Summary of key developments
Here’s a round-up of all the latest international developments for the past 24 hours:
Europe:
- The Irish government has been given the green light to lift the majority of the state’s Covid restrictions.
- In France, Covid-19 restrictions will be loosened from February onwards, the prime minister has said, shortly after country’s Covid vaccination pass comes into effect. Jean Castex said on Thursday the pass will come into effect on 24 January, provided it is approved by the Constitutional Council.
- Austria announced it will introduce a national vaccine lottery to encourage holdouts to get shots and has extended Covid lockdown measures for another ten days. MPs voted to approve a Covid-19 vaccine mandate which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over.
- England will soon scrap virtually all Covid measures, the health secretary confirmed.
- Germany reported another record rise of 133,536 daily new cases. It is the second consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record, with 234 deaths also reported, according to recently updated figures from the Robert Koch Institute.
Australia and New Zealand:
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Australia’s drugs regulator has for the first time approved oral treatments for Covid-19 which should help address supply shortages of other treatments.
- Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Association has also given provisional approval to the protein-based Novavax Covid-19 vaccine.
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New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said restrictions will be tightened if there is a community transmission of Omicron.
- The state of Western Australia has cancelled plans to reopen its borders on 5 February, citing health risks from a surge in Omicroncases elsewhere in the country, as the tally of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began topped two million.
Asia:
- Taiwan will mandate the use of passes for proof of Covid vaccination to enter entertainment venues.
- Thailand will resume its ‘Test & Go’ quarantine waiver for vaccinated arrivals starting on 1 February, the country’s coronavirus taskforce said on Thursday.
- Japan recorded a daily rise of 41,377 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, shattering the record it set a day earlier by about 10,000 as the government puts more prefectures under a quasi-state of emergency.
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Hong Kong will likely suspend face-to-face teaching in secondary schools from 24 January, local media reports.
- China’s capital Beijing has ramped up efforts to curb Covid-19 infections, ordering checks among cold-chain firms and urging residents to cut unnecessary gatherings.
United States:
- US president Joe Biden has admitted that more should have been done in terms of Covid-19 testing availability earlier in the pandemic.
- The US is set to require Covid vaccines for essential workers crossing borders.
Africa:
- Cases of Covid have sharply declined in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the emergence of the Omicron variant, the World Health Organization has said.
Updated
Here’s a quick snap from the US Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Rates of Covid-19 cases are high and continuing to increase in many parts of the US. The 7-day average of daily new cases is 744,616, a 5% decrease from the previous week,” the agency said.
A Covid data tracker as seen below shows the levels of community transmission across the country.
Rates of #COVID19 cases are high & continuing to increase in many parts of the U.S. The 7-day average of daily new cases is 744,616, a 5% decrease from the previous week.
— CDC (@CDCgov) January 20, 2022
Get vaccinated as soon as you can & get a booster shot when you're eligible.
More: https://t.co/NxsP3CEhdF. pic.twitter.com/kzy0YIzPKj
Updated
The US is set to require Covid vaccines for essential workers crossing borders.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is announcing Thursday it is requiring that non-US essential workers such as truck drivers and nurses who are crossing land borders be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, effective Saturday, Reuters reports.
The Biden administration first announced in October that effective 8 November it would again allow non-essential foreign visitors to travel from Canada and Mexico into the US across land borders if they were vaccinated.
The US land borders with Canada and Mexico had been closed to non-essential travel for 20 months because of Covid-19 concerns.
DHS is announcing on Thursday it is extending those requirements to essential workers who are not US citizens or lawful permanent residents.
Starting Saturday DHS “will require that non-US individuals entering the United States via land ports of entry or ferry terminals along our Northern and Southern borders be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and prepared to show related proof of vaccination,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as my colleague Tom Ambrose calls it a night in London.
As I’m reporting to you from Sydney here’s a snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across Australia.
The state of NSW has marked its deadliest day with 46 Covid deaths while 20 deaths have been recorded in Victoria.
The reopening of Australia’s most isolated state Western Australia has been suspended indefinitely to allow West Australians to get booster shots, as the more transmissible Omicron variant rips through the nation.
The Irish government has been given the green light to lift the majority of the state’s Covid restrictions.
It is understood that the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has recommended restrictions around hospitality can be lifted, including the 8pm curfew, PA Media reported.
The recommendations also say that live venues and sport venues can return to full capacity and that Covid passes only be required for international travel. The wearing of face masks is recommended to continue on public transport and in retail settings.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland has urged the Government in light of the recommendations to allow all hospitality businesses to trade as normal from Friday. Government ministers will meet on Friday to assess the advice before Taoiseach Micheal Martin will make an announcement.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe told RTE it is reasonable to expect that the state will be able to exit regulations at a faster pace than would have looked likely a number of weeks ago. He said:
What we have done at all points in this pandemic is been guided by public health advice.
We have looked to deploy timings that get the balance right between the needs to our economy and society and that of public health, and that is what we will continue to do.
In the United States, Kentucky congressman who has been critical of pandemic mask and vaccine mandates said he has tested positive for Covid.
Thomas Massie, a Republican from northern Kentucky, tweeted on Thursday that he is not vaccinated but his symptoms have been mild and he believes he is “over it.” Massie said on Twitter he would not be voting, meeting anyone in person or making public appearances until next week.
Massie added that people who find themselves sick with the virus should seek a doctor’s advice, “because every case is unique and some cases are very serious.”
The five-term congressman has been outspoken about his opposition to mandates for masking and vaccinations since early in the pandemic. Last week, he wrote on social media that his congressional office would “not comply” with Washington DC’s vaccine mandate for restaurants.
“We will get our food from Virginia or we will bring it to work,” he tweeted. “Shame has befallen our nation’s capital.” Earlier this year he called the House’s mask rule “unscientific and unconstitutional.”
He has asserted that he has an immunity to the disease because he also tested positive for it in 2020.
Brazil registers 168,495 new Covid cases, 350 more deaths
Brazil has had 168,495 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 350 deaths from Covid, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The South American country has now registered 23,585,243 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 622,205, according to ministry data.
Brazil’s Covid toll is the world’s third deadliest after the United States and Russia, according to a Reuters tally.
The state of Western Australia has cancelled plans to reopen its borders on 5 February, citing health risks from a surge in Omicron cases elsewhere in the country, as the tally of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began topped two million.
WA Premier Mark McGowan made the shock announcement late Thursday saying it would be “reckless and irresponsible” to open up now given the rapid spread of the variant.
Instead, re-opening would be delayed indefinitely or at least until the percentage of triple dose vaccinations reached 80%. It is currently around 26%.
“If we proceeded with the original plan, we would be deliberately seeding thousands upon thousands of Covid cases into WA and at this point in time that is not what I am going to do,” McGowan told reporters.
The state of 2.7 million has for months been effectively closed off to the rest of the country and the outside world, taking advantage of its natural isolation to keep cases low.
Fraud and errors in Scottish Covid business support schemes cost the public purse at least £16 million, auditors have told MSPs.
Between 1% and 2% of the two main schemes - which paid out a total of £1.6 billion - are thought to have been lost to fraud and error, the Press Association reported.
Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee heard from Audit Scotland officials on Thursday, following their analysis of the Scottish Government’s yearly consolidated accounts.
Auditor General Stephen Boyle said the Government had accepted a higher level of risk than usual given the urgent need to deliver support during the pandemic. He said:
Headline level, the Government’s own assessment is that between 1% and 2% of that spending will be attributable to fraud and error. So somewhere between £16 million and £32 million of that is likely to have been spent not in accordance with the associated laws.
In our judgement, £16 million to £32 million of course is a hugely significant amount of public spending that hasn’t been spent properly. But in the overall materiality of the Government’s accounts, we’ve already mentioned this morning of £50 billion, we’re satisfied that the accounts are fairly stated.
Committee member Willie Coffey asked about efforts to recover money which was distributed due to fraud or error.
Audit Scotland audit director Michael Oliphant said between 14% and 30% of business support applications had been rejected, which suggested there was a “good control framework” in place.
Also in Canada, the province of Ontario has blunted transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant and will gradually relax restrictions on businesses from late January, premier Doug Ford said.
The health care system is starting to stabilise in the wake of limitations imposed on 5 January, Ford told a news conference, saying Omicron cases should peak later this month.
“We can be confident that the worst is behind us and that we are now in a position to cautiously and gradually ease public health measures,” Ford said.
The province will allow restaurants, malls, and cinemas to operate with a 50% capacity limit from 31 January, before removing more curbs in February and March, Reuters reported.
“While February will continue to present its own challenges, given current trends these are challenges we are confident we can manage,” Ford said.
In neighbouring Quebec, premier Francois Legault said he would maintain restrictions to help protect the health care system even though Omicron cases had peaked.
“I understand we are all tired, but lives are at stake. I’m currently under a lot of pressure to remove measures, but my duty is to be responsible to protect the lives of Quebecers,” he told a news conference.
Ontario and Quebec together account for around 61% of Canada’s population of 38.2 million people.
Canadian consumers should soon see higher prices and some empty shelves in supermarkets and other retail outlets because of disruptions stemming from a Covid vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers, top trucking executives warned this week.
The mandate, imposed by Ottawa to help curb the spread of the virus, has cost six Canadian trucking companies about 10% of their international drivers, and many are hiking wages to lure new operators during what they said is the worst labour shortage they have experienced.
Within the next two weeks, consumers will see “there’s not as many choices on the shelves,” said Dan Einwechter, chairman and chief executive officer of Challenger Motor Freight Inc in Cambridge, Ontario.
“Eventually the prices will be passed on from the sellers of those products, because we’re passing on our increases to them,” he said.
Hello. Tom Ambrose here to bring you all the latest Covid news and headlines over the next four hours or so.
Let’s start with the news that it could be a slow return to business across the UK as chilly weather and ongoing fears about the spread of Omicron keep many workers, shoppers and diners at home, despite the change in guidance.
