Thanks for joining us. That’s all from me, Samantha Lock, for today.
We will be launching another live Covid blog a little later today but in the meantime you can catch up with all the latest developments here.
Thanks for following along and, as always, I appreciate your tips and reader insights. You can email me at samantha.lock@theguardian.com or via Twitter @Samantha__Lock
Summary
Here’s a quick recap of all the international Covid developments:
Europe:
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England is going back to its “Plan A” Covid strategy by lifting virus restrictions, with commuters back to the office, masks no longer required in enclosed places and vaccine passports shelved.
- The EU’s drug regulator gave the green light to Pfizer Inc’s antiviral Covid-19 pill for treating adults at risk of severe illness.
- Booster shots could reduce future hospitalisations in Europe by at least half a million, the EU’s public health agency said.
- Finland will begin gradually easing restrictions from 1 February instead of mid-February as initially planned.
- The head of the Paris hospitals system has set off a fierce debate by questioning whether people who refuse to be vaccinated should continue to have their treatment covered by public health insurance.
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Spain’s north-eastern Catalonia region drops the need for a Covid passport to enter restaurants, bars and gyms.
- Sweden’s health authority says it will not recommend Covid-19 jabs for all five to 11 year olds, the country again choosing a different Covid policy to much of Europe.
- Many more Covid restrictions are being lifted on Friday in Wales, allowing nightclubs to reopen and some rules on social distancing to be scrapped.
Asia:
- Hong Kong will shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement to 14 days for incoming travellers starting from 5 February.
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New Delhi ends a weekend curfew, reopens restaurants and allows markets to operate at full capacity, as the Omicron variant outbreak slows.
Americas:
- Canadian truck drivers are meeting in Ottawa to protest a federal government vaccine mandate.
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Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau says he has been exposed to Covid-19 and will isolate for five days, in accordance with health rules for vaccinated people.
- The US government’s main health agency is failing to meet its responsibilities for leading the national response to public health emergencies, including the coronavirus pandemic, a federal watchdog said Thursday.
Middle East:
- A United Arab Emirates medical convoy of one million Covid-19 vaccines reached the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing, state news agency WAM said.
- Morocco will reopen its airspace for international flights starting Feb. 7, the state news agency (MAP) reported on Thursday.
- Covid-19 boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said.
- China’s Walvax Biotechnology has recruited most of the 28,000 participants needed for a large clinical trial of its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate, a senior company official said.
British prime minister Boris Johnson has been accused of taking a reckless approach to public health by lifting all plan B Covid restrictions in England while failing to take enough action to get jabs to 3 billion unvaccinated people in poorer countries.
The PM has robustly defended his record on the pandemic this week while awaiting the findings of the Sue Gray report on the “partygate” scandal, insisting he “got the big calls right” on the biggest global health crisis in a century.
But now more than 300 leading scientists, health experts and academics have said his failure to take sufficient action to boost vaccination levels worldwide means it is more likely new variants will put thousands of lives at risk across the UK.
“We write to you as scientists, academics, and public health experts concerned about the emergence of the Omicron variant and the threat that future variants may pose to public health, the NHS, and the UK’s vaccination programme,” they said in a two-page letter delivered to 10 Downing Street.
Read the full story here.
US federal health agency failing on crises, says watchdog
The US government’s main health agency is failing to meet its responsibilities for leading the national response to public health emergencies – including the coronavirus pandemic – extreme weather disasters and even potential bioterrorist attacks, a federal watchdog said Thursday.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said it is designating the Health and Human Services Department’s (HHS) leadership and coordination of public health emergencies as a “high risk” area for the government.
While that designation carries no immediate penalties, it signals to Congress that lawmakers need to pay special attention to the agency’s operations.
Long-standing “persistent deficiencies” at HHS “have hindered the nation’s response to the current Covid-19 pandemic and a variety of past threats,” the GAO said in its report. “If left unaddressed, these deficiencies will continue to hamper the nation’s ability to be prepared for, and effectively respond to, future threats.”
Read the full story here.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you on the blog for today as my colleague Tom Ambrose calls it a night in London.
The week has culminated in quite a few changes across Europe as England reverts back to Plan A and other countries throughout the region loosen Covid restrictions.
On the other side of the world it’s a different story as China continues to pursue a zero Covid strategy and local lockdowns could be on the horizon in Beijing.
Over in Australia, at least 74 Covid deaths have been recorded across NSW and Victoria.
Pfizer booster shots have also been approved for teenagers aged 16-17 as states urge more people to come forward and get their booster shots amid the Omicron Covid variant outbreak.
Brazil reported 228,954 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 672 Covid deaths, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The South American country has now registered 24,764,838 confirmed cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 625,085, according to ministry data.
Many more Covid restrictions are being lifted on Friday in Wales, allowing nightclubs to reopen and some rules on social distancing to be scrapped.
But people will still be obliged to wear masks in most indoor places and on public transport while Covid passes will be needed for larger indoor events and gatherings.
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said Wales was moving fully into alert level zero because the country had passed the peak of the Omicron wave. He said:
There are encouraging signs that cases of coronavirus may be starting to stabilise. But we all need to continue taking steps to stay safe – unfortunately the pandemic is not over yet.
We are moving to alert level zero and we will retain some important protections, such as face coverings in most indoor public places.
Morocco will reopen its airspace for international flights starting 7 February, the state news agency (MAP) reported on Thursday.
Morocco banned all inbound international passenger flights in November due to concerns over the Omicron Covid variant.
The European Medicines Agency has recommended that Pfizer’s coronavirus antiviral drug be authorised for use in the European Union, the first time the agency has recommended a pill for treating Covid.
In a statement on Thursday, the EU drug regulator said giving the green light to Pfizer’s Paxlovoid could help people infected with Covid avoid more serious disease and being hospitalised.
The EMA’s expert committee recommended the pill be given to adults who don’t require oxygen and who are at higher risk of severe disease.
The drug was cleared by regulators in the US and Britain in late December, although authorities noted that supplies would be extremely limited.
An antiviral pill from Merck also is expected to soon be authorised. But Pfizer’s drug is all but certain to be the preferred option because of its mild side effects and superior effectiveness as suggested by studies, including a nearly 90% reduction in hospitalisations and deaths among patients most likely to get severely ill.
Finland will begin gradually easing Covid restrictions from 1 February instead of mid-February as initially planned as the burden on its hospitals eases, the government said late on Thursday.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin had said Finland would begin scaling back restrictions from mid-February, but signs of stabilisation in the infection rate caused by the Omicron variant of the virus led the government to alter its plan.
“The burden on intensive care units has taken a turn in a better direction,” Finland’s minister for health and social affairs Hanna Sarkkinen told reporters.
The government decided to start the cautious easing by loosening restrictions on the hours restaurants can remain open to 9 p.m. from a mandatory 6pm closure currently in place, Sarkkinen said.
It also recommended local authorities allow reopening of cultural and sports venues such as gyms, swimming pools and theatres from the beginning of February.
A United Arab Emirates medical convoy of one million Covid vaccines reached the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday, state news agency WAM said on Thursday.
