A summary of today's developments
- Children aged between five and 11 in England will be offered a Covid vaccine, the UK government has confirmed, after similar announcements from Wales and Scotland this week. The move was recommended by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which decided that the vaccination programme should be extended to younger children after lengthy discussions on the benefits and risks.
- Germany will ease Covid-19 restrictions as a wave of infections from the Omicron coronavirus variant seems to have passed its peak, the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Wednesday, but he warned that the pandemic was not over yet.
- An Omicron-specific booster could be ready by August, the CEO of Moderna told Reuters, but the firm is still gathering clinical data to determine whether that vaccine would offer better protection than a new dose of the existing jab.
- The UK has reported 54,218 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, and a further 199 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test. That is an increase on the 46,186 cases reported on Tuesday but down on the 68,214 cases reported on Wednesday last week. The UK reported 276 Covid-linked deaths last Wednesday.
- The number of new coronavirus cases globally fell by 19% in the last week while the number of deaths remained stable, according to the World Health Organization. The Western Pacific was the only region to report a rise in new weekly cases, an increase of about 19%. The biggest drop was in south-east Asia, where new weekly cases fell by 37%.
- Switzerland will lift almost all its coronavirus pandemic restrictions from Thursday, the government confirmed today. Access to shops, restaurants and cultural institutions will no longer require a Covid certificate. Masks will no longer be required in shops, supermarkets and the workplace. Restrictions on private events will also be relaxed.
- Austria also announced that nearly all remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted on 5 March, including scrapping an earlier closing time of midnight for bars and restaurants and allowing nightclubs to reopen. Unvaccinated people will be able to enter restaurants and non-essential shops if they have been tested.
- China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told Hong Kong’s leaders that their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control a worsening Covid outbreak, pro-Beijing media reported, as infected patients lay in beds outside overwhelmed hospitals.
- South Korea has once again reported a daily record of 90,443 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, as numbers nearly doubled within a week amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
- Malaysia also reported a record 27,831 new infections today, the highest daily rise since the pandemic began, the health ministry said. The previous record was on 26 August last year, when daily cases hit 24,599.
- The Dutch government was inadequately prepared for the Covid pandemic and paid insufficient attention to the threat to people in care homes, an independent inquiry has found. The Dutch Safety Board said authorities in the Netherlands failed to protect the economy, education and culture in the early days of the pandemic, and in particular nursing homes where a “silent disaster” was allowed to unfold.
Mexico recorded 520 more deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
It brings the total death toll to 314,128, according to health ministry data.
People who catch Covid-19 are more likely to go on to suffer depression and anxiety, a study has suggested.
Experts said the research backs up previous findings but has a longer follow-up, with people tracked for a year, PA reports.
US researchers looked at data for 153,848 people who had experienced coronavirus and compared them with more than 560,000 with no history of Covid and a further large control group from before the pandemic.
The results showed that Covid-19 was associated with an increased risk of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, substance use and sleep problems, up to a year after infection.
Compared with the non-infected group, people with Covid-19 showed a 60% higher risk of a mental health diagnosis or needing a mental health prescription at the one-year point.
Anxiety rates were 35% higher among those who had had Covid and 39% higher for depression. People were also 55% more likely to use anti-depressants.
Updated
The leading US health officials said on Wednesday that the nation is moving closer to the point that Covid-19 is no longer a “constant crisis” as more cities, businesses and sports venues began lifting pandemic restrictions around the country.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing that the government is contemplating a change to its mask guidance in the coming weeks.
Noting recent declines in Covid-19 cases, hospital admissions and deaths, she acknowledged “people are so eager” for health officials to ease masking rules and other measures designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Updated
An Omicron-specific booster could be ready by August, the CEO of Moderna told Reuters, but the firm is still gathering clinical data to determine whether that vaccine would offer better protection than a new dose of the existing jab.
Last month the US biotech firm began clinical trials for a booster dose designed to target Omicron but initial results from studies in monkeys show the jab may not offer stronger protection than a new dose of the existing vaccine.
The company’s chief executive Stephane Bancel said the company aimed to have a booster ready by August 2022, before next autumn when he said more vulnerable people may need it.
Moderna’s vaccines use mRNA technology to provoke an immune response, similar to the shot developed by Pfizer/BioNTech.
“We believe a booster will be needed. I don’t know yet if it is going to be the existing vaccine, Omicron-only, or bivalent: Omicron and existing vaccine, two mRNA in one dose.”
Bancel also confirmed that under the best-case scenario, Moderna would have ready by August 2023 a so-called pan-vaccine which would protect simultaneously against Covid-19, flu and other respiratory diseases.
Updated
Here is the full story on Canada’s public safety minister citing ties between protesters occupying the country’s capital and a group of far-right extremists who were charged earlier this week in the border town of Coutts, Alberta, over an alleged plot to kill police officers.
