that age group in late October, federal data shows.
Doctors said the more severe Covid symptoms they are seeing in hospitalised children this month include difficulty breathing, high fever, and dehydration.
“They need help breathing, they need help getting oxygen, they need extra hydration. They are sick enough to end up in the hospital, and that’s scary for doctors, and it’s scary for parents,” said Rebecca Madan, a paediatric infectious disease specialist at New York University’s Langone Health hospital system.
The surge in cases occurred as schools closed for the winter holidays. Before the vacation, more than a thousand classrooms have been either fully or partially quarantined due to outbreaks, according to New York City data. The city said it will open schools for about a million children as planned on 3 January, following the district’s winter recess.
Research has shown that a substantial amount of transmission among children tends to happen outside of schools. But Madan and others expect a new rise in cases among children from holiday gatherings, which could disrupt classroom attendance.
Updated
Good morning from New Orleans. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Today so far
- Prof Peter Openshaw, who sits on the UK’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) has warned the conditions at a New Year’s Eve gathering were “perfect” for spreading coronavirus, and said a lack of availability of testing in the UK was “very worrying indeed”.
- At the time of writing, there were no lateral flow tests available for delivery from the UK government website. Scotland and Wales still had bookable PCR tests, but Northern Ireland had “very few available” and no region of England had any available.
- NHS England confirmed that it was creating new small-scale “Nightingale” facilities with up to 100 beds each at eight hospitals across the country. The health service said it had asked trusts to identify empty spaces to accommodate beds in places such as gyms or teaching areas. NHS managers are aiming to create up to 4,000 beds as surge capacity if needed.
- Prof Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said he feels “most worried” about unvaccinated people. “Those who are unvaccinated remain at risk here in the UK and in other countries around the world, so that perhaps needs to be our focus.”
- Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, which represents health trusts has said staff absences due to Covid-19 were “clearly now having a significant impact” across the whole economy and parts of the health service.
- Labour’s shadow culture secretary, Lucy Powell, has repeated calls for action over viral disinformation about vaccines being spread online. She said “It’s becoming an issue for the whole of society, who might now be facing further restrictions or huge pressure on the NHS because there are people who are choosing not to have the vaccine because of myths and misinformation that they are being fed online.”
- Coronavirus infections set new one-day highs in six of Canada’s provinces, prompting several provinces to impose more restrictions in hopes of containing the spread of the omicron variant.
- In Australia, fewer people will be told to get tested for Covid, with most states backing a much narrower definition of a close contact, as a record 21,000 new daily cases were recorded nationwide.
- Americans are again facing a stay-at-home New Year’s Eve as US political leaders and senior health advisers have urged people to scrap party plans and avoid larger public events as daily cases of Covid-19 break all previous records.
- India is on the threshold of a potential new wave of coronavirus – probably fuelled by the Omicron variant. Cases have surged by 86% in the Indian capital New Delhi in 24 hours, and doubled in Mumbai in the same period.
- Health leaders in eastern European countries with low vaccination rates like Romania are warning of a January wave of infections after the holiday period.
- The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that reducing mandatory isolation periods for people with Covid-19 was a trade-off between controlling transmission and keeping economies up and running. Michael Ryan told a news conference “If people shorten the quarantine period, there will be a small number of cases that will develop disease and potentially go on to transmit, because they have been let out of quarantine earlier. But that will be a relatively small number, and a lot of people who won’t transmit will also be released from that quarantine.”
- Armed police in Jingxi, in southern China, have paraded four alleged violators of Covid rules through the streets, state media reported, a practice that was banned but which has resurfaced in the struggle to enforce a zero-Covid policy.
That is it from me, Martin Belam. I am off to host our silly Thursday quiz. Lucy Campbell will be here shortly to bring you the rest of the days news on Covid from the UK and around the world.
Updated
US airline JetBlue has said it is reducing its schedule through to 13 January by about 1,280 flights due to a surge in crew members falling sick from the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Carriers have been canceling hundreds of flights every day in the United States since Christmas Eve as they grapple with staff shortages due to Covid infections and bad weather in parts of the country.
“We expect the number of Covid cases in the north-east, where most of our crew members are based, to continue to surge for the next week or two,” JetBlue’s spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down.”
Updated
The chairman of the Royal College of GPs has criticised “mixed messages” over the supply of Covid tests in the UK after the health secretary was quoted as saying there was a global shortage.
