Goodbye and summary
That’s it from the Guardian’s Covid blog for today. 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:
- The mayor of Ottawa has declared a state of emergency over Covid-19 protests. Jim Watson said the order highlights the need for support from other levels of government, as protesters opposed to lockdowns brought downtown of the Canadian capital to a stand still. Thousands descended at the weekend, joining a hundred who had stayed throughout this week.
- The Chinese city of Baise in Guangxi (population 3.57 million) has been locked down because of a Covid outbreak, reports the BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell. He says that it has reportedly been sealed off with people not allowed to enter or leave.
- That news comes as China’s chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou, says that as long as there’s no other way to contain the spread of the virus, the country won’t adjust it’s “dynamic Zero Covid” pandemic control policy.
- Xiomara Castro, the president of Central American country Honduras, has tested positive for Covid-19. In a tweet, she said she had mild symptoms.
- Authorities in India have approved Russia’s one-jab Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine. It will be the second Russian-developed jab to be approved by the country, after Sputnik V was allowed in April 2021.
- China detected 10 new cases of Covid-19 among Olympic Games-related personnel on Saturday, down from 45 a day earlier, the organising committee of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games said on Sunday. Of the cases detected, four were among new airport arrivals, including two athletes or team officials.
- Another 54,095 Covid cases have been confirmed in the UK, the lowest figure since December, but the statistic does not include cases in Scotland.
- Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in Beijing on Thursday for the opening of the Winter Games and will not be travelling to France next week for an Indo-Pacific summit, his office has said.
- UK travellers have been warned to check their half-term holiday plans to make sure they meet Covid vaccination rules when travelling to EU destinations as a growing number of countries impose new restrictions.
- Boris Johnson’s desperate efforts to save his premiership have been undermined with one of his most loyal backbench supporters saying it was now “inevitable” that Tory MPs would remove him from office over the “partygate” scandal.
Updated
Portugal has announced an easing of its travel restrictions for holders of European Covid-19 certificates by scrapping a requirement to test negative before entering the country, AFP reports.
Travellers with an EU digital health pass or other recognised vaccine passes will be exempt from having to prove a recent negative test result from Monday.
The EU Covid certificate proves a traveller is fully vaccinated, has recently tested negative or has recovered from a Covid infection within the past six months.
The move comes after the European Council recommended harmonising the bloc’s travel rules to avoid placing restrictions on fully vaccinated travellers from neighbouring EU states with higher infection rates.
Like other EU member states, Portugal has since early December required passengers aged 12 and above to test negative before entering the country regardless of their vaccination status.
On Thursday, the government reduced the validity of lateral flow test results from 48 to 24 hours.
Portugal has entered a steep wave of coronavirus cases driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, recording more than 41,000 new infections and 44 deaths on Saturday.
Hello, this is Helen Livingstone taking over from my colleague Harry Taylor.
To start with, check out this dispatch from Bolivia, which details how misinformation, distrust and religion, among other things, have combined to leave the South American country with one of the worst vaccination rates in the continent.
According to Dr Yercin Mamani, former director of the departmental health service in Cochabamba, vaccine access is no longer the main problem. Instead, for various reasons, people are refusing vaccination. Mamani identified three groups. “First, the self-described anti-vaxxers,” said Mamani. “This is a very small group. Even in their biggest protests, they’ve never cleared 100 people.”
The second group refuse the vaccine for religious reasons. “Roughly 30% of the population is evangelical. Of this group, two-thirds have not accepted vaccination. In many places – especially in rural settings, where these churches are a little more radical – they’ve even come to demonise it.”
The third group is less clearly defined, but Mamani described it as mostly rural, with a low level of education – and susceptible to misinformation about vaccines.
Read more here:
Brazil registered 59,737 Covid cases on Sunday, its health ministry has reported.
Officials said it had recorded 391 new coronavirus deaths.
The mayor of Ottawa has declared a state of emergency over Covid-19 protests.
Jim Watson said the order highlights the need for support from other levels of government, as protesters opposed to lockdowns brought downtown of the Canadian capital to a stand still.
Thousands descended at the weekend, joining a hundred who had stayed throughout this week. Associated Press said residents were furious at the blaring of horns, traffic disruption and harassment.
