Goodbye and summary
That’s it from me, Helen Livingstone, for now. Please join us a little later for a new live feed where we will continue to cover the coronavirus crisis.
You can also keep up with the top headlines here.
I leave you with a summary of the latest developments from the past 24 hours:
- Protesters against Covid vaccine mandates for truckers have defied government calls for them to end an 11-day occupation of Canada’s capital, a day after Ottawa’s mayor declared a state of emergency and promised to “get the city back”.
- In the UK, MPs from all sides angrily rounded on Boris Johnson and accused him of whipping up political poison after the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, was set upon by protesters who accused him of protecting the paedophile Jimmy Savile. Johnson provoked widespread fury last week when he falsely suggested Starmer had protected Savile during his time as director of public prosecutions.
- Sweden will lift its travel restrictions for foreign nationals travelling to Sweden from Nordic countries and the rest of the European Union and European Economic Area from Wednesday, the government has announced.
- The German government is working on plans to relax coronavirus restrictions after the peak in new cases has passed, most likely by the end of February.
- Australia will open its border for fully vaccinated tourists and all visa holders on 21 February, almost two years after borders were first closed.
- Democratic leaders in the US Congress are holding a moment of silence on Monday to commemorate the 900,000 American lives lost to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Turkish prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for former Olympic swimmer Derya Buyukuncu over tweets appearing to express relief that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan tested positive for Covid-19.
- The number of positive Covid-19 cases in the English Premier League, the most watched sports league in the world, has doubled in a week to 22 cases, but with a far higher number of tests being carried out.
- Hong Kong has reported a record 614 cases and many of its residents have begun to crowd supermarkets in an effort to stock up on food and other necessities. One vegetable vendor told Reuters supplies had dropped by 30%.
- Prof John Bell, an Oxford scientist who worked on the AstraZeneca vaccine, has accused scientists and politicians of having “probably killed hundreds of thousands of people” by damaging its reputation.
Turkish prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for a former Olympic swimmer over tweets appearing to express relief that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan tested positive for Covid-19.
Erdogan, 67, said he had a “mild” infection on Saturday and was working from home.
He posted several tweets on Monday expressing thanks to leaders and officials who wished him well.
But an account believed by prosecutors to belong to Derya Buyukuncu – a six-time backstroke and butterfly Olympian – posted a tweet saying he was making extra pots of a sweet traditionally handed out at funerals.
The Istanbul public prosecutor’s office issued a warrant for Buyukuncu as part of an investigation into “criminal social media postings” about the president’s infection.
The crime of insulting the Turkish president is punishable by up to four years in jail.
The whereabouts of Buyukuncu, who has also starred in a popular Turkish reality TV show, were not immediately clear.
Prosecutors issued eight arrest warrants on Sunday in connection with posts about Erdogan’s health, detaining four people.
Turkish officials have launched more than 160,000 investigations over alleged insults to the president since 2014, when Erdogan assumed the post after more than a decade as prime minister.
Courts have also handed down 3,625 jail sentences on insult charges.
Last month, well-known television journalist Sedef Kabas was arrested on insult charges for comments she made on air about Erdogan.
Erdogan, who has had three doses of a coronavirus vaccine, said on Twitter his symptoms “remained mild” after a routine doctor’s visit on Sunday.
“My wife - Mrs Emine - and I continue to work from home,” Erdogan wrote.
Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar announced on Sunday he had also tested positive for Covid-19 after accompanying Erdogan on a visit to Ukraine last week.