The many workplaces who have told staff to work from home until a review in late January are also unlikely to make a swift change in plan.
See the full story here.
Summary
- Covid-19 restrictions will be loosened in France from February onwards, the prime minister has said, shortly after the country’s Covid vaccination pass comes into effect. Jean Castex said on Thursday the pass will come into effect on 24 January, provided it is approved by the Constitutional Council.
- MPs in Austria have voted to approach Europe’s first universal adult Covid-19 vaccine mandate, despite waves of protest against the plan.The mandate, which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over, was passed in Austria’s parliament by 137 votes to 33.
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The rate of new cases of Covid-19 among young schoolchildren in England has jumped sharply to a record high, figures show. In the seven days to 16 January, there were 1,935.7 cases per 100,000 five- to nine-year-olds, up from 1,372.7 a week earlier.
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People from black Caribbean and black African backgrounds were estimated to have the highest rates of non-vaccination in the UK, at 40.9% and 27.0% respectively, according to an official analysis. The equivalent rate for people identifying as white British was 9.1%.
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More than 1 million adults in France got their first dose of Covid vaccine in the past month, after the government announced a plan to exclude unvaccinated people from all restaurants, sports arenas and other venues, the government’s spokesman has said.
You can see a summary of the biggest events earlier here. That’s it from me, Damien Gayle for the day. Bye for now.
Updated
Starbucks is no longer requiring its US workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, reversing a plan it announced earlier this month.
In a memo sent Tuesday to employees, the Seattle coffee giant said it was responding to last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports.
In a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the Biden administration’s plan to require vaccines or regular COVID testing at companies with more than 100 workers.
“We respect the court’s ruling and will comply,” Starbucks’ chief operating officer, John Culver, wrote in the memo. Starbucks’ reversal is among the most high-profile corporate actions in response to the Supreme Court ruling. The company employs 228,000 people in the US.
Austrian MPs approve compulsory vaccines for all adults
MPs in Austria have voted to approach Europe’s first universal adult Covid-19 vaccine mandate, despite waves of protest against the plan.
The mandate, which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over, was passed in Austria’s parliament by 137 votes to 33.
Exemptions were made for pregnant women and people who for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated, or who have recovered from a coronavirus infection in the past six months.
Officials said the mandate was necessary because vaccination rates in Austria remained too low. As of Wednesday, 71.8% of the population of 8.9 million was considered fully vaccinated. That was about the EU average, but far lower than France and Italy.
The health minister, Wolfgang Mueckstein, speaking in parliament on Thursday afternoon, called the measure a “big, and, for the first time, also lasting step” in Austria’s fight against the pandemic.
“This is how we can manage to escape the cycle of opening and closing, of lockdowns,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
Compulsory Covid vaccinations have also been introduced in Ecuador, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Indonesia and Micronesia.
Updated
French PM announces easing of restrictions
Covid-19 restrictions could be loosened in France from February onwards, the prime minister has said, shortly after the country’s Covid vaccination pass comes into effect.
Jean Castex said on Thursday the pass will come into effect on 24 January, provided it gets approved by the constitutional council.
From 2 February, guidance recommending employees work from home three days a week would be dropped, with remote working arrangements now at the discretion of individual workers and their bosses.
Nightclubs would reopen from 16 February.
Castex said that the general Covid situation in the country was becoming more favourable. He added that the Covid pass could even be suspended if the Covid situation improved dramatically.
- The heading of this post, and the blog’s main headline, were amended on 21 January 2022 to remove incorrect suggestions that France has been in lockdown.
Updated
Israel will next week scrap mandatory quarantines for children exposed to Covid-19 carriers, the health minister, Nitzan Horowitz, said on Thursday.
According to Reuters, Horowitz cited a need to relieve pressure on parents and schools as the reason for the change.
The prime minister, Naftali Bennett, in a joint televised address, said children would instead be required to take twice-weekly home tests for the virus. If they test positive or feel unwell, they should absent themselves from school until they recovered, he said.
Updated
Italy reported 188,797 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, against 192,320 the day before, while the number of deaths rose to 385 from 380.
According to the latest update from the health ministry, patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 19,659 on Thursday, up from 19,500 a day earlier.
There were 155 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 134 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,698 from a previous 1,688.
Italy has registered 142,590 deaths linked to Covid since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world.
The country has reported 9.42 million cases to date.
Updated
Covid infections at record high among schoolchildren in England
The rate of new cases of Covid-19 among young schoolchildren in England has jumped sharply to a record high, figures show, following the return to nurseries and primary schools after Christmas.
In the seven days to 16 January, there were 1,935.7 cases per 100,000 five- to nine-year-olds, up from 1,372.7 a week earlier. The rate among under-fives had also increased, from 706.9 to 829.7.
For both age groups, it was the highest weekly rate since the data was first collected in summer 2020, according to the latest surveillance report from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The agency said figures for case rates may have been affected by a recent change in the rules for testing, which meant people with a positive lateral flow test no longer needed to get a confirmatory PCR test.
Although the figures seemed to coincide with the return of children to nurseries and primary schools in early January, there was no sign of a similar jump in rates among secondary school-age children.
Rates were falling in all other age groups, including for people aged 80 and over, where the figure had dropped week-on-week from 641.7 cases per 100,000 to 432.1.
Every region of England had seen a fall in case rates. North-east England had the highest rate, at 1,410.0 per 100,000 people, while south-west England had the lowest, at 800.7.
Cases of Covid have sharply declined in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the emergence of the Omicron variant, the World Health Organization has said.
The UN health agency’s regional office for Africa said newly reported cases fell 20% in the week to Sunday. Notified deaths dropped 8%, said Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa.
But, she added: “The continent has yet to turn the tables on this pandemic. So long as the virus continues to circulate, further pandemic waves are inevitable.”
Moeti said Africa should “not only broaden vaccinations, but also gain increased and equitable access to critical Covid-19 therapeutics to save lives and effectively combat this pandemic”.
Only 10% of people in Africa are fully vaccinated, according to the WHO.
The continent, with a population of 1.2 billion, has been relatively unscathed by the pandemic, reporting 234,913 deaths from 10.5 million cases, according to AFP tallies.
Updated
Nightclubs will reopen again in Northern Ireland next week, as the province’s regional assembly ends a ban on dancing that has lasted a month.
The Stormont executive agreed that nightclubs will be permitted to open from noon on Wednesday, 26 January. They were closed on 26 December, the same date a general ban on dancing and indoor standing events was imposed.
Under the new regime, Covid certifications will still be needed to get into nightclubs and larger indoor unseated or partially seated events. For other settings the certification will no longer be required but its use encouraged.
The remaining Covid restrictions in Northern Ireland will be reviewed by the Stormont executive on 10 February, according to the PA Media news agency.
Updated
A laboratory study has found that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine gives longer lasting protection against the Omicron coronavirus variant than Pfizer’s.
Researchers said samples taken three to six months after the second dose of a vaccine have shown that the antibodies in recipients of two doses of Sputnik V were more resistant to Omicron than in those vaccinated with Pfizer.
According to their findings, Omicron-specific neutralising antibodies were detected in the blood serum of 74.2% of the people vaccinated with Sputnik and in 56.9% of those vaccinated with Pfizer/BioNTech.
The study was funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which markets Sputnik V abroad, and conducted by scientists from the Spallanzani Institute in Italy and Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, the developer of Sputnik V vaccine.
It included 51 people vaccinated with Sputnik V and 17 with two shots of the Pfizer vaccine. It has not yet been peer reviewed.
Updated
330 more Covid deaths reported in the UK
UK health authorities have reported 330 more deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test, with the seven-day total up 1% to 1,860.
According to the latest update, 107,364 people tested positive for the virus, with daily infections falling since the beginning of January. Of those sick with Covid, 1,905 were admitted to hospital.
All figures were from the latest data provided on Thursday, the update said.
On Wednesday, 66,770 booster or third doses of Covid vaccine were administered, 29,893 second doses and 16,949 first doses.
Of UK population aged over 12, 90% had had a first dose of vaccine, 83.6% a second dose, and 63.8% a third dose.
People from black Caribbean and black African backgrounds are estimated to have the highest rates of non-vaccination in the UK, at 40.9% and 27.0% respectively, according to an official analysis.
On Thursday, the Office for National Statistics published updated estimates for vaccine take-up among the whole adult population in England up to 31 December, broken down by ethnicity, levels of deprivation and other characteristics.
The equivalent rate for people identifying as white British was 9.1%.
Some 19.3% of adults identifying as Muslim were likely to have not been vaccinated, ahead of Jewish (12.9%), Christian (10.6%) and Hindu (8.3%), the ONS found. The proportion of adults in the most deprived areas of England who had not received a vaccination was estimated at 17%, compared with 7.3% for those in the least deprived areas.
Overall, the agency estimated 11.6% of people in England aged 18 and over had not been vaccinated.
More than 1 million adults in France got their first dose of Covid vaccine in the past month, after the government announced a plan to exclude unvaccinated people from all restaurants, sports arenas and other venues, the government’s spokesman has said.
The so-called vaccine pass “is a new step in our strategy to encourage (vaccination) and ensure maximum protection. It is already producing its effects,” Gabriel Attal said, according to the Associated Press.
Under the law, entry into restaurants and bars, cinemas, theatres and other leisure and sport facilities, and passage on interregional trains and domestic flights, will be restricted to those who have had a full course of vaccinations. It applies to everyone 16 and over.
MPs approved the new law over the weekend and it is expected to be imposed in the coming days.
About 92% of French adults – over 48 million people – are already fully vaccinated, and 94% have received at least one shot. “France is now in the European leading group regarding its vaccination campaign,” Attal said.
France this week reported a record number of over 464,000 confirmed cases of infection in a single day. On average, over 320,000 cases per day have been recorded over the past week.
Updated
Merck will allow generic drug manufacturers to produce its anti-Covid pill molnupiravir at a cut cost for low- and middle-income countries, according to an announcement today.
The UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool said it had signed agreements with 27 manufacturers - spread across Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Jordan, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam - to supply the drug to 105 of the world’s poorer nations.
Merck’s pill is taken within five days of symptom onset and was shown in a trial of 1,400 participants to reduce Covid hospitalisations and deaths by 30% among at-risk people.
“This is a critical step toward ensuring global access to an urgently needed Covid-19 treatment and we are confident that … the anticipated treatments will be rapidly available in LMICs,” said MPP executive director Charles Gore, according to AFP.
This is Damien Gayle taking the controls on the Covid blog for the rest of the afternoon and early evening.
Updated
Today so far …
- France will unveil a timetable for easing Covid restrictions at 7pm in Paris tonight, a government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, said, though he cautioned that the wave of Omicron infections tearing through the country had not reached its peak. Attal said France’s new vaccine pass rules would help allow a softening of rules even as the incidence rate of infections continued to increase.
- NHS England staff absences due to Covid have fallen by 22% on the previous week, figures show, with signs the staffing crisis in the health service may be easing off. Ambulance handover delays at A&E departments in England improved slightly last week, though hospital pressures “remain high”. Of the 14,588 patients reported as having the virus in hospital on 18 January, 6,983 (48%) were not being treated principally for Covid-19.
- Care homes in England have said that staff with Covid-19 must not be allowed to return to work despite this week’s announcement by the health secretary, Sajid Javid, that legal self-isolation requirements are to be lifted.
- Return to work instructions in England have seen the usage of major rail stations up 10% compared with the same period last week. In London, tube journeys were up by 8%.
- Nicola Sturgeon has raised doubts in Scotland about Boris Johnson’s decision to scrap all plan B Covid rules in England, as Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross attacked her for imposing “unnecessary restrictions” on the Scottish public over the festive period.
- Downing Street is to hold talks with the artist Tracey Emin after she said one of her works should no longer hang inside No 10 because of her concerns about alleged parties inside the building.
- In Northern Ireland, the deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, has said while the pandemic was not over, she believed the country had passed the peak of Omicron. The Stormont executive meets today to discuss plans to relax restrictions from 21 January.
- Austria’s government has agreed to extend Covid lockdown measures for another 10 days – however, for the first time the Social Democrat party refused to support the move. Austria has also announced it will introduce a national vaccine lottery to encourage holdouts to get vaccinated. For each shot someone has had, they will be offered one lottery ticket, and one in 10 tickets will deliver a €500 voucher prize.
- Sweden will loosen Covid-19 quarantine rules and make it easier for employees with key jobs in sectors like healthcare and the police to go to work, the health agency said. It also asked people who can work from home not to get tested, to allow those who need to be at their jobs to take tests and continue to work, as the national test capacity has hit its ceiling.
- Russia’s official figure for daily new Covid cases is 38,850 today. That is up by nearly 5,000 from the level the day before, and approaching the peak of just over 40,000 seen in November last year.
- Germany reported another record rise of 133,536 daily new cases. It is the second consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record.
- Japan’s western prefecture of Osaka and two neighbouring regions are expected to join in a widening declaration of Covid-19 prevention measures, Osaka’s governor has said. Japan added more than 41,000 new Covid infections on Wednesday and the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, expanded quasi-emergency measures to cover the capital, Tokyo, and a dozen other regions.
- In her first press conference of the year, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, told reporters: “Omicron is knocking at our door. We won’t stop Omicron, but we can try and slow it down.” At least three cases of the new variant have been confirmed among border workers and their contacts in Auckland, and there are fears it made have already spread into the wider community.
- The reopening of Australia’s most isolated state – Western Australia – has been suspended indefinitely to allow the population to get booster shots, as the more transmissible Omicron variant rips through the nation.
Updated
I mentioned earlier the Prof Devi Sridhar piece that we had yesterday, where she said that now science has defanged Covid, it’s time to get on with our lives. In it she outlined the precautions that she thought people should still be taking, writing:
We still need to test. We still need to vaccinate and combat misinformation. We need to encourage people to wear medical-grade masks such as N95s in crowded and indoor settings. Employers need to recognise and support employees who have been identified as in a shielding group. We also need to review isolation and other policies so they remain safe, but are less disruptive to the functioning of society.
Claire Horwell is professor of geohealth at Durham University and has an honorary contract with the UK Health Security Agency. She writes for us today on the best way to stay safe from coronavirus in England, suggesting don’t ditch the mask:
So how can you protect yourself when most people stop wearing masks? The best way is to wear a mask that is designed to protect the wearer: an FFP2 or FFP3 mask. These are available in pharmacies, supermarkets and online, but you may need to try a few to find one that fits the shape of your face. If you want to avoid exposing others to your exhaled breath, make sure you choose a valveless mask.
The government says that it’s now up to us to assess our own risk and how we will mitigate it (although people are still advised to continue to wear face coverings in enclosed or crowded spaces and when meeting strangers). While we may not have choices about going to work or school, or how we get there, if we choose to, we can continue to use face masks to protect ourselves effectively. And don’t forget, anyone can have Covid … not just strangers.
Read more here: Claire Horwell – The best way to stay safe from Covid in England? Don’t ditch the mask
Updated
Sweden to relax isolation rules, tells people working from home not to take tests due to test kit shortage
Sweden will loosen Covid-19 quarantine rules and make it easier for employees with key jobs in sectors like healthcare and the police to go to work, the health agency said today, as the Omicron variant of the virus spread across the country.
People testing positive or who live with someone who has tested positive will have to isolate for 5 days instead of 7 previously, the Public Health Agency said. A small number of key workers will not have to quarantine at all if they have no symptoms, despite having been in contact with a sick person.
“In order to deal with the high rate of infection, that is also expected to increase in the coming period, and in order not to put social functions at risk, we are adjusting the recommendations for testing and for restrictions,” health agency official Sara Byfors told a news conference.
Johan Ahlander reports for Reuters from Stockholm that the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency said staff shortages could become a real problem and that key workers in areas such as power, heat, water and internet distribution as well as in the emergency services could be exempted from the quarantine rules.
Sweden on Thursday reported a new daily record for Covid-19 cases, registering 39,938 cases, marginally higher than the previous day.
The health agency said a large proportion of the population risked getting the virus in coming weeks. The real number of cases was likely to be substantially higher as the national test capacity has hit its ceiling.
The health agency asked people who can work from home not to get tested to allow those who need to be at their jobs to continue to work.
In Northern Ireland, Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said while the pandemic was not over, she believed the country had passed the peak of Omicron. PA Media quote her saying:
The pandemic is far from over but we are cautiously optimistic. We believe we are through the peak and we believe we have some space now to be able to reverse the protections that we put in place over the course of the last number of weeks.
It is a positive picture but I would ask people not to be complacent yet, we still have a journey to travel. I do think after our Executive meeting we hope we will be able to say positive things that will be welcomed by both individuals and also by the hospitality sector.”
PA Media are also reporting these are the plans for the easing of Covid restrictions in Northern Ireland which may get approved today:
- From 21 January, the requirement for table service in the hospitality sector and the “rule of six” on table numbers would be removed.
- Guidance to keep domestic indoor gatherings limited to three households would also be lifted - though gatherings should still be limited to 30 people in total.
- In regard to face coverings, the requirement to provide proof of exemption would be removed and the reasonable excuse of “severe distress” would be reintroduced.
- From 26 January nightclubs can reopen and indoor standing events can resume. The prohibition on dancing would be lifted.
- The legal requirement for Covid certification for nightclubs and indoor unseated and partially-seated events with 500 or more attendees would remain in place. For all other settings where certification is now required, the legal requirement would be replaced with guidance to “strongly encourage” their continued use.
- In workplaces, the requirement for office-based workplaces to take reasonable measures to have two-metre social distancing would be removed - with guidance remaining that risk assessments should still be carried out.
Dangerous to lift self-isolation rules for England's care home staff, government told
Care homes in England have said that staff with Covid-19 must not be allowed to return to work despite this week’s announcement by the health secretary, Sajid Javid, that legal self-isolation requirements are to be lifted.
Barchester, one of the UK’s largest care home operators, said it would defy any attempt to weaken self-isolation rules for staff. Barchester’s chief executive, Pete Calveley, said: “I don’t care what the government says, we are going to make sure we do a risk assessment on every individual. [Lifting self-isolation] is probably fine for the general public but not for care homes.”
On Wednesday, Javid said: “We must learn to live with Covid, in the same way we have to live with flu. We’re looking to replace legal requirements on self-isolation with advice and guidance.”
But with Omicron remaining highly infectious and deaths from the latest variant still rising, social care providers are being cautious and demanding clarification from the government.
Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group, which operates care homes in Yorkshire, said: “I can’t see it changing for us for some time. It is still dangerous. I think there will be face masks and PPE in care homes for several more months. The only concession I can see coming is more visitors than the three [that are currently allowed].”
Read more of Robert Booth’s report here: ‘Dangerous’ to lift self-isolation rules for UK care home staff
Updated
PA Media has some figures from National Rail looking at whether the change in advice on working from home has made a difference in England. The figures show the number of people using its stations between 6am and 10.30am today was up 10% compared with the same period last week.
This was an increase from 275,000 people to 303,000 people. The rise compared with Wednesday was just 1%, and the statistics show that daily passenger numbers were increasing even before the guidance to work from home was lifted.
Our transport correspondent, Gwyn Topham, has been looking at the numbers for the London underground, and he reports that tube journeys were up by 8%.
Transport for London said 1.09m entry and exit “taps” with contactless cards or Oyster were recorded up to 10am on Thursday on the tube – about 80,000 more than last Thursday’s morning peak. Bus journeys were up 3% week on week, with 1.19m boarding taps recorded this morning. There had already been signs of growing weekday journeys in London throughout the month, with total tube journeys throughout Wednesday up 4% week-on-week.