The report said the Sputnik shots were the biggest medical support convoy from the UAE to the Palestinian strip since the start of the pandemic.
Hello. Tom Ambrose here, I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news over the next couple of hours.
Let’s begin with news from France that the head of the Paris hospitals system has set off a fierce debate by questioning whether people who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid should continue to have their treatment covered by public health insurance.
Under France’s universal healthcare system, all Covid patients who end up in intensive care are fully covered for their treatment, which costs about 3,000 euros per day and typically lasts a week to 10 days.
“When free and efficient drugs are available, should people be able to renounce it without consequences ... while we struggle to take care of other patients?” Paris AP-HP hospitals system chief Martin Hirsch said on French television on Wednesday.
Hirsch said he raised the issue because health costs are exploding and that the irresponsible behaviour of some should not jeopardise the availability of the system for everyone else.
Summary
Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today so far:
-
Covid boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said. The UKHSA said that around six months after a second dose of any of the Covid vaccines, protection against death with Omicron was around 60% in those aged 50 and over. However, this increased to around 95% two weeks after receiving a booster vaccine dose. UKHSA added that data continued to show high levels of protection against hospitalisation from the booster. Effectiveness against hospitalisation was around 90% for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot , dropping to 75% 10-14 weeks after the booster.For Moderna, effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90-95% up to 9 weeks after the booster. “The evidence is clear - the vaccine helps to protect us all against the effects of Covid-19 and the booster is offering high levels of protection from hospitalisation and death in the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at UKHSA. [see 5.17pm.].
- The UK recorded another 96,871 new cases of Covid and a further 338 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
- Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that Covid infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing. “We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks,” the health minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement. He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs. Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.
- India’s capital announced the end of a weekend curfew and eased other stringent Covid restrictions on Thursday, with government data suggesting the country’s recent Omicron variant outbreak had slowed. Local officials in Delhi decided to reopen restaurants, allow markets to operate at full capacity and lift an all-weekend curfew imposed at the start of January that kept nearly all residents confined to their homes. “In view of the decline in positive cases, it was decided to gradually ease restrictions while ensuring adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour,” Delhi lieutenant governor, Anil Baijal, said. “In the last five to seven days there is an early indication of Covid cases plateauing … but we need to observe and take precautions,” the health ministry official Lav Agarwal told a Thursday press conference. An overnight curfew will remain in effect for all the capital’s residents except essential workers.
- The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has gone into isolation for five days after being exposed to someone with Covid. “I feel fine and will be working from home. Stay safe, everyone – and please get vaccinated,” Trudeau tweeted, adding that a rapid test result had come back negative.
- More than half of all patients with Covid-19 in hospital trusts in England are being treated primarily for something else. New figures show that of the 13,023 patients reported as having the virus on 25 January, 6,767 (52%) were not being treated principally for Covid. This is the highest proportion since these figures were first published in June 2021, and is up from 26% at the start of December. All hospital patients who have tested positive for Covid need to be treated separately from those who do not have the virus, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for Covid or not. But the growing proportion of patients who are in hospital “with” Covid rather than “for” Covid is another sign that the current wave of the virus has not led to the same sort of pressure on critical care as in previous waves. [see 1.27pm.].
- Booster shots could reduce future hospitalisations in Europe by at least half a million, the European Union’s public health agency said, even as the Omicron variant spreads at an unprecedented pace. “The current uptake of a booster dose achieved by early January may reduce future Omicron hospital admissions by 500,000-800,000 [in Europe],” the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) said. The figures cover the 27-nation EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Currently about 70% of the EU’s population of 450 million has had two doses of a Covid vaccine and half of them have received a booster.“ Extending the booster programme to all previously vaccinated individuals could reduce admissions by another 300,000-500,000,” the ECDC said. [see 12.53pm.].
Although wearing a face mask was no longer a legal requirement in England, many travellers and shoppers in London and Birmingham chose to continue covering up as they went about their morning business on Thursday.
Commuters at Birmingham New Street committed to widespread mask-wearing, with almost half still wearing them around the station and many saying they would put one on when they got on a train.
Of 100 people passing through the station entrance on Thursday morning, 48 were wearing masks, with a variety of different reasons for doing so – on the day not wearing one stopped being an offence in England.
“I think I’ll keep wearing one for the foreseeable. The number of colds and coughs I’ve had over the past couple of years has gone right down, and wearing a mask is not that bad,” said salesman Stuart Whitman, 50.
Jessica Murray and Georgina Quach report: ‘I’ll wear one for the forseeable’: masks abound despite England rule change
Boosters increase protection against death from Omicron in over-50s to 95% – UKHSA
Covid boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said on Thursday.
The UKHSA said that about six months after a second dose of any of the Covid vaccines, protection against death with Omicron was about 60% in those aged 50 and over. However, this increased to around 95% two weeks after receiving a booster vaccine dose.
UKHSA added that data continued to show high levels of protection against hospitalisation from the booster. Effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90% for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot , dropping to 75% 10-14 weeks after the booster.
For Moderna, effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90-95% up to 9 weeks after the booster.
“The evidence is clear – the vaccine helps to protect us all against the effects of Covid-19 and the booster is offering high levels of protection from hospitalisation and death in the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at UKHSA.
The UKHSA also issued an initial analysis of vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron sub-lineage called BA.2, which is growing in the UK and Denmark, finding a similar level of protection against symptomatic disease.
“After two doses effectiveness was 9% and 13% respectively for BA.1 and BA.2, after 25+ weeks,” the UKHSA said. “This increased to 63% for BA.1 and 70% for BA.2 from two weeks following a booster vaccine.”
Updated
A vaccine expert has said the UK’s Covid focus should shift away from the booster programme and move towards urging the unvaccinated to get first doses, Nicola Davis reports.
Efforts to increase uptake of Covid jabs in the UK should be concentrated on reducing the number of unvaccinated people rather than booster jabs, a leading expert has said.
As Omicron spread rapidly around the country towards the end of 2021, health advisers and government ministers stressed that two doses “are not enough” to protect against the new variant, urging those eligible to take up a booster dose as soon as possible.
The message hit home: in an attempt to avert another dismal Christmas and protect their loved ones people dashed to get jabbed, with 968,665 booster or third vaccinations reported on 21 December alone. But uptake subsequently fell dramatically, with booster doses now bobbing about 50,000 a day.
Now a leading vaccine expert has said the focus should be placed on reducing the numbers of those who have yet to have even their first jab.
“I think the booster programme might have reached saturation and [it is] best to concentrate on those who had no vaccine at all – as their chance of dying is 11 times higher than vaccinated folks,” said Prof Beate Kampmann, director of the vaccine centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
More on this story here: UK Covid efforts should target unvaccinated, says expert
A very quick snap from Reuters.
Kuwait’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, Sheikh Hamad Jaber al-Ali al-Sabah, has contracted Covid, the Gulf state’s army said on Thursday. He was self-isolating at home and working remotely, it added.
Updated
UK reports another 96,871 Covid cases and 338 deaths
The UK has recorded another 96,871 new cases of Covid and a further 338 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
That compares with 102,292 infections and 346 fatalities reported in the 24 hours prior.