“Several of the individuals at Coutts have strong ties to a far-right extreme organization with leaders who are in Ottawa,” the minister, Marco Medicino, told reporters on Wednesday.
Medicino’s comments are likely to further stoke fears that extremist elements are present in a nationwide spate of unrest which began as a protest against Covid-19 health mandates but has embraced a broad range of anti-government grievances.
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Updated
Brazil had 147,734 new cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 1,085 deaths, its health ministry said on Wednesday.
The South American country has now registered 27,806,786 cases since the pandemic began while the official death toll has risen to 640,774, Reuters reports.
Updated
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued president Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday over a government mandate requiring that masks be worn at US airports and on airplanes and other transit modes.
Paxton and US Representative Beth Van Duyne jointly filed a lawsuit challenging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention transit mask rules, which have been in place since February 2021, Reuters reports.
The current mask requirements are set to expire on 18 March, though they previously have been extended several times.
Updated
Children aged five to 11 in England, Wales and Scotland will be offered protection against Covid, meaning millions more will be eligible for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The Pfizer vaccine, given at one-third the dose of adults, was approved as safe and effective for children by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in December. But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation previously recommended the vaccine only for vulnerable five- to 11-year-olds.
Millions of children aged five to 11 have been vaccinated in other countries, such as the US and countries in Europe.
Five parents share their reactions:
Spanish sports grounds will be able to return to 100% capacity for the first time since the pandemic next month, health chiefs said.
“From the weekend of March 4, sporting events, both outdoors and indoors, will see their capacities raised to 100%, given the satisfactory evolution of all the epidemiological indicators,” said health minister Carolina Darias.
However, she warned that wearing masks will remain compulsory and that it will still be forbidden to smoke, drink or eat during sporting events.
At the end of December, Spanish authorities reduced crowd limits to 75% and 50% indoors to combat rising cases of Covid-19, AFP reports.
Police in the Canadian capital Ottawa started warning truck drivers blockading the downtown core that they should depart or face arrest, part of a promised crackdown to end a three-week-old protest over Covid restrictions.
Federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said: “We need to be clear eyed about the seriousness of these incidents ... several of the individuals at Coutts have strong ties to a far-right extreme organization with leaders who are in Ottawa,” Mendicino told reporters. “We’re talking about a group that is organized, agile, knowledgeable and driven by an extremist ideology.”
Police in the province of Alberta this week arrested 13 people linked to a border blockade at the town of Coutts and seized guns. Four members of the group have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Sir Keir Starmer has said ending free coronavirus testing in England “is a mistake” which would increase the risk of Covid transmissions.
The Labour leader was commenting after reports first emerged on Tuesday that free lateral flow (LFT) and PCR tests are set to be scrapped next week.
The change would mean everyone - including vulnerable people, children and health and care workers - would have to pay to access tests for the virus, PA reports.
Sir Keir said: “I think ending free testing is a mistake. Covid isn’t going away.
Obviously all of us want restrictions to be release, but it’s still important that people test if they’ve got symptoms or if they’re going to see somebody who is particularly vulnerable.
“And if you take away free tests then that will diminish the likelihood of that and make it worse in the long run.”
France has reported 98,735 new coronavirus cases, Reuters reports.
The country also reported that 3,126 people are in intensive care units for Covid-19, down by 109. France also reported 107,913 coronavirus deaths up by 243.
School leaders in England welcomed the announcement on vaccinations for five to 11-year-olds but would have liked to see greater urgency to try to reduce disruption to education in primary schools.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We are pleased that the health secretary has accepted the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that Covid vaccinations can be offered to all children aged five to 11 in England.
“Coronavirus infection rates among this age group have been very high in recent months, with a knock-on serious impact on both pupil and staff absence at primary schools.
We note that this is a non-urgent offer to be extended to all children in this age group during April. We would like to have seen a little more urgency, given the extent of the current disruption to the education of children in this age range.
“It’s also currently unclear as to whether or not primary schools will be expected to play a role in this vaccination programmes. We await further details on that.”
Germany to relax Covid restrictions
Germany will ease Covid-19 restrictions as a wave of infections from the Omicron coronavirus variant seems to have passed its peak, the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Wednesday, but he warned that the pandemic was not over yet.
After a meeting with the heads of the federal states earlier on Wednesday, Scholz said Germany was ready to look forward with more confidence over coronavirus, Reuters reports.
“After these long two years, we deserve that things somehow improve again and it looks a bit like that’s exactly what we have in front of us,” Scholz told reporters after the meeting.
On Wednesday, Germany reported 219,972 new daily coronavirus cases, down 6% compared to the same day last week.
The seven-day infection incidence per 100,000 people also dropped to 1,401 from 1,438 on Tuesday.