Honduras president tests positive
Xiomara Castro, the president of Central American country Honduras, has tested positive for Covid-19.
In a tweet, she said she had mild symptoms.
Castro took office in January 2022 and is the country’s first female to become president.
El resultado del PCR (#COVID19) de ayer, fue negativo, el de hoy es positivo. Según los exámenes es leve. Con la bendición del Creador del universo, sigo atendiendo NO presencial, mi Plan de Gobierno para retornar al orden democrático y Constitucional.
— Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (@XiomaraCastroZ) February 6, 2022
Updated
France registered 155,439 positive cases on Sunday, lower than the number on the same day last week.
It follows a continued downward trend in infections for the country which has seen more than 20.7m positive tests throughout the pandemic. At the peak of the Omicron wave, more than 350,000 cases were recorded on several days in January.
Another 129 deaths were recorded, taking the death toll to 132,506.
China’s chief epidemiologist has said that as long as there’s no other way to contain the spread of the virus, the country won’t adjust it’s “dynamic Zero Covid” pandemic control policy.
In an interview with the state-owned Global Times on Sunday, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, also said that even though China has reached a 70 percent vaccination rate, as long as the virus can evade herd immunity, people can still get infected.
It comes as the city of Baise in Guangxi has been locked down because of a Covid outbreak. Reports say that it has reportedly been sealed off with people not allowed to enter or leave.
Wu pointed to the recent outbreak in the northern port city of Tianjin, where many infected with Omicron had been vaccinated. It is the latest confirmation from Beijing that China won’t re-open any time soon.
“We previously thought Covid -19 could be basically contained through vaccines, but now it seems that there’s no simple method to control it except with comprehensive measures, although vaccines are the most important weapon in curbing the epidemic, including Omicron,” Wu said.
Wu told the Global Times that living with Covid is a “permanent task for humans”.
Italy has reported a fall in Covid cases on Sunday, with 77,029 new infections compared to 93,157 on Saturday.
It took the number of people to have tested positive during the pandemic in the country to more than 11.6 million.
Data from the health ministry, reported by Reuters, showed a decline in daily deaths, from 375 on Saturday to 229 on Sunday.
Authorities in India have approved Russia’s one-jab Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine, according to Reuters.
It will be the second Russian-developed jab to be approved by the country, after Sputnik V was allowed in April 2021.
The jab can be used as a booster shot when combined with other vaccines.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is behind the Sputnik vaccines, has signed deals with seven Indian pharmaceutical companies to make 1 billion doses in the country.
Updated
Another 54,095 Covid cases have been confirmed in the UK, the lowest figure since December, but the statistic does not include cases in Scotland.
The last time daily infection numbers were this low was on 14 December, however Scotland does not report its daily positive test numbers until Monday.
It comes as a further 75 deaths were registered on Sunday. The death toll stands at 158,318 with more than 17.8 million people now having tested positive for the virus.
The Times of India is reporting that the central government offices is calling all workers back to the office from tomorrow, following a decline in coronavirus cases.
Minister of state for personnel and PMO Jitendra Singh said:
A review of the pandemic situation was done on Sunday and it has been decided that full office attendance, without any exemption, shall resume with effect from February 7, 2022.
Central government offices to resume 100% attendance for employees from Feb 7 https://t.co/GAA1xBpH7f
— TOI India (@TOIIndiaNews) February 6, 2022
Chinese city locked down and reportedly sealed off after Omicron breakout
The Chinese city of Baise in #Guangxi (population 3.57 million) has been locked down because of a #Covid outbreak, reports the BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell. He says that it has reportedly been sealed off with people not allowed to enter or leave.
The Chinese city of Baise in #Guangxi (population 3.57 million) has been locked down because of a #Covid outbreak. It has reportedly been sealed off; people can't enter or leave. Officials are saying that this is the #Omicron variant which has spread from #Shenzhen.
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) February 6, 2022
Updated
Powerful story by the BBC’s Grainne Connolly, about the impact that shielding had on one young woman Bethany Menar, a patient at Muckamore Abbey hospital in County Antrim, which cares for adults with learning disabilities.