You can read more of Gwym Topham’s report here: Tube journeys up 8% after work-from-home Covid guidance ends
Updated
The reopening of Australia’s most isolated state has been suspended indefinitely to allow West Australians to get booster shots, as the more transmissible Omicron variant rips through the nation.
Just one month after promising that from 5 February double-vaccinated interstate and international travellers would be allowed to enter Western Australia without quarantine, the WA premier, Mark McGowan, has said that all entrants will need to self-isolate for 14 days, be triple-dose vaccinated and take tests.
“From 12.01am on Saturday 5 February, the hard border will stay, with new settings that will have a focus on both safety and compassion,” McGowan said.
The premier did not provide a new date for when quarantine-free travel would be allowed into WA.
Nevertheless, the list of people exempt from the hard borders will increase. People attending funerals, court, visiting those in palliative care or who are terminally ill, or those with strong recent connections, will now be allowed into the state after testing and quarantine.
McGowan labelled the Omicron Covid spread a “new state of emergency” but said the border rules would be reviewed during the coming weeks.
Read more of Narelle Towie’s report from Perth here: Reopening of Western Australia suspended amid Omicron spread
Updated
Commuters in London have welcomed their freedom to return to the office, despite many believing the government’s motives had more to do with political expediency than science.
“We’re opening back up today for a mixture of reasons, the biggest of which is that the government needs a distraction because of all the things that have been going on in Downing Street,” said Marianne Phillips, an accountant on her way to the office for the first time since the pandemic began, at Euston station on Wednesday morning.
“But even though they might be opening up for the wrong reasons, it’s still the right time for people to get back to the office. I am slightly nervous because it’s been a long time but it’s the right thing to do, to get back to the office, and I’m happy I’m doing it,” she said.
Emma Reeves, who works in the charity sector, was taking the opportunity to go to the office to collect some equipment before returning to work from home. “The government has only told us it’s OK to come back to the office because they want to be seen to be doing something,” she said. “We’ve had the same rules in place for ages and they need to change them every so often, to look like they know what they’re doing. Having said that, the economy does need to recover and as long as I’m not required to commute during rush hour, I don’t mind coming in a few days a week.”
Diana Ursachi, an accountant, said she wanted to return to her workplace full-time. “We lost my dad from Covid during the pandemic, so it’s not been easy,” she said. “But I’ve had Covid, I’ve had my three jabs, and it’s time to get back to normal. We live with other diseases. We need to learn to live with this one now.”
Read more of Amelia Hill’s report here: London commuters welcome office return but some say move is No 10 diversion
Our community team are very busy today. I mentioned earlier that they were looking to hear from people planning a Festive February now that restrictions are being dropped, and also wanted to speak to people about their thoughts on returning to the office.
However, the dropping of restrictions will not necessarily be welcomed in all quarters. And they have another call-out this morning, asking for people who have been shielding during the pandemic to get in touch.
Boris Johnson has announced the end of all Plan B Covid restrictions in England from 26 January. We would like to know how people who are shielding feel about the rule change. How has your experience of shielding been? Do you have any concerns?
You can get in touch with the team here.
Updated
Austria extends lockdown by 10 days
Austria’s government has agreed to extend Covid lockdown measures for another 10 days – however with some dispute. The state broadcaster ORF reports:
The main committee of the National Council today extended the Covid-19 Protective Measures Ordinance by a further 10 days. In contrast to the compulsory vaccination and the incentive and reward package to increase the vaccination rate, where the SPÖ supports the government, the Social Democrats now rejected the extension of the regulation. The SPÖ has always supported the regulations in this regard, but this time the largest opposition party did not agree.
The SPÖ’s Jörg Leichtfried justified this by saying that the lockdown for the unvaccinated was “apparently ineffective and also obsolete due to the coming vaccination requirement”. [The right-wing populist] FPÖ MP Petra Steger sees the lockdown for the unvaccinated as “the most serious encroachment on fundamental rights for healthy people.”
Health minister Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens), on the other hand, defended the measures. He [said he] was aware that the lockdown for the unvaccinated was a drastic measure and had lasted for a long time, [and] therefore did not extend the lockdown lightly.
Updated
Scotland's First Minister raises doubts about decision to lift all plan B restrictions in England
Nicola Sturgeon has raised doubts about Boris Johnson’s decision to scrap all plan B Covid rules in England, as Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross attacked her at FMQs for imposing “unnecessary restrictions” on the Scottish public over the festive period.
“There are still significant uncertainties ahead,” she told Ross at first minister’s questions, “which is why I think doctors, nurses, NHS managers, trade unions, all expressed some concern at the prime minister’s announcement yesterday to lift all restrictions at this stage, including the requirement to wear face coverings”.
She said her government – in line with the Welsh and Northern Irish administrations – would continue to take a “proportionate and balanced” approach.
Updated
There is a slightly odd story brewing that Downing Street has said it will speak to the artist Tracey Emin following her demand to take down one of her artworks in Number 10.
PA Media are reporting that Emin has requested the piece – More Passion – be removed in protest at what she has described as “shameful” reports of parties at the residence during lockdown. It was installed in 2011 after being donated to the government art collection when David Cameron was prime minister. Yesterday evening she posted an image of it to Instagram, commenting:
This is my neon that hangs at 10 Downing Street. It was a gift from myself to the government art collection. I am now in the process of requesting that my art work be removed from 10 Downing Street. I feel More Passion is the last thing this present government needs. This current situation is shameful.
The prime minister’s official spokesman has responded today, saying:
My understanding is that the work was gifted to the government art collection with an agreement to initially display it in No 10. We will obviously now discuss the location of the work with the artist and I believe it will remain part of the government art collection that displays works in a number of locations.
Emin appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour this morning, where she told Emma Barnett:
I don’t want the work back because I donated it. I would simply like at the moment for it to be taken down, because the neon is notoriously for a party atmosphere. You have them at funfairs, casinos, bars or whatever. I really do not feel that No 10 needs any encouragement on this level.
I want it taken down and this government, I will tell you what they need, they need compassion. That’s what they need, not passion. They don’t need more party atmosphere. Most of us are obeying the rules in every single way because this pandemic has affected everybody so terrible, whether it is financially, whether it was health-wise, people dying or whatever. And this government doesn’t seem to care about that.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which administers the collection, told PA Media: “When an artwork comes into the government art collection, the collection can display the work at any of its 365 locations.”
Updated
France to announce timetable for easing Covid restrictions at 7pm tonight
France will unveil a timetable for easing Covid restrictions at 7pm in Paris tonight, a government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, said, though he cautioned the wave of Omicron infections tearing through the country had not reached its peak. Prime Minister Jean Castex and his health minister, Olivier Veran, will unveil the timetable in a press conference.
Attal said France’s new vaccine pass rules would help allow a softening of rules even as the incidence rate of infections continues to increase.
France reported nearly half a million coronavirus infections on Wednesday to leave the seven-day average at 320,000 cases. However, the number of Covid patients in intensive care has stabilised, leaving the government some room for manoeuvre.
Reuters reports that Attal declined to detail the plans for the progressive easing of restrictions, which include the closure of nightclubs, caps on the number of people allowed into sports and entertainment venues and working-from-home rules.
On Sunday, the government gave final approval to President Emmanuel Macron’s plans for a vaccine pass, which will require people to have a certificate of vaccination to enter public venues like restaurants, cafes, cinemas and long-distance trains.
The pass is expected to come into effect soon after the constitutional court rules on the matter on Friday. The vaccine pass has re-energised anti-vaccine street protests.
Updated
There are a couple of other bits of interesting news in those new NHS England figures, as PA Media’s Ian Jones notes:
- Ambulance handover delays at A&E departments in England improved slightly last week, though hospital pressures “remain high”. A total of 14,961 delays of at least 30 minutes were recorded across all hospital trusts in the seven days to 16 January, representing 18% of all arrivals. This is down from 23% in the previous week, which was the highest level so far this winter.
- Of the 14,588 patients reported as having the virus on 18 January, 6,983 (48%) were not being treated principally for Covid-19. This is the highest proportion since these figures were first published in June 2021, and is up from 26% at the start of December 2021. All hospital patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 need to be treated separately from those who do not have the virus, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for Covid-19 or not. But the growing proportion of patients who are in hospital “with” Covid-19 rather than “for” Covid-19 is another sign the current wave has not led to the same sort of pressure on critical care as in previous waves.
Here are my colleagues Niamh McIntyre and Pamela Duncan with a fuller look at that latest NHS England data. They write:
NHS England staff absences due to Covid have fallen by 22% on the previous week, figures show, with signs the staffing crisis in the health service may be easing off.
There were more than 35,000 Covid absences on an average day in the week to 16 January, down from almost 46,000 the week before. However, the figures are still significantly higher than absence levels seen before the Omicron surge. At the start of December, there were about 12,000 absences on an average day.
Absences for all reasons, including Covid, were down by 13% and stand at 77,000 across the NHS.
Prof Stephen Powis, the NHS England national medical director, said: “Even though the numbers are going in the right direction, NHS staff will have many tough months ahead as they continue to deliver patient care while managing competing demands. While staff absences remain high and continue to increase in some parts of the country, it is good to see they have been reducing week on week.
Read more here: NHS England Covid absences fall amid signs staffing crisis is easing
Updated
Today so far …
- A total of 29,517 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were absent for Covid-19 reasons on 16 January. This was down 26% on the 40,031 the previous week but still more than double the number at the start of December.
- UK health secretary Sajid Javid justified the move to no longer require secondary school pupils to wear face masks in class in England from today, citing lower case numbers. England will soon scrap virtually all Covid measures.
- Covid certification entry requirements could be dropped across a number of hospitality settings in Northern Ireland, the first minister, Paul Givan, has said.
- Austria’s government has announced it will introduce a national vaccine lottery to encourage holdouts to get shots, hours before parliament was due to pass a bill introducing a national vaccine mandate. For each shot someone has had they will be offered one lottery ticket, and one in 10 tickets will deliver a €500 voucher prize.