Prof Martin Marshall said the demand for tests had gone up “dramatically” as people seek to check their Covid status before socialising or coming out of isolation. PA Media quote him telling Times Radio:
It does seem to be that there’s some mixed messages here because the secretary of state said yesterday that there was a global shortage because demand globally in most countries for testing has gone up massively.
But we’re also, as you say, told by the UK Health Security Agency that there’s a local logistics problem of delivering to pharmacies and delivering to the warehouses that supply the online suppliers of the testing.
The government advice is reasonably clear about what people need to do before they’re allowed to socialise, before they’re allowed to release after self-isolation, but there’s no point in having that advice if as GPs we know we’re no longer able to help patients to actually act on that advice, and that’s a big issue for us.
Updated
The Spectator has firmly nailed its colours to the mast that Omicron is going to be milder and lead to fewer and shorter hospital admissions than previous coronavirus variants.
One of its data journalists, Michael Simmons, has extracted this chart from numbers included in recent Sage documents, which paints an optimistic picture of shorter hospital stays since December for patients who survive a Covid hospitalisation.
NEW 🧵: Length of stay in hospital for Covid patients looks to be falling. A document accompanying the latest Sage minutes allows us to calculate the duration.
— Michael Simmons (@Simmons__) December 30, 2021
The results show a drop in every age-group:- pic.twitter.com/teTaTpmtWM
As with the numbers from the UK dashboard earlier, I suspect this chart will either confirm you in your beliefs that the UK government and the devolved authorities have been over-reacting to a mild new Covid strain, or will do little to persuade you that the health service isn’t already under pressure with a potentially huge wave of hospitalisations still coming as the UK continues to rack up record daily case numbers.
Updated
This will be a familiar sight to anybody who has been trying to book a rapid lateral flow test from the government website in the UK, and it is the state of play again at the moment.
Officials and experts in low-vaccinated eastern European countries are anticipating a post-holiday explosion of Omicron-fuelled Covid-19 cases in much of the region.
Adriana Pistol, the director of Romania’s National Center for Surveillance and Control of Communicable Diseases, warned on Wednesday that the country could see a peak of 25,000 new daily cases during the expected next wave. Romania is the European Union’s second-least vaccinated member nation.
Noting that roughly 60% of Romania’s people over the age of 65 or living with chronic diseases remain unvaccinated, Pistol said: “Even if the Omicron strain does not have the same level of severity ... the health system will be overloaded anyway and reach levels recorded this year in October.”
Stephen McGrath reports from Sibiu in Romania for Associated Press that Romania saw huge lines at borders before Christmas as hundreds of thousands of citizens flocked home, many from the west. The government started requiring travellers to complete passenger locator forms as of 20 December to help track infections, but Pistol said many had failed to fill them out. Only 40% of Romania’s population of around 19 million have been fully inoculated.
“It’s very clear that the fifth wave will probably hit us in January,” Dragos Zaharia, a primary care doctor at the Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumology in Bucharest, said. “We just hope that there will be fewer deaths, fewer severe cases, and fewer hospital admissions.”
Updated
Our community team are interested to hear from people living in the UK who were against getting the Covid vaccine but subsequently decided to get inoculated. They’d like to hear why you did not want to get the vaccine initially, and which factors ultimately changed your mind.
You can find more details here: Tell us – have you changed your mind on getting vaccinated against Covid?
PA Media is also carrying some quotes this morning from Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, which represents health trusts. He said staff absences due to Covid-19 were “clearly now having a significant impact” across the whole economy and parts of the health service.
NHS experience suggests that the impact varies considerably depending on how many staff are isolating, driven by local community infection rates; ability to rapidly source temporary replacement staff; and ability to flex existing staff to cover work of those who are absent.
For example, some NHS ambulance trust CEOs are saying their current staff absence rates mean significant numbers of ambulances off the road, given the need to have appropriately trained staff in each ambulance.
It was “obviously a particular issue for NHS trusts if they can’t provide right quality of care due to Covid absences” and he added that if the pressures continued to rise then so would calls to reduce the self-isolation period to five days.
Updated
The head of the Oxford Vaccine Group has said he feels “most worried” about unvaccinated people amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Prof Andrew Pollard said developers had begun “first steps” towards preparing for modifying vaccines to combat future strains of coronavirus but that the “focus” should be on those who have still not received a first dose.