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In a reversal of its previous policy, the Coachella music festival in the US will not require Covid-19 vaccination, testing or masking when it resumes this April in southern California, the organisers said.
The hugely popular festival saw up to 125,000 attendees leading up to the start of pandemic, during which it was cancelled three times.
Updated
New Covid-19 infections across the Americas region fell by 31% in the last week, marking a sixth successive week of declines, but deaths are still on the rise, up 5.6%, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said.
Half of the region’s 34,000 deaths were reported in the United States, as countries across the region saw deaths surge after a rise in hospitalisations and intensive care admissions driven by the easily spread Omicron variant of the virus.
Covid deaths tend to lag new infections and hospitalisations by a few weeks, which is why they continue to rise as cases fall, Reuters reports.
In South America, Brazil registered the highest numbers of deaths, setting a record for the current wave.
“Undoubtedly, Omicron overtook us,” the PAHO director, Carissa Etienne, said in a briefing, noting that the tools developed to fight the pandemic are not working as well to stop transmission of the more contagious variant.
Updated
A drop in Covid-19 testing rates is likely contributing to a decline in reported cases even as deaths are rising, the World Health Organization said.
“The bigger concern right now, I think, is the still increasing number of deaths,” the technical lead on Covid-19, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, said.
“In the last week alone, almost 75,000 people died reported to us and we know that that is an underestimate,” she said.
The countries claiming that their transmission has dropped from two to six weeks ago have likely seen a drop in testing rates, according to the WHO’s emergencies chief, Mike Ryan, Reuters reports.
Updated
The Welsh health minister, Eluned Morgan, has accused the UK government of delaying an announcement on giving vaccinations for five- to 11-year-olds to make maximum political capital out of it.
Morgan announced on Tuesday that Wales would press ahead with vaccinating younger children after the JCVI recommended the move.
Asked by the Guardian why Boris Johnson’s administration had delayed, she said: “The guess is the UK government wanted to pleat this into their long-term plan for living with Covid and wanted a significant announcement in that plan.
“That’s not a good enough reason for us to postpone. We didn’t want to dance to the timetable being set by what worked for the UK government.
“Our job is public protection, it’s not to march in step with whatever the UK government decides is their political priorities.
“There’s definitely a frustration with the UK government … and a sense that the response to the pandemic in England is being driven by politics and not by public health and safety.”
Morgan also expressed concern at the prospect of the UK government ending free Covid tests, insisting such a move would be “premature”.
Morgan said: “There’s an air in England that it [Covid] is all over; that is not our understanding.”
Updated
Children aged between five and 11 in England to be offered a Covid vaccine
Children aged between five and 11 in England will be offered a Covid vaccine, the UK government has confirmed, after similar announcements from Wales and Scotland this week.
The move was recommended by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which decided that the vaccination programme should be extended to younger children after lengthy discussions on the benefits and risks.
The “non-urgent” vaccinations, which will primarily be given through school vaccination services, will be a Pfizer/BioNTech jab. Stormont’s health minister, Robin Swann, also confirmed that Northern Ireland will mirror the move.
Updated
U.S. health officials said they are preparing for the next phase of the Covid-19 pandemic as Omicron-related cases decline, including updating CDC guidance on mask-wearing and shoring up U.S. testing capacity.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is weighing new guidance, including on when to wear face masks, the agency’s chief told reporters, adding that hospital capacity will be a key metric.
Tom Inglesby, the White House’s adviser for Covid-19 testing, also said the administration had issued a formal request for information to related companies about how to bolster the nation’s testing capacity, including details about supply-chain challenges and market volatility, Reuters reports.
UK reports 54,218 new cases and 199 Covid-linked deaths
The UK has reported 54,218 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, and a further 199 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test.
That is an increase on the 46,186 cases reported on Tuesday but down on the 68,214 cases reported on Wednesday last week. The UK reported 276 Covid-linked deaths last Wednesday.
From Prof Gabriel Leung, dean of the University of Hong Kong’s faculty of medicine on the worsening situation in the city that has been overwhelmed by cases in recent days:
Unlike most places with privileged access to vaccines, HK did not manage to persuade our elderly to get jabbed for over a year despite having prioritised them - https://t.co/VnfJv3Jd1H This has left us in our present v vulnerable situation https://t.co/quLqQc9sWE
— Gabriel Leung (@gmleunghku) February 16, 2022
Hong Kong reported 4,285 coronavirus infections today, with more than 7,000 preliminary positive cases pending confirmation by health officials.
More than 220 people have died in the city, with a three-year-old girl becoming the youngest fatality on Tuesday.
Updated
Summary
Here are the key events from today so far:
- The number of new coronavirus cases globally fell by 19% in the last week while the number of deaths remained stable, according to the World Health Organization. The Western Pacific was the only region to report a rise in new weekly cases, an increase of about 19%. The biggest drop was in south-east Asia, where new weekly cases fell by 37%.