Updated
Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that Covid infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing, Reuters reports.
The country last month forced bars, nightclubs and restaurants to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, following a surge of cases over the Christmas holidays due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
“We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks,” the health minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement.
He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs.
Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.
Greece reported 19,712 new cases on Thursday. Infections have been easing since a record high of around 50,000 in early January.
A total of 23,083 deaths linked to Covid have been reported since February 2020 and 1,867,935 cases out of a population of 11 million people.
A group of vaccine-sceptic writers are generating revenues of at least $2.5m (£1.85m) a year from publishing newsletters for tens of thousands of followers on the online publishing platform Substack, according to research.
My colleague Dan Milmo has the story: Anti-vaxxers making ‘at least $2.5m’ a year from publishing on Substack
Updated
India’s capital announced the end of a weekend curfew and eased other stringent Covid restrictions on Thursday, with government data suggesting the country’s recent Omicron variant outbreak had slowed, AFP reports.
Health authorities are still recording more than a quarter million cases across the country each day, but daily deaths have stayed a fraction of those seen last year.
Local officials in Delhi decided to reopen restaurants, allow markets to operate at full capacity and lift an all-weekend curfew imposed at the start of January that kept nearly all residents confined to their homes.
“In view of the decline in positive cases, it was decided to gradually ease restrictions while ensuring adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour,” Delhi lieutenant governor, Anil Baijal, said.
India recorded more than 285,000 new cases overnight – down substantially from the figures seen a week earlier – and 573 deaths.
“In the last five to seven days there is an early indication of Covid cases plateauing … but we need to observe and take precautions,” the health ministry official Lav Agarwal told a Thursday press conference.
An overnight curfew will remain in effect for all the capital’s residents except essential workers.
The country was battered by a devastating Covid outbreak last year in which 200,000 people died in a matter of weeks, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums.
Since then India has administered more than 1.6bn vaccine doses and expanded its inoculation drive to teenagers, while giving booster shots to vulnerable people and frontline workers.
Its current Covid wave comes just weeks before various sub-national elections including for Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and home to 220 million people.
Election authorities have restricted public campaign rallies, normally teeming with huge crowds, over fears they could spread the virus.
Updated
The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has gone into isolation for five days after being exposed to someone with Covid.
“I feel fine and will be working from home. Stay safe, everyone – and please get vaccinated,” Trudeau tweeted, adding that a rapid test result had come back negative.
The news means Trudeau, 50, will miss the reopening of parliament next Monday. Trudeau, who has been prime minister since November 2015, was reelected for a second time last September.
Trudeau went into isolation for two weeks in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic after his wife, Sophie, tested positive for Covid.
Several Canadian cabinet ministers, including the foreign minister Mélanie Joly, have tested positive in the last few months.
Last night, I learned that I have been exposed to COVID-19. My rapid test result was negative. I am following @OttawaHealth rules and isolating for five days. I feel fine and will be working from home. Stay safe, everyone – and please get vaccinated.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 27, 2022
Hier soir, j’ai appris que j’avais été exposé à la COVID-19. Le résultat de mon test rapide a été négatif. Je suis les règles de @OttawaSante et je m’isole pendant 5 jours. Je me sens bien et je travaillerai à la maison. Portez-vous bien et s’il vous plaît, faites-vous vacciner.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 27, 2022
Updated
The UK government may not have the power to ban mask-wearing from schools in England, according to legal advice commissioned by the Good Law Project.
Many secondary schools in England have persisted with the use of face masks by students, despite last week’s decision by the government to drop advice that masks be worn in classrooms.
Ministers and a few MPs have said that masks should not now be worn, with the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, saying he would “vet” local public health requests to keep them.
However, the Good Law Project said the advice it received suggested the government would find it difficult to ban masks nationally:
While the education secretary can sometimes issue directions to a school if he believes they are acting unreasonably, it will be difficult for him to override a school’s decision to ask their students to wear masks, provided they have good reasons for departing from the guidance.
The charity said schools should record and justify their decision-making process when asking pupils and staff to continue wearing masks.
Schools may want to take into account local rates of infection and vaccination, vulnerabilities in the school population and community, and advice from local authorities, among other things.
Updated
A very quick snap from PA.
Jonathan Chew, 24, has pleaded guilty at Westminster magistrates court to a charge of intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress to England’s chief medical officer, Prof Sir Chris Whitty. The incident took place in St James’s Park, London, in June last year.
Updated
English hospitals still under 'sustained pressure', despite over half of patients with Covid treated primarily for something else
More than half of all patients with Covid-19 in hospital trusts in England are being treated primarily for something else, PA reports.
New figures show that of the 13,023 patients reported as having the virus on 25 January, 6,767 (52%) were not being treated principally for Covid.
This is the highest proportion since these figures were first published in June 2021, and is up from 26% at the start of December.
In London the figure was as high as 64% of patients, while in eastern England it was 62%. Both the Midlands (54%) and south-west England (51%) were also above 50%.
But other regions in England had slightly lower levels, with north-east England and Yorkshire at 46%, south-east England 45% and north-west England 43%.
All hospital patients who have tested positive for Covid need to be treated separately from those who do not have the virus, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for Covid or not.
But the growing proportion of patients who are in hospital “with” Covid rather than “for” Covid is another sign that the current wave of the virus has not led to the same sort of pressure on critical care as in previous waves.
A total of 501 patients in all hospitals in England were in mechanical ventilation beds on 25 January, compared with 773 at the start of December – and well below the 3,736 recorded at the peak of the second wave on 24 January last year.
Separate figures published on Thursday show that nearly one in five patients (18%) arriving at hospitals in England by ambulance last week waited at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E departments.
This is unchanged from the previous week, but is down from 23% of arrivals delayed for half an hour or more in the week to 9 January.
About 7% of arrivals took more than 60 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams – also unchanged on the previous week.
A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance.
They may have been moved into an A&E department, but staff were not available to complete the handover.
Analysis of the NHS England data by the PA news agency shows that both University Hospitals Bristol & Weston and University Hospitals Plymouth reported the highest proportion of ambulance handovers that were delayed by at least 30 minutes last week (54%), followed by North West Anglia and Shrewsbury & Telford (both 53%) and Gloucestershire (51%).
Bristol & Weston and Plymouth also topped the list for the proportion of arrivals that were delayed by more than an hour (37%), followed by University Hospitals of Leicester (33%), Gloucestershire (31%) and North Bristol (29%).
There were 85,467 arrivals at A&E by ambulance in the week to 23 January, up almost 2,000 on the previous week and the busiest seven days since the start of December, NHS England said.
Ambulance handover delays are likely to have been influenced by the volume of patients who were medically fit but who were not able to be discharged.
On average more than half of inpatients (59%) fit to be discharged each day last week did not leave hospital, for reasons such as a lack of space in care homes or pending an agreement with local social services over levels of support.