“I actually feel most worried today about the unvaccinated people, whether they’re here in the UK or elsewhere in the world, because we do have now a variant which spreads remarkably effectively so it’s going to be finding many of those unvaccinated people in the weeks ahead,” PA Media quote him telling BBC Breakfast.
“Those who are unvaccinated remain at risk here in the UK and in other countries around the world, so that perhaps needs to be our focus.”
“One thing we have to do is to continue monitoring what happens as new variants emerge,” he added.
“There is still a lot of work to do. There are people in many countries who are still not vaccinated. We have some countries where that is still due to supply constraints because there’s more doses to be distributed; in other countries it’s around addressing vaccine hesitancy.”
Updated
Prof Openshaw warns New Year's Eve will be 'absolutely perfect' to transmit virus
There are concerns over the availability of tests in the UK this morning from Prof Peter Openshaw, who sits on the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag). He said the conditions at a New Year’s Eve gathering were “perfect” for spreading coronavirus.
Asked about the prospect of untested people mixing due to a shortage of lateral flow devices, PA Media quoted him telling BBC Radio 4’s Today:
I think it’s very worrying indeed. We know the situations in which transmission happens and fortunately I don’t think we are facing the sort of lockdown that was necessary in order to cope in the very earliest part of this year.
But we do know that crowding together in poorly ventilated spaces, particularly if you are shouting over loud music and so on, is absolutely perfect in terms of transmitting this very, very highly transmissible virus.
Updated
Just a quick one from Associated Press here, that French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has tested positive for Covid-19, casting doubt on her place in the Australian Open beginning on 17 January.
The 30-year-old Russian confirmed she has the coronavirus and is isolating after arriving in Australia on Tuesday.
“I was fully vaccinated and was preparing for the start of the season in Dubai,” Pavlyuchenkova said on social media. “But we live in a very difficult and unpredictable time. Right now I am in complete isolation, in a special hotel and following all the protocols under the supervision of doctors. Now it’s important to take care of yourself and the health of others. I’ll be back on court when it’s safe for everyone.”
Updated
UK Labour party: 'absolutely critical' to clamp down on social media vaccine misinformation
In the UK, Labour’s shadow culture secretary, Lucy Powell, has appeared on Sky News, repeating calls for action over viral disinformation about vaccines being spread online. She said:
As we are seeing huge differences now in terms of hospitalisation rates and deaths between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, it’s absolutely critical that we really do now clamp down on some of this misinformation that’s been spread so widely and virally online, as it can do online in a way that it can’t do on broadcast or in the print media. We’ve got to do more to tackle this urgently now, so that we can get to those hard to reach people to get those vaccinations.
It’s becoming an issue for the whole of society, who might now be facing further restrictions or huge pressure on the NHS because there are people who are choosing not to have the vaccine because of myths and misinformation that they are being fed online.
In response to the scenes in Milton Keynes yesterday where anti-vaccine activists stormed a Covid testing centre, Powell said:
Well, I would like to see the police being very tough for those that … I wouldn’t even call them protesters. I think they were people who were very aggressively getting in the way of those doing their duty, working incredibly hard, our NHS staff who spent Christmas not taking holiday, not being with friends and families, in order to vaccinate others, and they’re being very aggressively disrupted by these individuals and by these so called anti-vaxxers.
Updated
I was just having a look at the government website to book a PCR test in the UK, and already it seems stocks are low again across all regions of England, with none available in the north east of England.
Tests are currently available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Overnight Andrew Madden has reported for the Belfast Telegraph on the latest situation in Northern Ireland. He writes:
On Wednesday the Department of Health reported a further 14 Covid-related deaths and 22,972 new cases of the virus in the five days from midnight on December 23 to midnight on December 28.
This is an average of around 4,600 cases each day, well above the previous daily record of 3,286. In Belfast alone, 4,195 cases were confirmed over the five-day period.
Hospitals across the region are at 94% capacity, with the South West Acute Hospital operating over capacity.
It came as the PHA published new arrangements regarding PCR testing to “protect the testing system in Northern Ireland and ensure availability of testing for those who need it”.
Fully-vaccinated close contacts will no longer have to take a PCR test. Instead, they will be advised to take a lateral flow test as soon as possible.
Read more here: Belfast Telegraph – New Northern Ireland rules for PCR testing as demand outstrips supply due to rise of Omicron
Fewer Australians to have Covid tests after new definition of close contact
Fewer Australians will be told to get tested for Covid, with most states backing a much narrower definition of a close contact, as a record 21,000 new daily cases were recorded nationwide.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, cited “some very practical problems” caused by the more infectious Omicron variant – including the huge strain on the PCR testing scheme that had been at the centre of Australia’s response for two years.