- Switzerland will lift almost all its coronavirus pandemic restrictions from Thursday, the government confirmed today. Access to shops, restaurants and cultural institutions will no longer require a Covid certificate. Masks will no longer be required in shops, supermarkets and the workplace. Restrictions on private events will also be relaxed.
- Austria also announced that nearly all remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted on 5 March, including scrapping an earlier closing time of midnight for bars and restaurants and allowing nightclubs to reopen. Unvaccinated people will be able to enter restaurants and non-essential shops if they have been tested.
- The Scottish government has confirmed it will offer Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11 years, adding to the pressure on UK ministers to do so in England. The Scottish decision follows an announcement on Tuesday from the devolved government in Wales that it would follow unpublished advice from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that all children in that age group should be jabbed.
- Covid-19 infection levels have fallen slightly in England and Wales, but the trend is uncertain in Scotland and Northern Ireland, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
- China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told Hong Kong’s leaders that their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control a worsening Covid outbreak, pro-Beijing media reported, as infected patients lay in beds outside overwhelmed hospitals.
- South Korea has once again reported a daily record of 90,443 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, as numbers nearly doubled within a week amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
- Malaysia also reported a record 27,831 new infections today, the highest daily rise since the pandemic began, the health ministry said. The previous record was on 26 August last year, when daily cases hit 24,599.
- The Dutch government was inadequately prepared for the Covid pandemic and paid insufficient attention to the threat to people in care homes, an independent inquiry has found. The Dutch Safety Board said authorities in the Netherlands failed to protect the economy, education and culture in the early days of the pandemic, and in particular nursing homes where a “silent disaster” was allowed to unfold.
- About 3,000 British volunteers are being sought to take part in a study for Moderna’s Omicron booster vaccine.
- Two men have appeared in court in the UK accused of selling fake coronavirus test kits. The pair are accused of importing illegal Covid testing kits from China to sell in the UK during the early days of the pandemic when PPE and Covid testing was in short supply.
- The relatively short shelf life of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is complicating the rollout to the world’s poorest nations, according to officials and internal World Health Organization (WHO) documents seen by Reuters. Some countries, particularly in Africa, are struggling to administer the excess doses donated by richer states that arrive with only a few months, and sometimes weeks, before their use-by date.
Covid-19 infection levels have fallen slightly in England and Wales, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In England, around one in 20 people are estimated to have had the virus in the week to 12 February, or 2.4 million people. That is slightly down from one in 19, or 2.8 million people, in the week to 5 February.
In Wales, around 112,600 people are estimated to have had the virus in the week to 12 February, compared to 121,200 in the week prior. The proportion remained unchanged at one in 25.
Latest #COVID19 data show infection rates remain high across the UK, however there are differences across regions and nations.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) February 16, 2022
England and Wales have seen decreases in the most recent week, and trends are uncertain in Northern Ireland and Scotland https://t.co/KevXrOWELI pic.twitter.com/3HmW3YSEM6
Northern Ireland saw infections remain broadly level last week, at an estimated 146,600 people or one in 13, compared with 145,600 people - also one in 13 - the previous week.
In Scotland, around 219,300 are estimated to have had the virus in the week to 12 February, up from 211,300 people – both the equivalent of around one in 25.
Two men have appeared in court in the UK accused of selling fake coronavirus test kits.
Ron Huss-Smickler, 40, of Branston Street and Steven Beckford, 38, entered not guilty pleas to fraud at Birmingham Crown Court and will be tried on 20 March.
The pair are accused of importing illegal Covid testing kits from China to sell in the UK during the early days of the pandemic when PPE and Covid testing was in short supply.
Both have been charged with one count of fraud by dishonestly gaining from the selling of the unregulated Covid tests and making profit from the sales.
Switzerland to lift most Covid restrictions from Thursday
Switzerland will lift almost all its coronavirus pandemic restrictions from Thursday, the government confirmed today.
Shops, restaurants and cultural institutions will be freely accessible to people, with no requirement to show a Covid certificate. Masks will no longer be required in shops, supermarkets and the workplace. Restrictions on private events will also be relaxed.
People will still be required to wear masks on public transport and at healthcare facilities, and mandatory five-day isolation of people who have tested positive for coronavirus will also remain in effect until the end of March.
The Swiss government first announced the easing of restrictions two weeks ago, after it ended quarantine for people who come into contact with an infected person and turned a work-from-home order into a recommendation.
In a statement, the government said:
The epidemiological situation continues to develop positively. Thanks to the high level of immunity in the population, it is unlikely that the healthcare system will be overloaded despite the continued high level of virus circulation.
Thus, the conditions are in place for a rapid normalisation of social and economic life.