On 23 January, the most recent date for which figures are available, out of 18,075 patients in England who were medically fit to leave, 12,984 (72%) were still in hospital.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, the body that represents health trusts in England, said the figures showed hospitals were “operating under sustained pressure”, despite the recent fall in the Covid cases. She said:
We continue to be concerned about the strain in urgent and emergency care, with the number of ambulances arrivals hospitals the highest so far this winter.
We know that success in reducing delayed discharges is dependent on having enough staff to facilitate discharges and support patients once they are ready to return home or to other community settings.
That’s why we are pleased to see that the number of staff absences due to Covid-19 is now decreasing after the Omicron peak, although it’s important to recognise that the total number of staff absences remains high.
An average of 30,375 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were ill with coronavirus or having to self-isolate each day in the week to 23 January – down 15% on the previous week, but still nearly double the level just before Christmas.
Updated
Boosters could cut Europe's Covid hospitalisations by up to 800,000, says ECDC
Booster shots could reduce future hospitalisations in Europe by at least half a million, the European Union’s public health agency said on Thursday, even as the Omicron variant spreads at an unprecedented pace.
“The current uptake of a booster dose achieved by early January may reduce future Omicron hospital admissions by 500,000-800,000 [in Europe],” the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) said.
The figures cover the 27-nation EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Currently about 70% of the EU’s population of 450 million has had two doses of a Covid vaccine and half of them have received a booster.
“Extending the booster programme to all previously vaccinated individuals could reduce admissions by another 300,000-500,000,” the ECDC said.
Although Omicron cases are increasing at an unprecedented speed across the continent, with infection rates three times as high as the highest peak so far, many countries may already be at a turning point, the EU said.
“Whilst in some member states, the peak of infection appears to have been reached recently, the pandemic is not over,” the EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, said.
Updated
A group of German, Austrian and Swiss immigrants has implanted an ideologically driven settlement in one of Paraguay’s poorest regions, William Costa reports.
A 1,600-hectare (4,000-acre) gated community, dubbed El Paraíso Verde, or The Green Paradise, is being carved out of the fertile red earth of Caazapá, one of Paraguay’s poorest regions.
The community’s population – consisting mainly of German, Austrian and Swiss immigrants – will eventually swell from 150 to 3,000, according to the owners.
The project’s website bills it as “by far the largest urbanisation and settlement project in South America”, describing the colony as a refuge from “socialist trends of current economic and political situations worldwide” – as well as “5G, chemtrails, fluoridated water, mandatory vaccinations and healthcare mandates”.
Immigration to the colony has stepped up since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with residents interviewed on its YouTube channel attributing their move to scepticism about the virus and vaccines.
Caazapá, a rural region dominated by cattle ranching in the heart of lush eastern Paraguay, saw a jump from four new German residents in 2019 to 101 in 2021, according to official figures. “Anti-vaxxer” immigrants have also been reported settling in other parts of Paraguay.
One German citizen who lives nearby and who does business with Paraíso Verde, cited discredited conspiracy theories about coronavirus vaccines to explain the surge. They claimed that Paraguay’s accommodating immigration laws have proved attractive to Germans who want to “escape the matrix” and flee the “deep state and one world order”.
“Many older people are coming. They understand that many people are dying in care homes [after vaccination],” said the German, who asked not to be named. “And the others, in their 40s, are trying to bring their children over here to escape.”
But the appearance of an insular colony of Europeans has been watched with concern by some in the nearby the regional capital, also named Caazapá.
“Why are they here? We don’t know, but we want to find out,” said Rodney Mereles, a former municipal councillor.
On its YouTube channel, Paraíso Verde shares videos describing the pandemic which has killed some 5.5 million people as “non-existent”, promoting false, dangerous Covid “miracle cures”, and advertising Paraguay as a country without pandemic restrictions – despite the government’s clear health protocols.
Even as Paraguay recorded the world’s highest Covid death rate per capita in June 2021, the colony shared videos of large parties in violation of restrictions.
Here is the full story: German-speaking Covid denialists seek to build paradise in Paraguay
Updated
The UK government’s announcement that care home residents in England will be allowed unlimited visitors from next week has been met with joyous reactions from loved ones, Rob Booth reports.
Families have reacted with elation to the government’s announcement that English care homes will allow unlimited visitors for residents from next week.
“It’s absolutely fantastic news,” said Penny Hutchinson, whose mother, Yvonne Williamson, 81, lives in Summerfield House care home in Halifax. “Everyone is delighted. It means we are being listened to.”
The rule change, placing no limits on the number of visitors, means Williamson will be able to see her grandchildren, Lucy, 23, and Kristian, 18, for the first time in two years. While there was a limit of three named visitors, those roles went to her three children.
However, the reunion will have to be delayed because, in common with hundreds of other care homes, Summerfield House is tackling an outbreak of Omicron, which means visitors are limited to a single pre-nominated essential caregiver. Care homes will still have to follow outbreak management rules after next week’s rule changes, albeit for 14 rather than 28 days, as has been the case.
“We are still pushing for a law so we can’t lock care home residents away without at least one visitor,” Williamson said.
Campaign groups such as Rights for Residents have been calling for the government to enshrine the status of “essential caregiver” in law so care homes can never again go into full lockdown.
They argue that what would be known as “Gloria’s law” – named after the mother of the care visits campaigner and actor Ruthie Henshall – is a basic human right and say isolation has caused misery as care homes locked their doors to prevent infection spread. It has left families only able to talk to loved ones through plastic screens or bedroom windows.
Birgit Clark, whose daughter Franziska, 26, has severe learning difficulties and lives in a care home in Cheshire, said there would be “fireworks going off” if she was allowed back into her daughter’s home. She has not been inside the home for close to two years, although she has seen her daughter outdoors and taken her on trips.
But while the guidelines say there is no limit to the number of visitors from Monday, the reality is the home must consult with the local authority health protection team, she says.
“They want to open up,” said Clark. “They understand how important it is to have family life. The mental health of the residents has suffered badly. It is loneliness. So I am hoping we are going to get there.”
The full story is here: ‘Absolutely fantastic’: families’ joy at opening up of English care homes
There has been a sharp drop in one-off sexual encounters during the Covid pandemic, researchers say, but more people are enjoying friends with benefits and getting experimental in bed.
My colleague Zoe Williams has the story: How Covid killed the one-night stand – and made us all kinkier
NHS absences due to Covid-19 are falling much faster in London and the north-west than in other parts of the country, particularly the Midlands, my colleagues Niamh McIntyre and Pamela Duncan report.
New figures show the number of NHS London staff off sick with Covid was close to 3,000 on an average day in the week to 23 January or 47% of its Omicron peak.
However, in the Midlands, there are close to 7,500 staff off sick with Covid, or 69% of the region’s lowest staffing levels in the Omicron wave.
Absences in NHS East of England and the South East region are both running at 65% of their Omicron peaks respectively.
Across NHS England Covid absences have fallen again, the latest figures show, down 15% on the previous week.
There were just over 30,000 NHS staff absent due to Covid in the week to 23 January, compared to 35,000 last week. This is the second week in a row where absences have fallen, down from a winter peak of 46,000 on average at the start of January.