Speaking after a snap national cabinet meeting on Thursday, Morrison called for a “reset” because it was unfeasible to “have hundreds of thousands of Australians or more taken out of circulation based on rules that were set for the Delta variant”.
The changes come on the same day the OzSage group of scientists and economists warned that a “let it rip” and “defeatist” approach to Covid would disrupt the health system and be felt most by vulnerable groups.
Read our full report: Fewer Australians to have Covid tests as national cabinet agrees to new definition of close contact
Here’s a reminder of the news overnight that NHS England is looking to set up new “pop-up” Covid facilities. My colleagues Rowena Mason and Aubrey Allegretti report:
NHS England confirmed that it was creating new small-scale “Nightingale” facilities with up to 100 beds each at eight hospitals across the country. The health service said it had asked trusts to identify empty spaces to accommodate beds in places such as gyms or teaching areas. NHS managers are aiming to create up to 4,000 beds as surge capacity if needed, with work on the first tranche, in temporary structures, starting this week.
A number of huge temporary hospitals, called the “Nightingales”, were built in exhibition halls in the first wave of the pandemic but were dismantled without being used to capacity.
The new approach will ask for surge capacity to be built in the grounds of hospitals to make it easier for staff to move between new and old sites and keep patients closer to diagnostics and emergency care. The first sites will be at Preston, Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester, Stevenage, St George’s in London, Ashford and Bristol.
Read more here: Hospitals in England asked to look for up to 4,000 emergency Covid beds
Canada sees record daily new cases numbers in six provinces
Coronavirus infections set new one-day highs in six Canadian provinces Wednesday, prompting several provinces to impose more restrictions in hopes of containing the spread of the omicron variant.
Associated Press report that the biggest jumps were in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, which are the country’s most populous provinces. Quebec reported more than 13,000 new cases in the previous 24 hours, Ontario had 10,436 and British Columbia listed 2,944. Manitoba, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador also set new records.
British Columbia announced it is delaying the full return to classrooms after the Christmas break to give school staff time to implement enhanced health measures. Staff and students whose parents are health workers will return to schools 3 January or 4 January as planned. All other students return 10 January.
Updated
In the UK, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has issued a report based on its latest survey of nurses, which suggests that 57% of respondents were either thinking about leaving their job or actively planning to leave.
The general secretary of the RCN, Pat Cullen, has just been on Sky News. She was asked about NHS England plans for pop-up centres to deal with Covid cases, and said:
You can set up all the hubs that you wish to set up. But if you don’t have the nursing staff to actually care for the patients that are going to be placed in those hubs, that places more challenges on the nursing workforce.
The nurses that are already providing the critical care in hospitals will be spread even more thinly across those areas, unless there’s another plan to staff those beds and care for those patients.
On the current morale in the nursing profession in the NHS, Cullen said:
Each and every nurse has paid a massive price over the last number of years. Ahead of the pandemic there were 50,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS in England. And then on top of that, we now have a situation where thousands of nurses are off isolating. So you can imagine what it’s like for those nurses that are still getting up, as we speak this morning, to start a thirteen-fourteen hour shift, caring for patients with a depleted workforce, and knowing that there’s no end to it.
It’s just relentless, and the words that they say to me on a daily basis are it has become intolerable. And, you know, throughout my 37-year nursing career, I never thought that I would see a report issued today that shows 57% of our workforce wishing to leave the profession. That certainly was never something that I thought I would see in my time.
Americans are again facing a stay-at-home New Year’s Eve as US political leaders and senior health advisers have urged people to scrap party plans and avoid larger public events as daily cases of Covid-19 break all previous records.
In New York, attendance at the Times Square celebration known as the Ball Drop – in essence, tens of thousands of people watching a 12-foot geodesic sphere inlaid with Waterford crystals descend a long pole – has been capped at 15,000, down from pre-pandemic 60,000, with organizers encouraging revelers to watch it on TV or online.
Attendees must be fully vaccinated and wear masks. The changes are meant to “keep the fully vaccinated crowd safe and healthy as we ring in the New Year”, outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.
In Chicago, the Illinois governor, Jay Pritzker, has not yet imposed restrictions or shut down the city’s traditional fireworks show. But he warned Chicagoan this week that “Omicron and Delta are coming to your party”.