Updated
The relatively short shelf life of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is complicating the rollout to the world’s poorest nations, according to officials and internal World Health Organization (WHO) documents seen by Reuters.
Some countries, particularly in Africa, are receiving vaccines with short shelf lives from the Covax vaccine-sharing project and are struggling to administer the excess doses donated by richer states.
Two and a half months of shelf life is the minimum duration African countries estimate they need to administer the shots. But many vaccines are arriving with only a few months, and sometimes weeks, before their use-by date, meaning some countries have had to destroy expired doses.
The problem with a short shelf life largely concerns AstraZeneca, Covax’s second-biggest supplier after Pfizer, according to Covax data and officials. In an internal WHO document detailing vaccine stocks in several central and west African countries for the week ending 6 February, of the total expired doses declared by 19 listed African nations, about 1.3m were AstraZeneca, 280,000 Johnson & Johnson, 15,000 Moderna and 13,000 Russia’s Sputnik.
Asked about the internal document, Dr Phiona Atuhebwe, a vaccine expert at WHO Africa, said:
WHO is fully cognisant of the pressure that short shelf life doses put on delivery strategies and systems amid weak infrastructure and low demand.
Taking into account only donated doses, which represent nearly half the billion vaccines distributed by Covax, about 30m AstraZeneca shots were rejected or deferred last year by poor nations, said Gavi, the nonprofit that co-runs Covax alongside the WHO.
Updated
Malaysia registers record high daily Covid cases
Malaysia reported a record 27,831 new infections today, the highest daily rise since the pandemic began, the health ministry said. The previous record was on 26 August last year, when daily cases hit 24,599.
The new cases bring the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to more than 3.1m, including more than 32,000 deaths.
From Malaysia’s Health-Director General Noor:
We have prepared for the herd immunity approach following our high vaccination coverage and natural immunity from those recovered from the covid-19 infection. We have to ride on this omicron storm and hopefully the storm will pass soon and we move to endemicity pic.twitter.com/dmoiq63zyL
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) February 16, 2022
Updated
Our Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, on how the UK has lagged behind some countries in giving Covid-19 vaccinations to younger children:
Scotland and Wales have announced that they will offer Covid-19 vaccines to all 5-11 year olds, and the UK government is expected to announce a decision for England imminently. Northern Ireland has not yet followed suit.
Britain has been slower than some other countries in offering the shots to this age group, so far only vaccinating vulnerable younger children.
Many EU member states began offering vaccination to all children aged five to 11 in December, but progress has been patchy, with authorities blaming hesitancy among parents and some doctors as well as mixed messaging from experts.
Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said he has tested positive for Covid-19, a day after he returned from the United Arab Emirates, where he had accompanied the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on an official visit.
Writing on Twitter, Çavuşoğlu, 54, said his symptoms were mild and that he planned to continue to work from home.
“Thankfully, my illness is mild. I will continue to work from home for a while without interrupting [my schedule],” he said.
Bugün yaptırdığım Covid-19 testim pozitif çıktı.
— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) February 16, 2022
Hamdolsun, hastalığı hafif geçiriyorum. Çalışmalarıma ara vermeden bir süre evden devam edeceğim.
Rabbim tüm hastalarımıza şifa versin.
Updated
The Dutch government was inadequately prepared for the Covid pandemic and paid insufficient attention to the threat to people in care homes, an independent inquiry has found.
The Dutch Safety Board said authorities in the Netherlands “became overly fixated” on hospitals in the early days of the pandemic and failed to protect the economy, education, culture and in particular nursing homes where a “silent disaster” was allowed to unfold.
The safety board’s chairman, the former finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, called the pandemic the country’s biggest social crisis in decades.
Dijsselbloem said:
The Netherlands proved to be vulnerable. This was due to the structures the government had in place for the health sector and the crisis response: they fell short given the nature and scope of the crisis.
The 313-page report singled out for criticism the head of the government’s outbreak management team, the infectious diseases expert Jaap van Dissel, for his position on the use of masks.
The Netherlands ordered the widespread use of masks far later than other European countries, and Van Dissel described the policy as “political” rather than a scientific choice. The inquiry said his remarks “undermined public trust in the government policy”, and the fact that “he himself openly doubted [masks’] usefulness did not help to maintain support”.
The publication of the report came a day after the Dutch health minister, Ernst Kuipers, announced that the Netherlands would scrap almost all pandemic restrictions by 25 February.
The Netherlands, with a population of 17 million, has reported 21,414 deaths and 5.8m Covid cases since the pandemic began. About 86.3% of adults have been vaccinated.
Updated
Our Scotland editor, Severin Carrell, reports on the Scottish government’s decision to offer Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11.
The Scottish government has confirmed it will offer Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11 years, adding to the pressure on UK ministers to do so in England.
The Scottish decision follows an announcement on Tuesday from the devolved government in Wales that it would follow unpublished advice from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that all children in that age group should be jabbed.