- Russia’s official figure for daily new Covid cases is 38,850 today. That is up by nearly 5,000 from the level the day before, and approaching the peak of just over 40,000 seen in November last year.
- Germany reported another record rise of 133,536 daily new cases. It is the second consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record.
- Japan’s western prefecture of Osaka and two neighbouring regions are expected to join in a widening declaration of Covid-19 prevention measures, Osaka’s governor has said. Japan added more than 41,000 new Covid infections on Wednesday and prime minister Fumio Kishida expanded quasi-emergency measures to cover the capital Tokyo and a dozen other regions.
- China’s capital, Beijing, has ramped up efforts to curb Covid-19 infections ahead of next month’s Winter Olympics, ordering checks among cold-chain firms and urging residents to cut unnecessary gatherings.
- Taiwan will mandate the use of passes that provide proof of Covid vaccination for entry into entertainment venues.
- Hong Kong will likely suspend face-to-face teaching in secondary schools from Monday 24 January, local media reports.
- Tennis Australia chief executive, Craig Tiley, has declared he will not resign over the Novak Djokovic visa saga and rejected suggestions his governing body paid for the deported world No 1’s legal fees. The Australian federal court has published its reasons for dismissing Djokovic’s challenge.
- In her first press conference of the year, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, told reporters: “Omicron is knocking at our door. We won’t stop Omicron, but we can try and slow it down.” At least three cases of the new variant have been confirmed among border workers and their contacts in Auckland, and there are fears it made have already spread into the wider community.
- As the Omicron variant rips through the US, children are being infected with Covid-19 in record numbers – yet their rate of vaccination has lagged, creating a surge in hospitalisations and undermining in-person schooling.
Andrew Sparrow has our UK live blog, which is dominated by political shenanigans in the Conservative party. You can find that here. I will be sticking with you for the next few hours bringing the latest coronavirus news from around the world and any significant UK developments. And if you fancy a complete change of pace, you could always pop over and try our fun and silly Thursday quiz.
Updated
Our community team are looking for your reactions to the lifting of Plan B restrictions in England – and the order that people should return to working in offices. They’ve got two call-outs up on the site today – first off about going back into workplaces, if you are one of those people who has been able to work from home.
There’s also been some indication that people are booking and re-arranging delayed Christmas celebrations, and they are interested to here what your plans for a “Festive February” might be.
Russia’s official Covid figures have often not followed the kind of curve you see in other countries – for a long time earlier this year they sat at a plateau of around 8,000-9,000 new cases per day, with the pandemic neither seeming to gather pace or slow down in the country.
Reuters are reporting that today’s official Russian figure for Covid is 38,850 new cases. That is up by nearly 5,000 from the level the day before, which was 33,899. That continues a trend of rising case numbers since 10 January, and is probably what you would expect to see with the Omicron variant now spreading in Russia. The country’s highest ever official daily caseload was a peak of 40,210 on 7 November 2021.
NHS England confirms nearly 30,000 staff absent due to Covid reasons
A quick note from PA Media here that a total of 29,517 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were absent for Covid-19 reasons on 16 January, down 26% on the previous week (40,031) but still more than double the number at the start of December (12,508).
The new figures from NHS England include staff who were ill with coronavirus or who were having to self-isolate.
The figures show the number of NHS hospital staff ill with coronavirus or having to self-isolate due to Covid had fallen week-on-week across every region of England.
The Novak Djokovic furore is still rumbling on, as Emma Kemp reports:
Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley has declared he will not resign over the Novak Djokovic visa saga and rejected suggestions his governing body paid for the deported world No 1’s legal fees.
It comes as TA faces increasing scrutiny from players concerned the Australian Open’s voluntary Covid-19 testing protocol is exposing them to needless risk.
Tiley, who has remained largely out of the public eye throughout the Djokovic affair, was booed on Wednesday during a rare appearance at Kia Arena.
A few hours later he broke his silence in a tense interview with the tournament’s host broadcaster, the Nine Network, during which he side-stepped questions about the ill-fated bid to bring the unvaccinated Djokovic to Melbourne Park, saying “we already addressed those questions”.
Read more of Emma Kemp’s report here: Underfire Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley refuses to resign over Djokovic visa saga
Aritz Parra writes for the Associated Press that when the coronavirus pandemic was first declared, Spaniards were ordered to stay home for more than three months. For weeks, they were not allowed outside even for exercise. Officials credited the draconian measures with preventing a full collapse of the health system. Lives were saved, they argued.
Now, almost two years later, Spain is preparing to adopt a different playbook. With one of Europe’s highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government is laying the groundwork to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay.
The idea is to move from crisis mode to control mode, approaching the virus in much the same way countries deal with flu or measles. That means accepting that infections will occur and providing extra care for at-risk people and patients with complications.
Just over 80% of Spain’s population has received a double vaccine dose, and authorities are focused on boosting the immunity of adults with third doses.
Vaccine-acquired immunity, coupled with widespread infection, offers a chance to concentrate prevention efforts, testing and illness-tracking resources on moderate to high-risk groups, said Dr Salvador Trenche, head of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine, which has led the call for a new endemic response.
Covid-19 “must be treated like the rest of illnesses,” Trenche told the Associated Press, adding that “normalized attention” by health professionals would help reduce delays in treatment of problems not related to the coronavirus.
The public also needs to come to terms with the idea that some deaths from Covid “will be inevitable,” Tranche said.
“We can’t do on the sixth wave what we were doing on the first one: The model needs to change if we want to achieve different results,” he said.
A quick snap from Reuters that Africa’s top public health body plans to talk to Merck about obtaining supplies of its Molnupiravir treatment pill for Covid, although talks with Pfizer about its Paxlovid medication were more advanced, it said on Thursday.
“We don’t have a preference to talk only to Pfizer and not Merck, it’s just that Pfizer has been more forthcoming with their engagement. We plan to engage both companies equally,” said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Andrew Sparrow has launched his UK live blog for today – that’s going to be very heavily-politics leaning today I suspect. You can find that here.
I’ll be continuing with global coronavirus news and significant UK Covid lines here.
First minister: Northern Ireland Covid certificates for hospitality settings could be dropped
Covid certification entry requirements could be dropped across a number of hospitality settings in Northern Ireland, the first minister has said.
Paul Givan said, while he would support the removal of mandatory certification entirely, he anticipated a majority of ministers in the power-sharing administration will back proposals to retain the system in higher risk settings.
Givan’s comments come ahead of a meeting of the Executive on Thursday afternoon. Laws requiring people to prove Covid status to gain entry to a range of hospitality venues and large-attendance events were introduced last November.
PA Media remind us that the move proved politically contentious with Givan’s DUP party voting against the scheme while the other four Stormont executive parties backed it.
Patrons wishing to access nightclubs, pubs, restaurants and other licensed premises have been required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative lateral flow test result or evidence of a previous Covid-19 infection.
The same rules have applied for entry to large indoor and outdoor events, such as concerts and sporting events.
A phased approach to the discontinuation of the system could see the removal of the requirement in settings such as pubs, restaurants and cinemas, with certification being retained for nightclubs and some other settings.
Updated
If you didn’t see it yesterday, it well worth a couple of minutes to read this from Devi Sridhar about the state of play with coronavirus in the UK:
There are now clearly three camps of scientists voicing opinions on what is happening and what to do in the coming weeks. This can be confusing for the public.
The first group still seem to see the virus as the same deadly one of March 2020, despite the massive scientific progress in managing it, and they suggest extremely cautious measures. The second say they’ve been right all along in that mass infection is unavoidable; this is the “let it rip” group. They ignore the dramatic difference that mass vaccinations and treatments have made – avoiding serious illness from Covid-19 now is wholly different from 2020.
The third group – where I sit – have evolved their position as the data and tools, namely vaccines and therapeutics, have also evolved to transform Covid-19 into something more akin to other infectious diseases that we control and manage.
Read more here: Devi Sridhar – Now that science has defanged Covid, it’s time to get on with our lives
On the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, UK health secretary Sajid Javid has justified the move to no longer require secondary school pupils to wear face masks in class in England from today, citing lower case numbers. PA Media quote him saying:
There has long been a debate about face masks, particularly in schools. The government’s job is to take a balanced and proportionate decision, in this case balanced against the best interests of children.
It is harder to teach children and it will have an impact on their education if they are required to wear face mask at all times in classrooms.
Case numbers are falling in every part of the country, we are starting to see hospitalisations falling throughout England, in every area they are stabilised, in most areas they are starting to fall.
Maria Cheng, who is one of the medical writers at Associated Press, has put together a Q&A on what it means for a disease to be endemic, rather than an pandemic. All the noises from UK health secretary Sajid Javid comparing Covid to flu over the last 24 hours show that is the direction of travel that the government is heading in.
She writes that diseases are endemic when they occur regularly in certain areas according to established patterns, while a pandemic refers to a global outbreak that causes unpredictable waves of illness.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that redefining the coronavirus as an endemic disease is still “a ways off,” according to Catherine Smallwood, an infectious diseases expert in the agency’s European headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. “We still have a huge amount of uncertainty and a virus that is evolving quickly,” she said earlier this month.
The WHO does not technically declare pandemics. Its highest alert level is a global health emergency.
For many countries, designating a disease as endemic means that fewer resources will be available to combat it, since it will likely no longer be considered a public health emergency. It’s likely the pandemic will be over when the WHO’s experts declare that Covid no longer qualifies as a global emergency, but the criteria for that decision are not precisely defined.
“It’s somewhat a subjective judgment because it’s not just about the number of cases. It’s about severity and it’s about impact,” said Dr Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies chief.
Others have pointed out that designating Covid as endemic is arguably a political question rather than a scientific one, and it speaks to how much disease and death national authorities and their citizens are willing to tolerate.
Osaka expected to apply for emergency measures to halt record Omicron spread in Japan
Japan’s western prefecture of Osaka and two neighbouring regions are expected to join in a widening declaration of Covid-19 prevention measures, Osaka’s governor has said.
Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said the prefecture would hold a meeting on Friday to determine whether to apply for measures referred to as quasi-emergency that allow governors to request restaurants and bars shorten business hours and stop serving alcohol.
Yoshimura said he was coordinating with the prefectural governors of Kyoto and Hyogo on making a joint request. “I think the three prefectures will probably join together to request the quasi-emergency measures (on Friday),” Yoshimura said.
Yoshimura said he expected Osaka would log roughly 6,000 new infections on Thursday, close to the record number seen on Wednesday.
Reuters report that Japan added more than 41,000 new Covid infections on Wednesday as the Omicron variant spread, breaking a record for two consecutive days.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida decided on Wednesday to expand the measures to cover the capital Tokyo and a dozen other regions. If the restrictions are widened to include Osaka and its two neighbors, 63% of the nation’s total population – or just under 80 million people – would live under the measure.
The lifting of plan B restrictions in England means an immediate return of the debate about whether you should be wearing a face mask in crowded places still, even if it is not backed up by law enforcement. It also means a return to politicians being pressed on what they personally would do. PA Media quotes UK health secretary Sajid Javid telling BBC Breakfast:
Will I be wearing a face mask? Yeah, I think I probably would be in a week’s time. Because prevalence is still high and there will be people there, especially if I am going to my local shop which is small and enclosed and can have quite a few people in there at one time in quite a small space, I don’t know most of those people, I think that would be sensible.
I think it will be sensible on the tube in London, for example - quite an enclosed space. People will be asked to make their own personal judgment just as we do in fighting flu.
Updated
Austria to introduce national lottery with €500 prizes for vaccinated people
Reuters are reporting that Austria’s government has announced it will introduce a national vaccine lottery to encourage holdouts to get shots, hours before parliament was due to pass a bill introducing a national vaccine mandate.
Roughly 72% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid, which is one of the lowest rates in western Europe.
New daily infections hit a new record on Wednesday as the Omicron variant spread further, but the government wants to avoid another national lockdown, since the country emerged from its fourth one only last month.
“What is there to win in the vaccination lottery? Vouchers!” Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference with the leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Pamela Rendi-Wagner, with whom the measure was negotiated.
Nehammer said he wanted there to be a financial reward for those who get vaccinated, adding: “We have learned from the past and we have seen that a vaccination lottery is the best possible way to set up such a system.”
The plan appears to be that members of the public, whether already vaccinated or not, would get a ticket for each shot they have had - three tickets in total for those who have had their booster shot.
Every tenth ticket would win a €500 (£415) gift voucher, Nehammer said, without specifying what the vouchers were for.
UK health secretary Sajid Javid very carefully avoided directly saying that Boris Johnson would have to resign if he had broken Covid laws, but he did, in general, say that any minister who broke the law would have to step down. You can see him dancing on the head of a pin over this here:
"If any minister, from the PM down, breaks the law, they should not continue to serve as a minister."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 20, 2022
Health Secretary Sajid Javid says there are "no exceptions to the ministerial code".#KayBurley https://t.co/E3uMSxkvoS
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/s2JVEBRTyb
As the Omicron variant rips through the US, children are being infected with Covid-19 in record numbers – yet their rate of vaccination has lagged, creating a surge in hospitalizations and undermining in-person schooling.
Nearly a million new Covid cases – more than 981,000 – were confirmed in children in the week ending 13 January, a 69% increase from the week before and four times higher than last winter’s peak, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. That means one in 10 Covid cases among children in the entire pandemic have happened in the past week, the organization said.
Adult rates have shot up, too, with an average of more than 870,000 confirmed cases a day in the US – but children have much lower vaccination rates. Only 18.8% of kids aged five to 11, and a little more than half of 12- to 17-year-olds, are fully vaccinated, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hospitalizations for kids are soaring, although severe illness and death are much less likely for children than adults. “Tons and tons of kids are getting infected this time,” said Almaz Dessie, assistant professor of pediatrics in emergency medicine at Columbia University medical center.
Yet vaccinations are lagging. After a short burst of children’s vaccinations soon after the shot was authorized for the five to 11 age group, progress dropped significantly.
Read more of Melody Schreiber’s report here: US children’s Covid vaccinations lag despite record infections
Dr Richard Pebody, who leads the high-threat pathogen team at WHO in Europe has been on the media in the UK this morning, slightly pushing back on that message from UK health secretary Sajid Javid that Covid now was finally more like flu. He told Sky News viewers:
We’re not at that point yet. SARS-CoV-2 is a different infection. It still can be a very serious infection in those who are unprotected. Those who are unvaccinated. And, you know, I’d really like to reinforce the message that if you’re not vaccinated, if you’ve not completed your course of vaccination, it is really important that you do get it, because it will protect you against serious disease, against hospitalisation.
We are clearly moving into a different phase of the pandemic. We have to celebrate the success of the vaccine programme and the rollout in many countries, and the protection of the population. But we’re still not yet at the end of the road as far as the pandemic is concerned.
Taiwan to introduce vaccine passes for entertainment venues from Friday
Taiwan will mandate the use of passes that provide proof of Covid vaccination for entry into entertainment venues, the government said today, as it seeks to reduce infection risks while tackling a small rise in domestic Omicron cases.
The Central Epidemic Command Centre said that from Friday entry into venues including bars and night clubs would require proof of full vaccination, either by showing a physical vaccine card or a new digital card.
The centre said the move was needed to minimise the risk of community transmission as Taiwan deals with a small number of domestic infections of the Omicron variant.
Ben Blanchard reports for Reuters that more than 70% of people in Taiwan have received two vaccine doses and booster shots are currently being rolled out, though only around 10% of residents have had their third shot so far.
Taiwan has thus far kept the pandemic well under control with strict border measures enacted early on and a highly efficient tracing system. It has reported 18,041 cases to date out of a population of 23.5 million.
In the UK, health secretary Sajid Javid got himself in a bit of a tangle of weeds about comparing Covid to flu yesterday. Sky News’ presenter Kay Burley asked him if he had meant to do that, and then when he said yes, asked why previously in the pandemic people had been mocked and criticised for comparing the novel coronavirus, which had killed over 150,000 people in the UK, to a flu. This is what Javid had to say:
Because if it was an example of how we need to learn to live with Covid. The impact of Covid, of course, has been the biggest challenge this country has seen since the Second World War. We’ve seen, very sadly, thousands and thousands of deaths, but we have learned a lot about Covid.
Sadly people die of flu as well. In a bad flu year, you can certainly lose about 20,000 lives, but we don’t shut down our entire country and put in place lots of restrictions to deal with it. We need to continue with our lives with sensible, appropriate and proportionate measures. The one thing we learned about flu, because it’s been around for far, far, far longer, is that we have annual vaccinations for older people and in particular for children.
One thing I did also say yesterday’s is Covid is not going away. It’s going to be with us for many, many years, perhaps forever. And we have to learn to live with it. And what we have shown mainly, because of the vaccines, but also because the new treatments that we have, the antivirals – we’ve got more antivirals per head than any other country in Europe – the testing infrastructure that we’ve built, the biggest testing infrastructure, it is these things that will allow us to live with Covid.
Pressed again on whether it had been to criticise people earlier in the pandemic for comparing the coronavirus to flu, Javid said:
I think, if at the start of Covid when we had no vaccines, we had no testing infrastructure, we had no treatments, people were comparing it to flu, that would have been wrong. Of course, it would have been wrong. But look where we are today.
The UK’s health secretary Sajid Javid has opened the UK media round on Sky News this morning. He was challenged over the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) warning about scrapping self-isolation. As a reminder, WHO said:
Our recommendation is for isolation of the cases, isolation and clinical care of cases to continue, because our goal is to prevent onward spreads, and also the quarantining of contacts. We support countries in reducing that time. I don’t say abandon it, but reducing that time.
When pressed by presenter Kay Burley on whether England would be dropping self-isolation in March, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted at yesterday, he said that a decision would be taken nearer the time. He said:
What we said yesterday was it marks a new chapter in our fight against the pandemic, where we are returning to Plan A. So that’s what we’re doing. And that’s because Plan B has worked. The data shows that Omicron is now in retreat. And it’s worked for a number of reasons, but mainly because of the time it bought us to build our defences, with some 15 million people coming forward to get boosted.
I want to thank each and every one of them for what they have done to help us fight this pandemic, and also all the NHS workers, the volunteers, and what they did. Because of that, we’re now able to remove some of the rules and restrictions by returning to Plan A so it means that, for example, that we’re no longer encouraging people to work from home. From Thursday next week, there will be no mandatory use of the NHS Covid passes or the use of face coverings.
The plans to drop restrictions in England will no doubt lead to a lot of scrutiny of the Covid numbers over the next few days from those who argue that the move his happening to soon. Here’s a snapshot of where we are:
There were 108,069 new Covid cases recorded yesterday, over the last seven days there have been 652,469 new coronavirus cases recorded in the UK. Cases have decreased by 37% week-on-week – one of the reasons that the UK government is gambling that the Omicron wave has peaked in England.
There have been 1,865 deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive Covid test in the last week, including 359 yesterday. Deaths have increased by 8.2% week-on-week.
Hospital admissions have decreased by 4.9% week-on-week. At the latest count on the UK government’s own dashboard, there were 18,979 people in hospital in total, of whom 703 are in ventilation beds. According to the government’s figures, the peak of hospitalisations during the pandemic was in January 2021, with 39,254 patients in hospital.
Here’s a reminder of what the rules will be in England from 26 January:
Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London taking over from Samantha Lock. I’ll bring you latest news from the UK media round as it unfolds this morning, as well as coronavirus updates from around the globe.
The Australian federal court has just published its reasons for dismissing Novak Djokovic’s challenge seeking to restore his visa.
In their judgment, the three justices set out the test for minister Alex Hawke to cancel the visa:
It is not the fact of Mr Djokovic being a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community; rather it is whether the minister was satisfied that his presence is or may be or would or might be such a risk.