The 20-year-old was forced to isolate at the end of last year after some of her family members tested positive for coronavirus, and turned to blogging to document her experiences.
Forced into isolation Bethany had to be in separate rooms at all times from the patient she shares her living space with. She told the BBC:
It was difficult, I had to wait until she got into her living area before I could actually go up the corridor.
I just felt trapped, like I can’t even move.
[...]
I got to speak to my family but it was just over Facetime and WhatsApp or ringing them. Not being able to go home and see my three brothers, two sisters and my mummy was just so hard.
I know it was in everyone’s best interest but I just wanted to go home.
Updated
Fascinating dispatch from Costa Rica by CNN’s Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo, who reports of the fallout of the country’s decision last November to became the first country in the world to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for minors, with all children five and older required to get vaccinated, barring medical exemptions.
It started as a heated discussion between a father and his son’s doctor. But it quickly escalated to a multi-person fist-fight that shocked the nation.
Inside the St Vincent de Paul hospital in Costa Rica’s Heredia province, not far from the capital San Jose, the argument – over the country’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate – came to blows last week, leading to the arrests of seven people.But this fight proved more consequential than for just the people involved: The incident forced authorities to temporarily close the hospital’s doors, marking a dark moment in the country’s fight against the pandemic and highlighting the debate around its mandatory vaccination policy.
You can read the whole story here:
Updated
Teachers at dozens of private schools at least doubled the proportion of A*s handed out to their A-level pupils last year compared with 2019, when children last sat public exams, according to the Sunday Times.
The publication states:
In 2019, 16.1 per cent of private school pupils had their A-levels graded A*. In 2021 — when teachers decided what marks to award their pupils — the proportion jumped to 39.5 per cent.
Research by The Sunday Times shows for the first time the extent of the grade inflation in individual schools. At North London Collegiate School, a girls’ school in Edgware whose senior fees are more than £21,000 a year, the proportion of A* grades soared from 33.8 per cent in 2019 to 90.2 per cent last summer. The 56.4 percentage point increase is the highest recorded in the investigation.
[...]
Introduced in 2010, the A* grade was meant to be a mark of exceptional achievement, but it has been handed out to record numbers during the pandemic. The number of A* grades trebled — and even quadrupled — at 25 schools.
Travellers have been warned to check their half-term holiday plans to make sure they meet Covid vaccination rules when travelling to EU destinations as a growing number of countries impose new restrictions, reports James Tapper.
France joined Spain and Denmark last week in requiring anyone who completed their vaccination jabs more than 270 days ago to have a booster to enter the country – or be considered unvaccinated. Austria requires boosters after 180 days.
It means that any of the 18 million people in the UK who had their second dose before mid-May in 2021 would need to have been boosted if they travel to those countries on Saturday, 12 February. Yet only 65% of over-12s have had a booster so far.
Read the full story here:
More on partygate from Toby Helm, Mark Townsend and James Tapper in the Observer today, who report that Boris Johnson’s desperate efforts to save his premiership have been undermined with one of his most loyal backbench supporters saying it was now “inevitable” that Tory MPs would remove him from office over the “partygate” scandal.
In an interview with the Observer, Sir Charles Walker, a former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, implored the prime minister to go of his own accord in the national interest, and likened events in the Tory party to a Greek tragedy.
Walker said:
It is an inevitable tragedy. He is a student of Greek and Roman tragedy. It is going to end in him going, so I just want him to have some agency in that.
Read the full story here:
A girl who missed two birthday parties due to Covid restrictions has written to Boris Johnson to ask for an apology over events held at No 10 in lockdown, the BBC reports.
Isobel, seven, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, told the prime minister he needed to set a good example and follow the rules.
She wrote:
Why on my 6th and 7th birthday I couldn’t have a party, and you were?
She went on the ask why Johnson didn’t follow the “rulse” as “Even the Queen had to follow them.”
I think Isobel from Sheffield has really captured the nation's sense of outrage about Boris Johnson's lockdown parties h/t @BBCNews https://t.co/K0MgVSetEA pic.twitter.com/GAJM7wVAhE
— Alexandra Topping (@LexyTopping) February 6, 2022
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Beijing on Thursday for the opening of the Winter Games and will not be traveling to France next week for an Indo-Pacific summit, his office said on Sunday.