Scottish government officials have started conversations with health boards about how to deliver the vaccinations, following advice circulated by the JCVI to all the UK’s governments earlier this month.
The UK government, which runs health services in England but also oversees the UK-wide purchase and distribution of the vaccines, has delayed making a decision on the recommendation.
Ministers in all four governments normally immediately follow JCVI advice but on this occasion, with the Treasury pressing hard for steep cuts in Covid test spending, have decided the need to vaccinate children is not urgent.
Austria to lift most Covid restrictions on 5 March
Nearly all remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted on 5 March, including scrapping an earlier closing time of midnight for bars and restaurants and allowing nightclubs to reopen, the Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, said today.
The announcement follows news that unvaccinated people will be able to enter restaurants and non-essential shops if they have been tested. Access to highly vulnerable settings such as care homes and hospitals will remain restricted to people who have been vaccinated.
In addition, the FFP2 mask mandate will be relaxed and only required in vulnerable settings and in public transport, essential shops and pharmacies.
Nehammer said that the pandemic was not yet over but the situation allowed Austria to open up step by step.
In a first step starting Saturday, proof of vaccination or recent recovery will no longer be required to attend events, go to restaurants, bars or hairdressers and various other activities. Proof of a negative test will suffice for those things.
From 5 March, nightclubs may reopen and restrictions on opening hours for restaurants and bars will end.
Austria became the first European country to make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory for all adults on 1 February.
Updated
An oral Covid antiviral drug from Merck may not be granted EU approval over “problematic data”, the Financial Times reports.
The drug, molnupiravir, has been authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but the paper says the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is unlikely to grant conditional marketing authorisation to the drug.
A person familiar with the approval process told the FT that it was “possible” that molnupiravir would not receive approval at all. The EMA declined to comment on its ongoing review.
The EMA’s review of Merck’s pill, developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, has been delayed after trial data published in November showed the drug was significantly less effective than previously thought.
Early data from a late-stage trial suggested the drug cut the risk of hospitalisation and death in half, but a subsequent analysis found its efficacy is at 30%.
Updated
More on Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that all children aged between five and 11 in Scotland will be offered Covid vaccinations.
The UK’s Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is yet to publish official guidance on giving jabs to all youngsters, but advised all four nations more than week ago that the vaccination programme should be expanded to younger children. As the Guardian has reported, the UK government delayed announcing its decision.
Today, Sturgeon said the Scottish government has received draft advice recommending the “universal vaccination” of children.
Although it isn’t yet published, I can confirm that @scotgov has received advice from JCVI recommending that vaccination is offered to all 5-11 yr olds. We will accept this advice & work is now underway on the logistics of delivery. Parents/carers will receive further info asap. https://t.co/058r5Xsyu6
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) February 16, 2022
The new advice does not affect children in this age group who are already being vaccinated due to medical conditions which place them at greater risk from the virus.
It comes after the Welsh government announced earlier this week that it will offer Covid vaccinations to all five- to 11-year olds.
Global Covid cases fell by 19% in the last week – WHO
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Tom Ambrose to bring you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
We start with the news that the number of new coronavirus cases globally fell by 19% in the last week while the number of deaths remained stable, according to the World Health Organization.
In its weekly report on the pandemic, the UN health agency said just over 16m new Covid-19 infections and about 75,000 deaths were reported worldwide last week.
The Western Pacific was the only region to report a rise in new weekly cases, an increase of about 19%. The biggest drop was in south-east Asia, where new weekly cases fell by 37%.
The biggest number of new Covid cases was seen in Russia. Cases there and elsewhere in Eastern Europe have doubled in recent weeks, driven by a surge of the Omicron variant.
The number of deaths rose by 38% in the Middle East and by about one-third in the Western Pacific.
WHO’s Africa director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said last week there was “light at the end of the tunnel” for the continent and that even despite low vaccination rates, Africa was transitioning from the acute pandemic phase.
Her comments contrasted sharply with warnings from WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has said repeatedly the pandemic is not over and is premature for countries to think that the end might be imminent.
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Children aged five to 11 in Scotland to be offered Covid-19 vaccine, Nicola Sturgeon announces
Children between the ages of five and 11 in Scotland are to be offered a Covid-19 vaccination, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Ministers have accepted draft recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The first minister said:
Although it has yet to be published officially by the JCVI, like colleagues in Wales we have received advice from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which recommends Covid-19 vaccination for all children aged five to 11-years-old.
I can confirm that ministers have considered this draft advice and are content to accept its recommendations.
Work is under way to determine how best to deliver vaccinations to children, Sturgeon said. In the meantime, parents and carers of children aged five to 11 do not need to do anything.