In the past week the North West region saw a 25% drop-off in staff absences while NHS London reported a 22% drop. This compares with a 13% fall in the Midlands and an 11% drop in the North East and Yorkshire, 8% in the South West and 6% in the South East region.
Staff absences due to all causes remains high across NHS England with more than 72,000 staff absent due to sickness each day last week on average, down from a peak of 88,000 in early January but significantly higher than in early December when they were running at 60,000.
Separate figures published today show that the number of ambulance callouts grew substantially in the latest week with 2,000 more callouts than the previous week, to 85,467, the highest in the winter to date.
The proportion of occupied beds in the NHS remained stable in the week to 23 January at 91.6%. Pressure in hospitals remains high, with 93% of adult general and acute beds occupied over last week, and paediatric general and acute beds seeing an almost 3 percentage point increase in occupancy the previous week to this past week.
NHS England’s national medical director, Prof Stephen Powis, said that it was positive to see more NHS staff back at work but that pressure on the NHS remained intense. He said:
Our staff have already had what feels like a long winter, but despite everything they have had to contend with, they continue to step up as they always do; answering thousands more 111 calls last week than the seven days before, continuing to care for thousands of Covid patients and maintaining non-Covid procedures, and working closely with colleagues in social care to get people out of hospital safely.
Updated
Good morning from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Today so far …
- England has dropped all plan B restrictions from today. The decision means compulsory mask wearing in shops and on public transport, guidance to work from home and vaccine certificates will be scrapped in England. Last week the government changed guidance to remove mask wearing in classrooms in secondary schools.
- Care home residents in England can receive unlimited visitors from Monday as restrictions to tackle the Omicron variant of coronavirus are eased, the Department of Health has said. Care homes in England will have to follow outbreak management rules for 14 rather than 28 days, and self-isolation periods will be cut from 15 days to 10 days for those who test positive – with further reductions if they test negative on days five and six.
- We are still waiting for the publication of Sue Gray’s report into allegations of partying during lockdown at Downing Street and in Whitehall. Andrew Sparrow’s live blog has the latest on that saga.
- Travel companies are reporting a bounce back in bookings in the UK, with easyJet and Saga predicting a summer surge as the impact of Omicron on consumer confidence wanes, and the government’s move to lift testing and travel restrictions pushes capacity back to near pre-pandemic levels.
- Moderna says it has started a mid-stage study, testing a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine specifically designed to target the Omicron variant, a day after rival Pfizer launched a similar trial.
- Germany’s Omicron wave continues apace, as the country again set another record number of daily new infections, crossing the 200,000 threshold for the first time.
- Russia’s daily Covid-19 cases rose to 88,816 on Thursday, a new record high for the seventh consecutive day as the Omicron variant was identified in new regions, officials said.
- Poland has set another new daily Covid caseload record, at 57,659. The country’s defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak has tweeted that he has tested positive.
- Hong Kong will shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement to 14 days for incoming travellers starting from 5 February.
- Current and former staffers have accused the top director of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Western Pacific of racist, unethical and abusive behaviour that has undermined the UN health agency’s efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Dr Takeshi Kasai denies the allegations, which are said to have been raised by more than 30 staffers.
- Australia’s expert immunisation advisers are still considering whether to expand the definition of “fully vaccinated” to mean three Covid jabs, while some state and territory leaders have indicated they may be approaching the peak of their Omicron waves.
- Israel’s government has said in a report marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day that protesters against Covid-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazi persecution are stoking global antisemitism.
- A group of vaccine-sceptic writers are generating revenues of at least $2.5m (£1.85m) a year from publishing newsletters for tens of thousands of followers on the online publishing platform Substack, according to new research.
Lucy Campbell will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day’s Covid news from the UK and around the world. Andrew Sparrow has got all the latest UK politics. And I’m off to host a special 40th anniversary edition of our rather silly Thursday quiz.
Updated
Martin Quin Pollard reports from Beijing for Reuters that with just over a week until the Winter Olympic Games begin, teams are frantically trying to ensure that athletes stay virus-free to get past Beijing’s strict checks and make it to the start line.
Several teams have reported positive cases of Covid-19 among their athletes and coaching staff this week just days before their scheduled departures for China, throwing careful preparations into disarray.
Norway’s ski federation said it was delaying the team’s departure to Beijing, scheduled for Thursday, by at least four days, after a coach and two competitors tested positive.
The US bobsleigh competitor Josh Williamson missed his flight with his teammates this week after a positive test, he said on social media Wednesday, though he will still compete if he can both get enough negative tests and catch a flight in time.
On Monday, Beijing 2022 slightly eased its Covid-19 measures by adjusting the cycle threshold (CT) of PCR tests so that only those with a CT of less than 35 will be deemed positive, making it easier to test negative, although that applies only once athletes arrive in Beijing.
To minimise risks, Beijing 2022 has introduced a “closed loop” system which restricts all Games participants to certain zones in and around venues and accommodation, creating a bubble that separates them from the local population.
The organisers have reported 129 positive cases among Games-related personnel between 4 January, when the loop began operations, and 26 January.
Athletes must provide proof of two negative tests within 96 hours of their departure for China to get permission to fly and then test every day while there, and close contacts of those infected can be forced to isolate. Close contacts can still compete but are subject to extra restrictions and tests.
“The main concern in the pandemic situation for us is a matter of getting there safely rather than the bubble itself,” the German Olympic Sports Confederation told Reuters.
Updated
Australia’s expert immunisation advisers are still considering whether to expand the definition of “fully vaccinated” to mean three Covid jabs, while some state and territory leaders have indicated they may be approaching the peak of their Omicron waves.
National cabinet met for the 65th time on Thursday, with the capacity of the health system, the vaccine rollout and supply chains topping the agenda. As he did prior to last week’s meeting, Daniel Andrews raised his support for mandating a third or booster dose in order for an Australian to be considered fully vaccinated.
“This is not a two-dose thing, or two doses and a bonus,” he told reporters on Thursday as Victoria recorded 15 deaths and 13,755 new infections.
“International evidence, our own experience, the views of experts and hopefully the confirmation of both Atagi and national cabinet later today will mean that everyone knows and understands that this is a three-dose project.”
Andrews said he believed it “will be very soon be three doses to get the green tick” to enter restaurants, bars, cafes, hairdressers and beauty services. But the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) is still considering its stance, with federal government sources indicating that advice will be finalised soon.
Read more of Josh Butler and Daniel Hurst’s report here: Booster jab not yet required to be ‘fully vaxxed’ in Australia as national cabinet anticipates Omicron peak
Reuters reports that the rising number of infections in Germany – where cases exceeded 200,000 in a day for the first time today – has led to staffing shortages in sectors including logistics, healthcare and child care.
The airline group Lufthansa’s cargo arm said a staffing crunch at its hub in Frankfurt meant it was currently unable to handle sorting of loose freight from the United States, Canada and Europe.
“Despite comprehensive preventative measures, we are now clearly feeling the rising infection numbers,” Lufthansa Cargo said, adding that up to 15% of cargo at Frankfurt was affected by delays.
It said its flight schedule was unaffected, as was transportation of time-sensitive goods such as organs for transplants or temperature-controlled cargo. Rival DHL said its operations in Frankfurt and Leipzig were still running smoothly.