The judges concluded that it was open to Hawke to find that “Mr Djokovic had a stance that was well-known on vaccination and that he was opposed to it”.
They noted:
Mr Djokovic was not, by January 2022, vaccinated. It was plainly open to the Minister to infer that Mr Djokovic had for over a year chosen not to be vaccinated since vaccines became available ... It was plainly open to the Minister to infer that Mr Djokovic had chosen not to be vaccinated because he was opposed to vaccination or did not wish to be vaccinated.”
Updated
While we’re in the Pacific region, here is a detailed summary of how Covid is currently playing out across Australia.
The country marked another deadly day of the pandemic with 60 deaths on Thursday, with 25 from NSW, 15 in Victoria and 9 deaths recorded in Queensland. South Australia marked its deadliest day of the pandemic with 11 deaths reported.
The interval for a booster shot will be reduced to three months in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT amid unprecedented strain on hospitals as Omicron cases surge.
Here’s an update on the situation unfolding in New Zealand from our reporter Tess McClure in Auckland.
In her first press conference of the year, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters “Omicron is knocking at our door”.
“We won’t stop Omicron, but we can try and slow it down,” she added.
At least three cases of the new variant have been confirmed among border workers and their contacts in Auckland, and there are fears it made have already spread into the wider community.
For now, New Zealand is one of a very small handful of countries keeping Omicron at bay. That path is an increasingly lonely one – very few medium-sized economies have stayed dedicated to Covid-zero or heavy-duty suppression. China, the notable exception, faces increasing questions over how sustainable its elimination strategy is. While Beijing remains fiercely committed to that path, however, New Zealand’s leader is now resigned to battle Omicron, describing its transmission across the country as a matter of “when, not if”.
“Omicron is in every corner of the world at the moment. And we also know that there will be other variants. And we know that we will experience in New Zealand cases at a level that we haven’t experienced before,” Ardern said.
Read the full story here.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you today as we unpack all the latest Covid developments from across the world.
I’ll be reporting to you from Sydney and my colleague Martin Belam in London will take over shortly.
Earlier, we reported that the World Health Organization issued a recommendation, advising countries to lift or ease their international travel bans.
The UN health agency recently updated its international health regulations recommendations during an emergency committee meeting on Wednesday.
Recommendations included to “lift or ease international traffic bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to the economic and social stress” of some countries.
Implementing blanket travel bans are “not effective in suppressing international spread” and “may discourage transparent and rapid reporting of emerging variants of concerns” the agency said in a statement.
The WHO also said the requirement to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19 for international travel may not be needed as “the only pathway or condition” permitting international travel.
Hong Kong will likely suspend face-to-face teaching in secondary schools from Monday 24 January, local media reports.
The city’s Education Bureau made the announcement on Thursday, because of a rising number of coronavirus infections in several schools.
“The suspension could start on Monday, but the Form Six classes [the last year of secondary school] can be flexible,” a source told the South China Morning Post.
Here’s a round-up of all the latest international developments you may have missed:
Europe:
- Germany reported another record rise of 133,536 daily new cases. It is the second consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record, with 234 deaths also reported, according to recently updated figures from the Robert Koch Institute.
- The Covid pandemic has inspired record numbers of people to become nurses, with more than 56,000 signing up to nursing courses or apprenticeships in England since the outbreak in early 2020, according to a report.
- England will soon scrap virtually all Covid measures, the health secretary confirmed.
Australia and New Zealand:
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Australia’s drugs regulator has for the first time approved oral treatments for Covid-19 which should help address supply shortages of other treatments.
- Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Association has also given provisional approval to the protein-based Novavax Covid-19 vaccine.
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New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said restrictions will be tightened if there is a community transmission of Omicron.
Asia:
- Thailand will resume its ‘Test & Go’ quarantine waiver for vaccinated arrivals starting on 1 February, the country’s coronavirus taskforce said on Thursday.
- Japan recorded a daily rise of 41,377 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, shattering the record it set a day earlier by about 10,000 as the government puts more prefectures under a quasi-state of emergency.
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Hong Kong will likely suspend face-to-face teaching in secondary schools from 24 January, local media reports.
- China’s capital Beijing has ramped up efforts to curb Covid-19 infections, ordering checks among cold-chain firms and urging residents to cut unnecessary gatherings.
United States:
- US president Joe Biden has admitted that more should have been done in terms of Covid-19 testing availability earlier in the pandemic.
A complete summary for the past 24 hours is also available here.
Thailand to resume quarantine waiver for vaccinated arrivals
Thailand will resume its ‘Test & Go’ quarantine waiver for vaccinated arrivals starting on 1 February, the country’s coronavirus taskforce said on Thursday.
All arrivals must take a Covid-19 test on arrival and five days later, spokesperson Taweesin Wisanuyothin said at a briefing.
Additional “Sandbox” areas were also announced, a similar scheme to revive the country’s battered tourism sector, where visitors must stay for one week in a designated location.
Surfing great Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sport to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, saying he wants to avoid another “soap opera” if the 11-time world champion is not vaccinated against Covid.
Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his Covid vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on the Covid vaccine, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99% of doctors”.
The American tour veteran, who has no medical qualifications, has previously said he is not anti-vaccine but opposed to making vaccination mandatory.
Slater has also been critical of the visa process that ended with the recent deportation of tennis world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
The best surfers in the world are scheduled to arrive in Australia for back-to-back World Surf League events at Victoria’s Bells Beach and Western Australia’s Margaret River in March and April this year.
Australia approves oral Covid treatments Paxlovid and Lagevrio
Australia’s drugs regulator has for the first time approved oral treatments for Covid-19 which should help address supply shortages of other treatments.
The approval applies to two drugs – Paxlovid and Lagevrio. They have been “provisionally” approved, which means they can be administered by health professionals in limited circumstances but the manufacturers must submit further data as the drugs are used more widely.
The director of infectious diseases at Mater Health Services, associate professor Paul Griffin, said on Thursday: “We’ve got great safe and effective vaccines. We’ve got intravenously administered antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, which have certainly helped us. But what we’ve been missing right now is an oral therapy that changes the course of the Covid illness.”
Read the full story here.
Japan's daily Covid cases surpass 40,000 in new record
Japan recorded a daily rise of 41,377 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, shattering the record it set a day earlier by about 10,000 as the government puts more prefectures under a quasi-state of emergency.
Another 13 deaths were also reported. The daily case rise is a significant increase on the previous seven-day average of 7,475, according to the health ministry data.
Tokyo’s daily caseload hit a new record 7,377, up more than threefold from a week before, according to health ministry data.
Elsewhere, Osaka prefecture logged 6,101 cases, Hyogo reported 2,514 and Kyoto saw 1,202 — all record highs for the second consecutive day, the Japan Times reports.
The number of seriously ill Covid-19 patients nationwide as of Wednesday was 281, up by 20 from the previous day but still far below the record high of 2,223 marked on 4 September last year.
The government intends to place 13 more prefectures including the capital under a quasi-emergency status from Friday until 13 February as the Omicron variant continues to spread. The 13 prefectures — Tokyo, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Niigata, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Kagawa, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Miyazaki — will join Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Hiroshima, where the pre-emergency designation is already in effect.
Updated
Hong Kong will likely suspend face-to-face teaching in secondary schools from 24 January, local media reports.
The city’s Education Bureau made the announcement on Thursday, because of a rising number of coronavirus infections in several schools.
“The suspension could start on Monday, but the Form Six classes [the last year of secondary school] can be flexible,” a source told the South China Morning Post.
The government halted classes in primary schools and kindergartens early this month, and imposed curbs, such as a ban on restaurant dining after 6pm and the closure of venues such as gyms, cinemas and beauty salons.
Updated
Covid driving record numbers in England to become nurses
The Covid pandemic has inspired record numbers of people to become nurses, with more than 56,000 signing up to nursing courses or apprenticeships in England since the outbreak in early 2020, according to a report.
Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) show that more 18-year-old school leavers are applying for and accepting places to study nursing than before the pandemic, with applications up by 38% since 2019, while applications from those over the age of 21 have also risen by more than a third.
The report by Ucas and Health Education England found that 69% of recent applicants said the Covid pandemic had inspired them to apply to become a nurse, with around one in 10 saying the pandemic was the most important factor in their decision. One in four applicants said the current high profile of healthcare workers was a significant influence on their decision.
Read the full story here.
Germany reports record rise of 133,536 new cases
Germany is reporting another record rise of 133,536 daily new cases.
It is the second consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record, with 234 deaths also reported, according to recently updated figures from the Robert Koch Institute.
The previous daily count recorded on Tuesday was 112,323 new coronavirus cases and 239 deaths.
The weekly incidence rate is now above 584.4 new infections per 100,000 people over seven days.
The number is a significant jump on Monday’s daily rise of 74,405 and 193 deaths and on case numbers recorded at the end of the last week.
Germany now joins other European countries like the UK, France and Italy in recording more than 100,000 new Covid-19 infections on one day.
Omicron now accounts for more than 70% of new infections.
The country recently tightened restrictions on access to restaurants, bars and cafes to people who have received their booster jabs or who are tested on top of being fully vaccinated or recovered. Germany has also pledged to accelerate vaccinations while the parliament prepares to discuss introducing mandatory vaccinations - a measure supported by new chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Updated
Beijing raises Covid alert
China’s capital Beijing has ramped up efforts to curb Covid-19 infections, ordering checks among cold-chain firms and urging residents to cut unnecessary gatherings, as the city reported an uptick in local cases weeks before the Winter Olympics.
Beijing had three domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms on Wednesday, including one previously reported as a local asymptomatic carrier for 18 January, according to local health authority data on Thursday.
The city has reported less than ten local Covid infections since 15 January, with both the Delta and Omicron variants detected, a tiny case count compared with the rest of the world.