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Summary
Here is a round-up of today’s top Covid news stories so far:
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Russia reported an increase in Covid infections on Wednesday, with a total of 179,284 new infections and 748 deaths reported over the last 24 hours.
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China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told Hong Kong’s leaders that their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control a worsening Covid outbreak, pro-Beijing media reported, as infected patients lay in beds outside overwhelmed hospitals.
- South Korea has once again reported a daily record of 90,443 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, as numbers nearly doubled within a week amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
- A Japanese government delay in rolling out Covid booster shots left it more vulnerable than other rich countries when the Omicron variant brought a surge of deaths, say experts, local governments and a former vaccine czar.
- About 3,000 British volunteers are being sought to take part in a study for Moderna’s Omicron booster vaccine.
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South Korea will distribute free coronavirus rapid test kits at elementary schools and nursing homes starting next week.
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British ministers’ plans to scale back free PCR Covid tests could weaken the UK’s defences if a new variant of the virus emerges that results in “significant new waves” of cases, a group representing local public health chiefs has warned.
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Italian doctors will take part in a two-day strike from 1 March against what they called an “unbearable workload” amid the Covid pandemic, Italy’s news agency ANSA reported.
- The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organising Committee said on Wednesday that two new Covid cases were detected among Games-related personnel on 15 February.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. I’ll be back tomorrow but my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be along shortly to take over the global Covid live blog. Goodbye for now.
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British ministers’ plans to scale back free PCR Covid tests could weaken the UK’s defences if a new variant of the virus emerges that results in “significant new waves” of cases, a group representing local public health chiefs has warned.
Before a meeting of cabinet ministers and the prime minister later this week to discuss the “learning to live with Covid” strategy, the Association of Public Health Directors (APHD) said that forcing people to pay for lateral flow tests would also have a “detrimental impact” on take-up, particularly among disadvantaged communities.
The group said that despite the government being expected to roll back the last remaining Covid laws from next week, coronavirus “is yet to become endemic” and added it was “difficult to predict when this state may be attained”.
“Significant levels of cases, hospitalisations and deaths continue to disrupt and devastate individuals, public services and the economy,” a briefing note said. “There remains a degree of unpredictability about the course ahead.”
Whitehall sources told the Guardian on Monday that ministers were pressing ahead with plans to start winding down Covid testing and payments for isolation from next week to save more than £10bn.
Italian doctors will take part in a two-day strike from 1 March against what they called an “unbearable workload” amid the Covid pandemic, Italy’s news agency ANSA reported.
Physicians will stage a demonstration in Rome, outside the health ministry.
The trade union organisations Smi and Simet criticised “unsustainable workloads” and a “lack of safeguards”, also highlighting “a failure to compensate the families of colleagues who died of Covid”.
It commented: “This is a slap in the face from the state.”
There have been 28,630 new cases of Covid in Italy in the last 24 hours, and 281 more victims of the virus, the health ministry said.
About 151,684 people have died so far from coronavirus in the country.
Russia registers 748 new Covid deaths
Russia reported an increase in Covid infections on Wednesday, with a total of 179,284 new infections and 748 deaths reported over the last 24 hours.
It follows a three-day decline in case numbers.
Meanwhile, Russians will be able to take an antibody test to obtain a coronavirus health pass from 21 February, its health ministry confirmed yesterday.
QR codes will be issued to Russians who test positive for Covid antibodies, regardless of their vaccination status, according to The Moscow Times.
Russia has confirmed 14,659,880 cases of Covid and 342,383 deaths, according to reports.
South Korea will distribute free coronavirus rapid test kits at elementary schools and nursing homes starting next week.
Health officials on Wednesday reported the country’s highest daily jump in coronavirus infections with 90,443 new cases, shattering the previous one-day record set on Tuesday by more than 33,000 cases. Some experts say South Korea could see daily cases of about 200,000 in March.
While Omicron has so far seemed less likely to cause serious illness or death compared to the Delta variant, which rattled the country in December and early January, hospitalisations have been creeping up amid the greater scale of outbreak, according to the Associated Press.
The prime minister, Kim Boo-kyum, Seoul’s second official behind the president, Moon Jae-in, said officials will start distributing free rapid test kits at kindergartens, elementary schools and nursing homes next week to strengthen protection for unvaccinated children and high-risk groups.
The education minister, Yoo Eun-hye, said schools will get enough kits for students to use twice a week, but added that tests won’t be mandatory.
“We ask for students to be tested at home with the rapid antigen test kits on the evenings of Sunday and Wednesday before coming to school,” Yoo said during a briefing. “When testing positive from those tests, please visit the local health office to get PCR tests.”
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The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organising Committee said on Wednesday that two new Covid cases were detected among Games-related personnel on 15 February.
One of the cases was found among new airport arrivals, according to a notice on the Beijing 2022 official website.
Another case was among those already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates all event personnel from the public, the notice said.