Reuters reports:
The prime minister’s office said in statement on its Facebook page:
Prime Minister Marape will now abort the French leg of this trip due to COVID-19 restrictions, having returned a positive test result upon arrival in Beijing last Thursday evening.
Marape was due to return to PNG on Sunday but did not give any further details about his condition.
According to a statement posted on the website of the PNG’s National Control Centre for COVID-19, Marape received his booster vaccination against the coronavirus on Jan. 24th.
On Saturday, while in Beijing Marape held a virtual meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to discuss strengthening economic cooperation, Marape’s office said.
A joint statement published on China’s embassy in the United States after the meeting stated that the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, energy, resources and infrastructure, among others.
Marape was to travel from Beijing to the Feb. 9-11 One Ocean Summit in the northwest of France on 9-11, held in the context of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the support of the United Nations.
Marape was also scheduled to meet France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Marape’s office said earlier in the week.
Statistician and Observer columnist Sir David Spiegelhalter has admitted he was “overly optimistic” at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The 68-year-old Cambridge University scientist has confessed he “didn’t take it seriously enough”.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday, Spiegelhalter says:
I think it’s very important that we have to acknowledge that we can never take an objective view about evidence. We always bring our, I think, personalities into it, and mine is unfortunately very optimistic and that’s why I’m very glad I’m not a government adviser. I don’t think I’d be very good at it because I do tend to hope for the best and sort of expect the best as well.
You can read the full story by the Observer’s Science Editor Robin McKie here:
Olympics-China reports 10 new COVID cases among Olympics personnel on Feb 5
China detected 10 new cases of COVID-19 among Olympic Games-related personnel on Saturday, down from 45 a day earlier, the organising committee of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games said on Sunday.
Of the cases detected, four were among new airport arrivals, including two athletes or team officials.
The remaining six were already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates event personnel from the public, according to a notice on the Games’ official website.
New woodlands to be created in memory of those who died from coronavirus
Living memorials to those that died during the coronavirus pandemic are to be created, with new woodlands to be planted in Wales, the Welsh government has announced.
Two new memorial woodlands will be planted at the National Trust’s Erddig estate in Wrexham, and at a further site at Brownhill in Carmarthenshire’s Tywi Valley, with another set to be planted in south east Wales when a location is identified.
Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford said:
It has been almost 2 years since the coronavirus pandemic hit Wales.
Too many people have been taken too soon by this awful virus. We will remember all of them and keep them in our hearts and our minds.
These woodlands will be a permanent and living memorial to all those who have died. They will also be a symbol of the strength the people of Wales have shown over the past 2 years.
A total of 9,477 deaths involving Covid have occurred during the pandemic in Wales.
The woodland sites are to become part of a planned National Forest for Wales.
Natural Resources Wales chief executive Clare Pillman said:
Our forests and woodlands are powerful, poignant symbols of life, helping to enhance our environment and biodiversity and providing space for recreation and reflection.
Our ambition for this commemorative woodland is for it to become a living, growing area for all the community to enjoy, as well as a quiet space for contemplation as we continue to navigate this most challenging of times.
As part of the journey, we want to engage with local communities and our partners to plan and design the woodland, shaping with them safe and accessible spaces, where people of all ages can come to remember and reflect for years to come.
The Welsh government said it expected the sites to become part of the National Forest for Wales in the future, with opportunities for local communities to help shape the management of the woodland.
Justin Albert, Director, National Trust Cymru said:
For over 125 years, the National Trust has provided places for people to connect with nature, beauty and fresh air. This has felt as relevant over the last 2 years as it has in any time in our history: knowing that nature has been hugely comforting to many during the pandemic, bringing both pleasure and reassurance as all other aspects of our lives changed.
Russia's coronavirus cases hit new record high
Russia reported 180,071 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, a record daily high, as the Omicron variant continued to spread, the coronavirus task force said.
Russia confirmed 661 deaths of coronavirus patients in the past 24 hours, the authorities said.
There were 177,282 cases the previous day.