“You need to think twice about how many people will be gathered together, keeping social distancing if you’re at a party. And if you can’t, leave,” he added.
San Francisco has canceled its fireworks show over the Bay for the second year in a row. Mayor London Breed told residents that “we must remain vigilant in doing all we can to stop the spread of the Covid-19 Omicron variant”.
Read more of Edward Helmore’s report here: US cities scale back New Year’s Eve events and urge people to scrap parties
India has concerns over sharp case rises in New Delhi and Mumbai
India is on the threshold of a potential new wave of coronavirus – probably fuelled by the Omicron variant. Cases have surged by 86% in the Indian capital New Delhi in 24 hours, and doubled in Mumbai in the same period.
Although the absolute numbers remain low in both cities, the sharp rise is striking and is alarming officials. By late November, India’s capital was recording about 40 fresh infections a day. On Wednesday, it recorded 923. The last time it had recorded such a figure was in May.
The surge has prompted fresh restrictions in all public places yet huge rallies for elections in February continue to be held by all parties. The rise has injected more urgency into the efforts to vaccinate the 108 million adult Indians who have yet to receive even one jab.
So far, though, doctors have seen very few serious cases. The vast majority are asymptomatic or with very mild symptoms from which they are recovering fast. Nor is there any pressure yet on hospitals. Around 97 per cent of the 21,518 beds in Delhi earmarked for covid patients remain vacant, anecdotally suggesting the variant is more transmissible but less virulent.
Doctors say that protection through natural infection during India’s second wave, when the Delta variant raged across the country, is probably another reason for the low impact.
Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London taking over from Samantha Lock in Sydney. I often start my live blogging shift with a recap of the latest numbers in the UK from the government’s Covid dashboard. There are some heavy caveats around them this morning, however, with widespread reports of a lack of availability of testing kits.
Over the last seven days there have been 914,723 new coronavirus cases recorded in the UK. Cases have increased by 41% week-on-week.
There have been 516 deaths recorded in the last week. Deaths have decreased by 34% week-on-week.
Hospital admissions have increased by 13% week-on-week. At the latest count on the UK government’s own dashboard, there were 8,246 people in hospital in total, of whom 842 are in ventilation beds.
I suspect you will look at those numbers and they will confirm what you already thought – either that cases are running very high and there should be more restrictions immediately, especially in England, or, that the level of deaths and hospitalisations remain low enough that people should be free to go about their business as they see fit.
Chinese police parade suspected Covid rule-breakers through streets
Armed police in Jingxi, in southern China, have paraded four alleged violators of Covid rules through the streets, state media reported, a practice that was banned but which has resurfaced in the struggle to enforce a zero-Covid policy.
The four men were accused of smuggling people across China’s closed borders, and on Tuesday they were led through the streets wearing hazmat suits and bearing placards showing their name and photos. The state-run Guangxi daily reported the action was designed to deter “border-related crimes”.
Extraordinary videos circulating of suspected people smugglers being publicly paraded in southern Guangxi province - a practice evocative of times past. The full hazmat suits appear to be common these days for criminal suspects... /1 pic.twitter.com/qtKaMKrkR4
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) December 29, 2021
A common practice during the Cultural Revolution, public shaming has long since been banned in China, and the Communist party-affiliated Beijing News said the Jingxi incident “seriously violates the spirit of the rule of law and cannot be allowed to happen again”.
Read the full story here.
WHO calls Covid quarantine cuts a ‘trade-off’
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that slashing the mandatory isolation period for people with Covid-19 was a trade-off between controlling transmission and keeping economies up and running.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a news conference:
If people shorten the quarantine period, there will be a small number of cases that will develop disease and potentially go on to transmit, because they have been let out of quarantine earlier.
But that will be a relatively small number, and a lot of people who won’t transmit will also be released from that quarantine.
So it is a trade-off between the science and being absolutely perfect in what you try to do, but then having the minimal disruption that you can possibly have to your economy and society - and governments are struggling to find that balance.”
The WHO’s guidelines on quarantine are, for symptomatic patients, 10 days after symptom onset, plus at least three additional days without symptoms; and for asymptomatic cases, 10 days after a positive test.
Ryan said the average incubation period so far has been around five or six days - but there was a range.
The likelihood of someone developing symptoms after five, six or seven days goes down exponentially, he explained, adding that it was then for governments to make the judgement call on when to allow people out of isolation.