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A Japanese government delay in rolling out Covid booster shots left it more vulnerable than other rich countries when the Omicron variant brought a surge of deaths, say experts, local governments and a former vaccine czar.
The issue could mean political trouble for prime minister Fumio Kishida as nearly 30% of the population is aged 65 or older, and so at greater risk from the coronavirus without the protection of the booster, Reuters reported.
Kishida’s predecessor stepped down after widespread criticism of his handling of the pandemic and the prime minister’s ruling party faces an important test with an upper house election this year.
On Tuesday, Japan saw 236 new fatalities, its worst ever one-day toll from Covid. Although Japan was comparatively slow to launch its initial vaccination campaign, it ramped it up quickly and by November had the highest vaccination rate within the G7.
Lateral flow tests (LFTs) are an increasing part of our everyday lives. But for some individuals, a persistent clash with their PCR test results is undermining their confidence in the system.
The Guardian has been contacted by hundreds of people who have repeatedly tested positive on lateral flow devices (LFDs), but whose confirmatory PCR tests have been relentlessly negative.
Amy Lewis’s son Josh, nine, has tested positive on LFTs six times in the past eight months. “The biggest implication was that we were supposed to go to Guernsey to see my family for Christmas, but we decided not to go, because [of the testing requirements]. We couldn’t put Josh through the emotional upheaval of that,” said Lewis, from Bristol. “What has been frustrating is the lack of recognition that this is an issue, or that it might be possible.”
Anna Brading of Reading received a warning from her son’s headteacher, because he had missed so much school as a result of having to self-isolate. “We have no way of telling when he actually gets Covid and I have vulnerable family members that we want to see,” she said.
Barbara Mann, 35, of Monmouth, believes her LFTs may be detecting some other virus. “There are always two lines, sometimes the second is faint, sometimes strong,” she said. “It seems to depend if I’m feeling under the weather or not.”
Moderna launches UK study for new Omicron vaccine
About 3,000 British volunteers are being sought to take part in a study for Moderna’s Omicron booster vaccine.
The jab, which is one of the world’s first to tackle the variant, will be trialled at sites across the UK thanks to a partnership between Moderna and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Led by a team based at St George’s, University of London, the study will see half the volunteers receive the new Moderna Omicron variant vaccine and the other half vaccinated with the regular Moderna jab, PA Media reported.
It is already known that people’s immunity wanes several months after Covid booster doses, meaning clinical trials are needed to determine whether people may need a fourth booster dose.
The trial will also seek to recruit people who have had just two doses of a vaccine and have not yet had a booster.
A separate COV-Boost sub-study will also run to compare using Moderna’s Omicron variant vaccine as a fourth dose with a standard dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.
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China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told Hong Kong’s leaders that their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control a worsening Covid outbreak, pro-Beijing media reported, as infected patients lay in beds outside overwhelmed hospitals.
The directive ramps up pressure on the Hong Kong chief executive, Carrie Lam, a day after she said her government’s response to the outbreak had been unsatisfactory, with hospitals and medical staff unable to cope.
Xi instructed Chinese vice-premier Han Zheng to relay to Lam his “concern about the pandemic situation” and his care for local residents, according to front page stories in newspapers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao.
Health authorities in the global financial hub reported a record 1,619 confirmed new infections on Tuesday, and another 5,400 preliminary positive cases. The daily tally of Covid infections is now more than 20 times the level at the start of February, and worse is to come.
Broadcaster TVB said at least 4,285 new infections are expected to be reported on Wednesday, more than double the previous record, and there are another 3,000 preliminary positive tests.
Xi said the government “must mobilise all power and resources to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and health of the Hong Kong people and ensure the stability of the society,” according to the newspapers.
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South Korea reports daily record of 90,443 Covid cases
Hello and welcome to the global Covid live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest coronavirus news over the next few hours.
We start with the news that South Korea has once again reported a daily record of 90,443 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, as numbers nearly doubled within a week amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
The record count for Tuesday marked a drastic surge from 57,177 a day before and brought total infections in the country since the pandemic began to 1,552,851. Deaths remain comparatively low, though, with 39 fatalities on Tuesday and a total of 7,202 so far, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The country of 52 million population has largely been a Covid mitigation success story, thanks mainly to widespread wearing of masks, social distancing and aggressive testing and tracing, the Reuters news agency reported.
But authorities have shifted testing and tracing policy, in line with the less fatal Omicron variant’s spread, toward self-monitoring and diagnosis and at-home treatment starting this month.
The prime minister, Kim Boo-kyum, said the government was considering easing strict distancing curbs that include a 9pm curfew for restaurants, cafes and bars, and a ban on gatherings of more than six vaccinated people.
More than 86% of South Koreans have been fully vaccinated and 58% have received a booster shot, KDCA data showed.
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