The German Hospitals Federation had warned earlier this week that three-quarters of hospitals were reporting higher than usual numbers of staff out on sick leave.
Updated
Hong Kong to shorten 21-day quarantine to 14 days for incoming travellers
Hong Kong will shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement to 14 days for incoming travellers starting from 5 February, its leader, Carrie Lam, has said. Reuters reports that it is a move that comes after months of pressure from financial executives and foreign diplomats who said the rule was eroding the city’s competitiveness.
Currently Hong Kong residents returning from more than 160 countries have to quarantine for 21 days at their own cost in designated hotels.
Updated
Anti-vaxxers making ‘at least $2.5m’ a year from publishing on Substack
A group of vaccine-sceptic writers are generating revenues of at least $2.5m (£1.85m) a year from publishing newsletters for tens of thousands of followers on the online publishing platform Substack, according to new research.
Prominent figures in the anti-vaccine movement including Dr Joseph Mercola and Alex Berenson have large followings on Substack, which has more than 1 million paying subscribers who sign up for individual newsletters from an array of authors who include novelist Salman Rushdie, the writer-musician Patti Smith and former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings.
Mercola, a US alternative medicine doctor and prolific producer of anti-vaccine content, and Alex Berenson, a journalist banned from Twitter last year after questioning the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, are among five vaccine sceptics on the platform who earn themselves and Substack a minimum of $2.5m a year from their newsletters. Under Substack’s business model, writers keep about 90% of the subscription income, with the platform taking 10% and the payment company Stripe charging the writers 3% of their take.
Research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a campaign group, showed that Mercola’s newsletters made a minimum of $1m a year from charging subscribers an annual fee of $50, with Berenson making at least $1.2m from charging people $60. Three other vaccine sceptic newsletters, from the tech entrepreneur Steven Kirsch, virologist Robert Malone and anonymous writer Eugyppius, generate about $300,000 between them.
Read more of Dan Milmo’s report here: Anti-vaxxers making ‘at least $2.5m’ a year from publishing on Substack
Updated
Travel companies are reporting a bounce back in bookings, with easyJet and Saga predicting a summer surge as the impact of Omicron on consumer confidence wanes, and the government’s move to lift testing and travel restrictions pushes capacity back to near pre-pandemic levels.
easyJet said it expected Omicron to continue to have an impact over its short-term performance. However, the airline said that customers looked to rebook, rather than cancel, which would help boost its performance.
“We see a strong summer ahead, with pent-up demand that will see easyJet returning to near 2019 levels of capacity, with UK beach and leisure routes performing particularly well,” said Johan Lundgren, the chief executive of easyJet.
Saga, the travel and insurance group specialising in products and holidays for over-50s, said it had seen strong bookings for its cruises in the period from 1 August to 26 January.
The company said that for this 2022-2023 financial year, which runs from 27 January, cruises had a booking load factor of 86% in its first half and 73% for the full year.
“While Omicron has impacted travel bookings through December and January, our outlook for cruises in 2022-2023 and beyond is positive,” said Euan Sutherland, the chief executive of Saga.
Read more of Mark Sweney’s report here: UK travel industry forecasts summer boom amid surge in holiday bookings
Updated
My colleague Kalyeena Makortoff has a rundown here of six UK firms that have handed bonuses to executives or payouts to shareholders despite refusing to refund taxpayers for support, including business rates relief and the furlough job retention scheme.
Updated
A very quick snap from Reuters confirming that Poland has set another new daily Covid caseload record, at 57,659. The deputy health minister there yesterday warned that the country could soon see case numbers over 60,000 each day.
Israeli government report: global antisemitism stoked by Covid protesters making Holocaust comparisons
The Israeli government has said in a report marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day that protesters against Covid-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazi persecution are stoking global antisemitism.
Such displays showed factual knowledge of the genocide was eroding, the report said, adding that some Covid-19 agitators had been “consuming and disseminating antisemitic conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for the crisis and are using it for oppression, global domination, economic gain, etc”.
Expanding on the findings, the diaspora affairs minister Nachman Shai said Holocaust distortion or trivialisation was itself antisemitic and could sometimes lead to actual endangerment of Jews.
“There are people so fraught with hate who can, when faced with such imagery, be tipped over into action,” he told Reuters.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s main Holocaust memorial, has urged world leaders to come out against such discourse – a call apparently heeded by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, who on Monday said the yellow star protests were “reprehensible”.
“Covid brought Holocaust trivialisation to a summit,” said the Yad Vashem chairman, Dani Dayan. “Things like that, sometimes done by politicians, by public figures, are despicable and Yad Vashem is very clear in demanding those persons retract.”
Updated
Andrew Sparrow is live with our UK politics blog for today, which is of course heavily intertwined with the Covid story as we await the publication of Sue Gray’s report. You can find that here.
I’ll be continuing here with major UK Covid developments and the coronavirus news from around the globe.
Poland’s defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak has tweeted that he has tested positive for coronavirus. “I feel well, I will carry out my duties under isolation,” Blaszczak said.
Reuters remind us that Poland reported a record 53,420 new daily Covid infections yesterday.
Russia records over 80,000 new daily Covid cases for the first time
Russia’s daily Covid-19 cases rose to 88,816 on Thursday, a new record high for the seventh consecutive day as the Omicron variant was identified in new regions, officials said.
The number of new infections was a significant jump from the 74,692 reported on Wednesday. Reuters report that officials also said that 665 people had died in the last 24 hours.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has take some time out of waiting for the Sue Gray report to arrive to tweet about England dropping Plan B measures today, and to urge people to continue to get vaccinated.
The success of our booster rollout, the tireless work of the NHS and the amazing public response means Plan B measures have ended in England today.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 27, 2022
The pandemic is not over – everyone should remain cautious, and I urge anyone who hasn’t yet got their vaccine to come forward.
Care home staff in England have said they are facing Covid “testing fatigue” with up to 50% of services experiencing outbreaks, the chairwoman of the National Care Association has warned on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme today.
Responding to the Government announcement that visitor restrictions in care homes will be scrapped next week, Nadra Ahmed said the situation would need to be “considered carefully” by independent providers. PA Media quote her saying:
We also know that up to 50% of services are in outbreak at this moment of time, which is why we’ve got the NHS in the position it’s in because we can’t take people in, so I think all of this will need to be considered very carefully.
Somebody mentioned to me... that we’ve got testing fatigue going on at the moment because you know, we have introduced so much testing, but these (we) have to do because we have to keep people safe.
Asked whether independent providers would place their own restrictions on visitor numbers despite the Government announcement, Ahmed said care homes would be “aiming towards” allowing people to visit freely.
She added: “There may be some challenges for some providers if they are short-staffed or there’s an outbreak, and if there are additional challenges those are the things that we’ll need to take into consideration”.
EasyJet has said the Omicron variant hit passenger demand last month, but revealed it had seen a recent boost in bookings from the move to scrap Covid travel tests.
The low-cost airline said Omicron saw its load factor, a measure of how well it fills its planes, slump to 67% in December after recovering past 80% in October and November.