The city of Beijing should immediately launch full inspections over its cold-chain industry and make the testing of staffers and goods more frequent, the city government said in a statement late on Wednesday, after some infections were found to be cold storage workers, Reuters reports.
Residents are advised to reduce movement and unnecessary gatherings, while children, the elderly and people in weaker health should avoid crowded public places, the city’s health authority said in a statement on Wednesday.
China reported a total of 43 locally transmitted infections for 19 January, according to a statement by the National Health Commission on Thursday, down from 55 a day earlier.
There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll at 4,636. As of 19 January, mainland China had 105,411 confirmed cases, including both local ones and those arriving from overseas.
Biden admits more Covid testing could have been done
US president Joe Biden has admitted that more should have been done in terms of Covid-19 testing availability earlier in the pandemic.
“Look, we’re also increasing testing. Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes. But we’re doing more now,” he said during a news conference on Wednesday.
Look, we’re also increasing testing. Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes. But we’re doing more now.
We’ve gone from zero at-home tests a year ago to 375 million tests on the market in just this month.”
The president reiterated the White House’s plans to mail at-home tests to Americans who request them and the move to have insurers reimburse Americans for at-home tests they buy in stores.
I know there’s a lot of frustration and fatigue in this country. And we know why, Covid-19. Omicron has now been challenging us in a way that it’s the new enemy.
But while it’s caused for concern, it’s not cause for panic. We’ve been doing everything we can, learning and adapting as fast as we can and preparing for future beyond the pandemic.
Biden also said the country is now better positioned to tackle the pandemic, citing vaccination efforts, testing tools and new medications now available.
We’re in a very different place now, though. We have the tools. Vaccines. boosters, masks, tests, pills to save lives and keep businesses and schools open. 75% of adults are fully vaccinated. We’ve gone from 90 million adults with no shots in arms last summer and down to 35 million with no shots as of today. And we’re adding about 9 million more vaccinations each week.”
Billionaire opens new vaccine plant in South Africa
South African-American biotech businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong opened a new vaccine plant in Cape Town on Wednesday, intended to help his local NantSA company make Covid-19 shots and address the continent’s deadly dearth of manufacturing capacity, Reuters reports.
it will be the first in Africa to produce Covid-19 vaccines from start to finish, according to Agence France-Presse.
The factory should produce its first vials of second-generation coronavirus vaccine “within the year” and produce a billion doses annually by 2025, Soon-Shiong said.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, who attended the opening, supported the move, tweeting:
This state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing campus that we are officially launching today is part of a far broader initiative to propel Africa into a new era of health science.
Today we are marking the establishment of a company that aims to develop next-generation vaccines that will reach patients across the continent.
Africa should no longer be last in line to access vaccines against pandemics. Africa should no longer go cap in hand to the Western world, begging and begging for vaccines.
Soon-Shiong, who is also a medical doctor, will transfer technology and materials from his California-based NantWorks to scientists in South Africa, where they will also work on vaccines targeting cancer, TB and HIV.
We welcome partnerships with entities like the Access to Advanced Health Institute, the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation and NantWorks to mobilise investment, transfer technology and know-how, and develop skills. We are already seeing the benefits of this partnership. pic.twitter.com/VLKFlNLi1V
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) January 19, 2022
“Greater self-sufficiency is essential,” Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa, said in a message of support for the plant.
Soon-Shiong said he would transfer bioreactors stockpiled at his U.S. factories, with first production of vaccines seen later this year. To ensure a pipeline of skilled workers, he has pledged 100 million rand ($6.5 million) for scholarships.
“We have now the capability to use the human capital of South Africans to build 21st century medicine,” Soon-Shiong told Ramaphosa, as he entered one of two warehouses, currently empty, in the semi-industrial area of Brackenfell near Cape Town.
🇿🇦 TODAY: President @CyrilRamaphosa launches the #NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus with Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of NantWorks LLC, at Brackengate in Cape Town, Western Cape. #InvestSA pic.twitter.com/EAXD3Jks2I
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) January 19, 2022
Updated
Australia grants provisional approval to Novavax vaccine
Australia’s health body, the Therapeutic Goods Association, has given provisional approval to the protein-based Novavax Covid-19 vaccine.
The more traditional vaccine technology is preferred by many vaccine-hesitant groups across the country.
Health minister Greg Hunt said:
We have 51m units available, and obviously we have a first dose national vaccination rate of 95.2%, [but] we know that some people have waited for this vaccine. Although we have encouraged everyone to proceed ... we recognise that as a fact.
Hopefully, this will encourage those people in the less than last 5% to come forward. We want to have as many people come forward to be vaccinated, the next stage is the Australian advisory group on immunisation and subject to their approval it will be made available over the coming weeks to be distributed through states and territories, general practices and pharmacies that seek to order it.
New Zealand to tighten restrictions pending Omicron spread
New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said restrictions will be tightened if there is a community transmission of Omicron.
Ardern made the remarks during a press conference on Thursday in which she provided an update on the country’s traffic light system.
New Zealand will move to into the red zone as part of the traffic light system within 24 to 48 hours in the event of a community outbreak of Omicron but lockdowns will not be used, stuff.co.nz reports.
Ardern said in a statement accompanying the announcement:
We’re also confirming today that when we have evidence of Omicron transmitting in the community we won’t use lockdowns, instead the whole country will move into Red within 24 to 48 hours.”
The prime minister previously told her MPs that Omicron is a “different foe” and will result in case numbers not seen in New Zealand before. However, she added that the variant “is not insurmountable” and long lockdowns should not be needed.
Two new Omicron cases have been reported in Auckland.
Testing in New Zealand for Covid will be free, and rapid antigen tests will be used more widely, Ardern added.
International traffic bans should be lifted, proof of vaccination not necessarily needed: WHO
The World Health Organization has recommended lifting or easing international traffic bans, citing the ineffectiveness of the measures to suppress the spread of the Omicron variant.
The UN health agency recently updated its international health regulations recommendations during an emergency committee meeting on Wednesday.
Recommendations included to “lift or ease international traffic bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to the economic and social stress” of some countries.
Implementing blanket travel bans are “not effective in suppressing international spread” and “may discourage transparent and rapid reporting of emerging variants of concerns” the agency said in a statement.
The failure of travel restrictions introduced after the detection and reporting of Omicron variant to limit international spread of Omicron demonstrates the ineffectiveness of such measures over time.
Travel measures such as masking, testing, isolation/quarantine and vaccination should be based on risk assessments and avoid placing the financial burden on international travellers, according to their recommendations.
The WHO also said the requirement to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19 for international travel may not be needed as “the only pathway or condition” permitting international travel.
Do not require proof of vaccination against Covid-19 for international travel as the only pathway or condition permitting international travel given limited global access and inequitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
State parties should consider a risk-based approach to the facilitation of international travel by lifting or modifying measures, such as testing and/or quarantine requirements, when appropriate, in accordance with the WHO guidance.”
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as we unpack all the latest Covid developments from across the world.
I’ll be reporting to you from Sydney and my colleagues from London will take over a little later in the day.
Let’s dive in with a cautiously optimistic advice from the World Health Organization to lift or ease international travel bans.
The UN health agency recently updated its international health regulations recommendations during an emergency committee meeting on Wednesday.
Recommendations included to “lift or ease international traffic bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to the economic and social stress” of some countries.
Implementing blanket travel bans are “not effective in suppressing international spread” and “may discourage transparent and rapid reporting of emerging variants of concerns” the agency said in a statement.
The WHO also said the requirement to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19 for international travel may not be needed as “the only pathway or condition” permitting international travel.
Here’s a round-up of all the top international Covid news.
Europe:
- England will soon scrap virtually all Covid measures, the health secretary confirmed.
-
Denmark reported a record 38,759 infections, a 37% jump on two weeks ago.
- Austria recorded a record daily rise in Covid infections with 27,641 cases reported in the past 24 hours, according to data from the Austrian Agency for Health (AGES).
- Algeria announced it’s closing schools for ten days over rising cases.
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Germany reported a record 112,323 cases as Omicron continues to batter Europe.
- Bulgaria reported its highest Covid tally of the whole pandemic, with 11,181 new infections, a 65% jump on the 6,766 cases recorded on Wednesday two weeks ago.
- France detected over 400,000 new cases for the second day in a row.
- Northern Ireland will cut self-isolation from seven to five days from Friday, following suit from new isolation rules in England.
- St Petersburg in Russia detected record cases, as the country clocked over 33,000 infections.
- Hana Horka, a Czech folk singer, died on Sunday after deliberately exposing herself to Covid. Her son said she was a victim of the antivax movement.
- Authorities in Beijing, China announced another piece of infected international mail, local media reported, amid doubts from experts that such events are extremely rare.
- Portuguese voters with Covid or isolating will be allowed to vote in person on 30 January.
Asia:
- Japan is is set to widen Covid restrictions to cover half its population as the Omicron variant drives record infections.
- Children aged 5-11 in Malaysia will be jabbed starting February with the Pfizer vaccine.
Americas:
- The US government will make 400m non-surgical N95 masks free to the public from next week, the White House said.
- In the US, Starbucks has suspended the requirement for its 220,000 employees to be vaccinated or regularly tested after a Supreme Court ruling.
- US actor John Malkovich was turned away from a luxury hotel in Venice, Italy last week after failing to present a Covid vaccination pass.
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Brazil has reported 204,854 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, breaking the country’s previous record for the second day in a row, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
Australia and New Zealand:
- Australia’s health body the Therapeutic Goods Administration has granted provisional approval to two oral Covid-19 treatments, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir) and Lagevrio (molnupiravir).
- The TGA also gave provisional approval to the protein-based Novavax Covid-19 vaccine.
- The interval for a booster shot will be reduced to three months in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the ACT amid unprecedented strain on hospitals as Omicron cases surge.
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New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said restrictions will be tightened if there is a community transmission of Omicron.
- Novak Djokovic is the controlling shareholder in a Danish biotech firm aiming to develop a treatment for Covid-19 that does not involve vaccination, it has emerged.
