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:
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Prince Charles met the Queen two days before testing positive for Covid for the second time. A palace source said the monarch was not displaying any symptoms, but declined to say whether or not she had tested negative.
- Elsewhere in the UK, Boris Johnson was condemned by former Conservatiove prime minister Sir John Major as a lawbreaker whose disregard for honesty and ministerial standards risks undermining the UK’s long-term democratic future, on another politically bruising day for the prime minister.
- Brussels authorities have banned a pan-European “freedom convoy” of motorists protesting Covid restrictions from entering the Belgian capital, the regional government said in a statement. Reuters reports the convoy was expected to arrive at the home of European Union institutions and NATO on Monday. Authorities in Paris had earlier banned the convoy.
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Spain dropped the mandatory use of face masks outdoors. Although they will remain compulsory at large open-air gatherings where social distancing is not possible, they will no longer be required in school playgrounds.
- New Zealand has hit a new record daily of community Covid cases, with 446 announced on Friday. That is an increase of 140 cases from the previous record, which was set the previous day.Cases are expected to climb steadily now that Omicron is spreading within New Zealand.
- Novavax says its Covid vaccine has proved safe and effective in a study of 12- to 17-year-olds. Armed with the new data, Novavax plans to soon seek expanded use of its shots down to age 12. Later this year, it plans to begin testing in younger children.
- The Dutch government has said it aims to drop most of its coronavirus restrictions by the end of the month, as record levels of infections in recent weeks have only had a limited effect on hospital numbers.
- The Philippines welcomed back more than 200 foreign tourists on Thursday, becoming the latest south-east Asian nation to reopen in a bid to revive a battered tourism sector after its borders shut to visitors nearly two years ago due to the pandemic
- The UK recorded another 66,638 Covid infections and a further 206 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data on the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
- Coronavirus cases continue to rise rapidly on the Pacific island of Tonga. Health minister, Saia Piukala, told reporters that 31 more people had tested positive for the virus, nearly doubling Tonga’s active cases for the second day in a row to a total of 64.
- Covid passes are to be scrapped and the need to wear face coverings in certain venues removed later this month as coronavirus cases continue to fall, the Welsh government has announced. The changes will be confirmed on Friday during the first three-week review of Wales’s alert level zero measures.
- The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been isolating since Saturday after contracting Covid, has tested negative, the state-owned Anadolu news agency cited his doctor as saying.
- The Costa Rican president, Carlos Alvarado, tested positive for Covid-19, his office said. “He is doing well and will be in isolation at his home,” it added.
- Africa is transitioning out of the pandemic phase of its Covid outbreak and moving towards a situation where it will be managing the virus long term, the World Health Organization’s regional head for Africa said. Dr Matshidiso Moeti also said the number of Covid infections in Africa could be seven times higher than official data suggested, and deaths from the virus two to three times higher.
New Zealand has hit a new record daily of community Covid cases, with 446 announced on Friday. That is an increase of 140 cases from the previous record, which was set the previous day.
Cases are expected to climb steadily now that Omicron is spreading within New Zealand.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement, “The increase in cases today is a reminder that, as expected, the Omicron variant is spreading in our communities as we have seen in other countries. The number of cases will continue to fluctuate from day to day, but our expectation is that cases will continue to increase in the coming weeks.”
The country is in the midst of rolling out booster shots and vaccines for children. Of those aged 12 and over, 95% have had two doses of the vaccine, and 56% have had a booster shot; 43% of children aged 5-11 have had a dose of the vaccine. Across the country, 23 people are hospitalised with Covid-19.