PA Media report that the carrier said it has seen a “step change” in bookings since the 5 January announcement that pre-departure Covid testing would be scrapped for fully vaccinated arrivals entering England, with demand buoyed further by last week’s news of restriction-free travel from 11 February.
Staff at Western Pacific branch of WHO accuse top director of racist, unethical and abusive behaviour
There is a developing story from Associated Press that current and former staffers have accused the top director of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Western Pacific of racist, unethical and abusive behaviour that has undermined the UN health agency’s efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
The allegations were laid out in an internal complaint filed in October and again in an email last week, sent by unidentified “concerned WHO staff” to senior leadership and the executive board and obtained by the Associated Press. Two of the authors said more than 30 staffers were involved in writing it, and that it reflected the experiences of more than 50 people.
Maria Cheng reports that the internal complaint and the email describe a “toxic atmosphere” with “a culture of systemic bullying and public ridiculing” at WHO’s Western Pacific headquarters in Manila, led by Dr Takeshi Kasai, director of the region that includes China and his home country of Japan. Kasai denies the allegations.
The AP says it has also obtained recorded snippets of meetings where Kasai is heard making derogatory remarks about his staff based on nationality. Eleven former or current WHO staffers who worked for Kasai told the AP he frequently used racist language.
In an email to the AP, Kasai denied allegations of racism and unethical behavior. He said that after receiving the email last week, he immediately took steps to communicate with all his staff.
“I ask a lot of myself, and our staff,” he said. “This has particularly been the case during the Covid-19 response. But it should not result in people feeling disrespected.”
Isobel Frodsham at PA Media has a little bit more on those changes to care home rules in England. Limits on the number of visitors to care homes are being scrapped from Monday.
She writes that care homes will only have to follow outbreak management rules for 14 rather than 28 days, and self-isolation periods will be cut from 15 days to 10 days for those who test positive - with further reductions if they test negative on days five and six.
Isolation periods for those in care following an emergency hospital visit are also being reduced from 14 to 10 days. The move comes as 86.5% of care home residents have now had a booster vaccination.
Care minister Gillian Keegan said: “Thanks to the continued success of the vaccine rollout, I am delighted we can ease restrictions in care settings and allow unlimited visits to ensure people living in care homes see all their family and friends.
“The changes announced today are backed by scientists, ensuring we all have more freedoms from coronavirus, including care home residents and their families.”
The withdrawal of the requirement for Covid passes in England from today has been welcomed by those within the hospitality industry.
PA Media quote Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, described the requirement as having been a “debilitating and divisive mitigation” and said businesses across the night-time economy will celebrate the change.
Kill said the impact of the measure has left “many businesses now concerned that they will struggle to survive beyond February” and called for more government support.
Shaun Hinds, chief executive at Manchester Central, which describes itself as one of the UK’s leading events venues, described the end of plan B as “a very positive move”.
He said “a number of significant inquiries for events in 2022” and new bookings for 2023 indicate a “real appetite and eagerness in the live events sector as it continues in its recovery”.
A couple of snippets from Politico’s London Playbook email this morning suggest we might all be here again on Monday waiting for Sue Gray to publish her report into a lockdown party culture at Downing Street and in Whitehall. They write:
The latest information is that Boris Johnson has still not received the document from Gray. It is possible it will arrive this morning and then be published this afternoon — however it is now just as likely that the whole publication process slips to next week, after a remarkable internal row broke out over what exactly can be made public following the police decision to launch a formal probe.
…
Government lawyers, police officers and human resources officials are poring over the document line by line because there are legal concerns that publishing some of her findings on the eight alleged events being looked at by the police could prejudice their investigation.
…
It may now be Monday before the report can be released, because MPs start to head back to their constituencies this afternoon and there may not be sufficient time to allow Johnson to make an immediate statement to the Commons.
Germany records more than 200,000 new cases in a single day for first time during pandemic
Germany’s Omicron wave continues apace, as the country again set another record number of daily new infections, crossing the 200,000 threshold for the first time.
The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 203,136 positive tests in the last 24 hours, 69,600 cases more than the same day a week ago.
The seven-day incidence per 100,000 people rose to 1,017 from 941 the previous day, while another 188 people died, bringing the death toll since the start of the pandemic to 117,314.
Reuters remind us that German lawmakers debated yesterday whether to impose compulsory Covid vaccine shots, while protesters gathered outside the parliament building.
Around 75% of the German population have received at least one dose of a vaccine - less than in western European peers such as France, Italy or Spain.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz backs compulsory vaccines for over-18s but his coalition government is divided on the issue and he has told lawmakers to vote according to their conscience.
Care home residents in England can receive unlimited visitors from Monday
Care home residents can receive unlimited visitors from Monday as restrictions to tackle the Omicron variant of coronavirus are eased, the Department of Health has said.
Self-isolation periods will also be reduced from 14 days to 10 for those who test positive, with further reductions if they test negative on days five and six.
And there will be changes to the testing regime for care workers from 16 February, with pre-shift lateral flow tests replacing the current system involving weekly asymptomatic PCR tests.
PA Media report that Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “I know how vital companionship is to those living in care homes and the positive difference visits make, which is why we continued to allow three named visitors and an essential care giver under Plan B measures.
“Thanks to the progress we have made, I am delighted that care home restrictions can now be eased further allowing residents to see more of their loved ones.”
Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, has done her interview on Sky News, and has naturally been immediately quizzed about the publication timing of the Sue Gray report into Downing Street parties. She said:
I’m conscious that Sue Gray is finalising her report … it’s important that be allowed to continue, as indeed the prime minister said about the police investigation. I know that the government is committed to publishing the full findings of the report, but the timing I actually have no idea about.
There then followed a somewhat awkward exchange where she was asked if she had attended any parties at Downing Street. Here’s how it went:
Kay Burley: Did you ever go to any of the parties in Downing Street?
Thérèse Coffey: I’m not aware of any parties at Downing Street, but it is important that Sue Gray’s report is allowed to be published and the PM … sorry … the police be allowed to investigate.
Burley: But did you ever go?
Coffey: I’m not aware of any parties, I’m here to talk about jobs [then pushes government line on new Universal Credit policy]
Burley: Did you ever go to any parties at Downing Street?
Coffey: Have I ever been to any parties in Downing Street? The last party I recall going to Downing Street was the celebration of when the UK left the European Union following the referendum. And that was because Boris got Brexit done.
England drops compulsory mask wearing in shops, vaccine certificates and work from home guidance
Today is the day that England drops all the Plan B restrictions which were put in place ahead of the expected wave of Omicron infections.
The move means compulsory mask wearing in shops and on public transport, guidance to work from home and vaccine certificates will be scrapped in England. Last week the government changed guidance to remove face mask wearing in classrooms in secondary schools.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the success of the vaccine programme, coupled with a better understanding of treatment for the virus, is “allowing us to cautiously return to plan A, restoring more freedoms to this country”.
The move comes as the UK as a whole recorded 102,292 new daily Covid cases, with the week-on-week average being slightly down. There were 346 deaths recorded yesterday.