“There is some data to suggest that the incubation period for Omicron may be shorter, but there will still be a very wide range,” he said, stressing that this was based on very limited studies.
“It would be advisable at this point if we don’t see huge shifts, huge moves in reducing control measures for Covid-19 purely on the basis of initial or preliminary studies.”
Spain, Italy and Australia ease isolation and testing rules
Fearful of the economic impact of keeping so many people at home and a lack of staff due to long isolation times, some governments are looking at shortening the period that people have to isolate if they are Covid positive or have been exposed to someone who is positive.
Spain announced it will reduce the quarantine period for people who have tested positive for Covid-19 to seven days from 10, even as new infections hit record highs.
Italy said will scrap self-isolation rules for those coming into contact with someone testing positive for coronavirus providing they have had a booster shot, have recently recovered or been vaccinated.
The move comes after health experts urged the government to rethink its policies amid worries that the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant could paralyse the country by forcing millions to stay at home.
Earlier this week US health authorities also released new guidance shortening the isolation period for people with a confirmed infection to five days from 10, so long as they are asymptomatic.
In England, people who receive negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – no longer have to stay indoors for a full 10 days.
Australia on Thursday narrowed its definition of close contacts of coronavirus cases and relaxed requirements for Covid-19 tests, as daily cases topped 20,000 for the first time in the pandemic, in a bid to relieve pressure on testing sites.
The rules are being relaxed to stop asymptomatic people being forced into isolation, especially in healthcare, hospitality and airlines, and cut long lines of people forced to get PCR tests for interstate travel or because they have been at a public site with a confirmed case.
Prime minister Scott Morrison told reporters:
With Omicron, we cannot have hundreds of thousands of Australians and more taken out of circulation based on rules that were set for the Delta variant”
From Friday, Morrison said “close contacts” will be redefined as people who live in the same household with an infected person. They would have to isolate for seven days and would only have to get a PCR test if they have Covid-19 symptoms.
Updated
Hello and welcome back to our live Covid blog. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest coronavirus developments as they happen.
Countries across Europe are reporting a record high number of infections as authorities scramble to stem the surge.
The UK, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Ireland and Greece all reported new case records this week, while cases in the US also hit a new high.
Despite the surge in cases, countries across the world are easing isolation and testing rules.
Spain reduced its Covid self-isolation period to seven days from 10 after businesses expressed fears the Omicron surge would leave them with mounting staff shortages.
Italy scrapped the isolation period for people who have received three shots of a Covid vaccine and are subsequently exposed to someone who has tested positive.
In England, people who receive negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – no longer have to stay indoors for a full 10 days.
In light of these decisions, the World Health Organization cautioned that slashing the mandatory isolation period for people with Covid-19 was a trade-off between controlling transmission and keeping economies up and running.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said it is not “advisable” to reduce Covid controls and warned that governments need to be “careful” about reducing restrictions.
Speaking at a WHO press conference on Wednesday, Dr Ryan said:
Even with the previous variants, most people will incubate and show symptoms or be positive within that first six days or so, and the chances then of being positive or transmitting the disease after that are lower – but it is then for governments to make that judgment call of when to allow people out of a quarantine situation with extra tests.
The most important thing at this moment is we need to be careful about changing tactics and strategies immediately on the basis of what we’re seeing in early Omicron data.”
- The UK reported another record rise with more than 183,000 daily Covid cases on Wednesday.
- More than 90% of community Covid cases in England are the now Omicron variant, according to the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency.
-
Paris, France, is set to reimpose wearing face masks outdoors again in this week in a bid to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, police said on Wednesday.
- Anti-vaxxers stormed a Covid testing centre during a ‘freedom’ rally in Milton Keynes, appearing to believe it was a coronavirus vaccine centre.
-
Argentina reported a daily record of 42,032 new cases on Wednesday.
- France registered a national and European record for new infections reporting 208,000 coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours, up from its previous record of almost 180,000 set the day before.
- The German health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said on Wednesday that the number of new Covid cases has been under-reported and the actual incidence rate of infections is about two or three times higher than the officially reported figure.
- More than 44,000 people in the US could die of Covid-19 in the next four weeks, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Portugal reported a new record of 26,867 Covid cases over the last 24 hours on Wednesday, up from 17,172 the previous day, although daily deaths dropped to a fraction of early 2021 peaks.
- Cuba will give booster shots to its entire population in January, according to a report in state-run media.