Public health guidance urging people to wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces if coming into contact strangers will remain in place, the Government said. It also said organisations will be able to choose if they will require Covid passes from those visiting their venues.
While the scrapping of measures have been welcomed by some, others have urged people to “be considerate to those around them” when it comes to choosing to wear a face covering, and to “be respectful” of policies in certain settings.
Both Sainsbury’s and John Lewis said their customers will be asked to wear masks, though the latter acknowledged it will ultimately come down to “personal choice”.
PA Media quote the British Retail Consortium saying the changes “will enable shopping to return to a more normal experience for customers, employees and businesses”.
But their chief executive Helen Dickinson added: “Retailers ask customers to be considerate to those around them when choosing whether to wear a face covering and to respect the decision of other customers.”
Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London, taking over from Samantha Lock. You could be forgiven a slight sense of deja vu as the UK news cycle seems entirely gripped with when Sue Gray is going to publish her report into Downing Street’s lockdown party culture, what Prime Minister Boris Johnson is going to say in parliament in response to that, and then whether he can cling on to his leadership of the Conservative party. So just like yesterday, to be honest.
I’ll bring you the key lines from the morning’s UK media round. Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, is on the airwaves for the government. And I’ll also be bringing you continuing coronavirus coverage from around the world.
A convoy of truckers is set to descend on Ottawa in Canada to protest a vaccine mandate for cross-border drivers.
Thousands of truckers are protesting a new requirement that they be fully immunised to enter Canada as of 15 January.
Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said officers have been in been in contact with protest leaders whom he said have been cooperative and shared their plans, the Associated Press reports.
The US has imposed the same requirement on truckers entering the country.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance has estimated that about 15% truckers in Canada — as many as 16,000 — are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Donald Trump Jr. took to social media Tuesday to endorse the Canadian truck convoy’s fight against “tyranny” and to urge Americans to follow suit.
At the meeting in Ottawa, police disclosed they are preparing for a range of scenarios including the potential for violent outbreaks. Police say they are planning for the arrival of between 1,000 and 2,000 demonstrators, but say the situation is “fluid” and changing by the hour.
Some supporters of the convoy have taken to social media to warn the vaccine mandate for truckers will leave store shelves empty.
Transport minister Omar Alghabra has assured Canadians there’s no reason to fear food shortages will result from a small minority of truck drivers refusing to comply with the vaccine mandate.
Moreover, he said there’s been no “measurable impact” on the number of trucks crossing the border since the vaccine mandate went into effect on 15 January. Last week, he said almost 100,000 trucks crossed the border — about the same as usual for this time of year.
England lifts Omicron restrictions
England today lifts Covid restrictions imposed to tackle the Omicron variant, with masks no longer required in enclosed places and vaccine passports shelved.
People will no longer be legally required to wear face masks, although they will still be recommended in some settings.
Covid passports are also to be scrapped to enter places such as nightclubs, football grounds and large-scale events, although venues may continue to ask customers to provide evidence of their vaccination status or a recent negative test if they wish.
The changes are part of the government’s decision to lift Plan B coronavirus measures and come as the number of positive Covid-19 cases has fallen sharply over the past two weeks. Although still at high levels, cases have plateaued in recent days.
The UK government introduced the so-called Plan B restrictions on 8 December, after prime minister Boris Johnson warned of a looming “tidal wave” of Omicron.
Moderna begins trial for Omicron-specific booster shot
Moderna Inc says it has started a mid-stage study, testing a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine specifically designed to target the Omicron variant, a day after rival Pfizer Inc launched a similar trial.
The pharmaceutical company said while a third shot of its original coronavirus vaccine increased neutralising antibodies against the variant at the lower dose, their levels declined six months after the booster dose was administered.
However, neutralising antibodies remained detectable in all participants, Moderna added.
On Tuesday, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech started a clinical trial to test a new version of their vaccine specifically tailored to the Omicron variant.
Moderna said it would study its Omicron-specific booster in adults aged 18 years and older, Reuters reports.
It would test the booster in individuals who received only the two-dose primary series of Moderna’s original vaccine, mRNA-1273, and also in those who received the primary series and a booster dose of the same vaccine, the company said.
Moderna plans to enrol about 300 participants in each of the two groups in the study.
Three studies, led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that a third dose of an mRNA vaccine, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, is key to fighting the Omicron variant.
Summary
Hello and thanks for joining us for all the latest Covid developments this Thursday.
I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be here for the next hour or so before my colleague Martin Belam takes the reins from London.
It’s another day of humiliation for Boris Johnson as the embattled British PM fields fresh calls to quit over a slew of alleged lockdown breaches in Downing Street.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pressed Johnson on his behaviour during a session of prime minister’s questions where he said the PM had previously told MPs that “all guidance was followed” in Downing Street over gatherings during Covid lockdowns.
“So since he acknowledges the ministerial code applies to him, will he now resign?” the Labour leader asked. Johnson replied: “No.”
An official report by senior civil servant Sue Gray due to be published in the coming days may prompt a new raft of Conservative MPs to send letters of no confidence in the PM.
Amid all the political chaos it may be easy to forget we are still in the midst of a global pandemic.
People in England today will no longer be legally required to wear face masks, although they will still be recommended in some settings. The change is part of the government’s decision to lift Plan B coronavirus measures.
Covid passports are also to be scrapped although venues may continue to ask customers to provide evidence of their vaccination status or a recent negative test if they wish.
Pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc also announced it has started a mid-stage study, testing a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine specifically designed to target the Omicron variant, a day after rival Pfizer Inc launched a similar trial.
Here’s everything else you might have missed:
Europe:
- Italy will ease Covid restrictions for all visitors from European Union countries starting from 1 February, its health ministry said on Wednesday.
- Moderna has started testing an Omicron-specific Covid booster in healthy adults.
- In Denmark, the government announced it will scrap most pandemic restrictions next week, even as neighbouring Sweden extended its own measures for another fortnight.
- Police in Berlin have been authorised to crack down on protesters wearing badges resembling yellow star badges and other symbols associated with the Nazi era at demonstrations against vaccine mandates or other pandemic restrictions. Story here.
- The UK has reported a further 102,292 Covid infections and 346 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data from the government’s coronavirus dashboard. That compares with 94,326 cases and 439 fatalities in the 24 hours prior.
- Sweden will extend its current pandemic measures by another two weeks, the minister for health said on Wednesday, as Omicron is spreading at record speed. The curbs mean bars and restaurants have to close at 11pm and there is a cap of 500 people inside larger indoor venues.
- As pressure on hospitals eases, Austria will end its lockdown for people not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus on Monday, though some restrictions on public life will remain.
Middle East:
- Israel has broadened its eligibility for a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine to include adults under 60 with underlying medical conditions, their carers and others over 18 at significant risk of exposure to coronavirus.
United States:
- The United States has donated more than 400m vaccine doses to 112 countries, marking a major milestone in the White House’s goal of donating 1.2bn vaccine doses under president Joe Biden’s direction.
- The Americas have seen their highest daily Covid caseloads since the pandemic began, and Omicron has clearly become the predominant variant, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said.
