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Summary
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
- The UK recorded the lowest number of new cases in nearly five months on Saturday, although it still reported 7,434 new infections.
- The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for emergency use, making it the third vaccine available to the US public.
- Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, woke up on Sunday morning to a second lockdown in a month as health authorities try to contain a coronavirus cluster of 13 cases of the more contagious UK variant.
- Brazil for the fifth consecutive day registered over 1,300 deaths and 60,000 coronavirus cases on Saturday.
- The Australian state of Victoria has recorded no new Covid cases for the second day in a row.
- Wales has relaxed its coronavirus restrictions to allow households with a baby below the age of one to bubble with one other household.
- Three Irish police officers were injured in today’s anti-lockdown protest in Dublin, and up to 20 people were arrested.
- Schools in the occupied West Bank will shut down for 12 days in an effort to stop a sharp rise in coronavirus variant infections, Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Saturday.
That’s all from me, thanks for following and writing in.
US approves third vaccine, Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid shot
The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for emergency use, making it the third vaccine available to the US public and securing another vital step in the US fight to control Covid-19.
The decision was a formality after an independent expert advisory panel late on Friday afternoon recommended drug regulators approve the one-shot vaccine.
Janssen – Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine subsidiary – told a congressional hearing this week that it expects to deliver 20m doses by March and a total of 100m doses before the end of June.
That means the new vaccine, along with those already in circulation from Pfizer and Moderna, should provide the US with more than enough supply to vaccinate every eligible person.
My colleague Oliver Milman has more.
Auckland lockdown begins
Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, woke up on Sunday morning to a second lockdown in a month as health authorities try to rein in a coronavirus cluster of the more contagious UK variant.
Reuters reports:
The seven-day lockdown, announced late Saturday by prime minister Jacinda Ardern, follows a three-day stay-at-home order in mid-February after a local emergence of the UK variant of the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Genomic sequencing of a new case recorded on Saturday, which prompted the lockdown, was linked to the existing cluster, health authorities said on Sunday, bringing it to 13 cases.
“It’s unlikely we wouldn’t see more cases,” Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins told the state-owned television network TVNZ on Sunday. “How many cases at this point we simply don’t know.”
The new case has been considered infectious for a week. The person, a 21-year-old student, visited a number of public spaces during that time.
The new lockdown, with level 3 restrictions, allows people to leave home only for essential shopping and essential work. Public venues will remain closed.
Restrictions in the rest of the country will be tightened to level 2, including limits on public gatherings.
The lockdown has complicated several high-visibility sporting events planned in Auckland. The organisers of the America’s Cup yacht race are reviewing plans for the head-to-head final between Italy and New Zealand.
New Zealand’s fourth Twenty20 International cricket match against Australia has been shifted to Wellington where it will be played behind closed doors on Friday.
New Zealand and neighbouring Australia have been highly successful in keeping the coronavirus pandemic from spreading through border closure, aggressive contact tracing and high community compliance with swift public health orders.
New Zealand, with a population of 5 million, has recorded just over 2,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and 26 deaths.
Updated
The Australian government is rolling out a second $31m public information campaign with the Covid-19 vaccination program now fully under way.
Almost 30,000 Australians had been vaccinated since last Monday, including 8,110 aged care and disability residents throughout 117 care facilities, AAP reports.
“Both the state and territory teams alongside the aged care in-reach teams are ramping up their operations, with more vaccines being distributed across the country in the next week,” health minister Greg Hunt said in a statement on Sunday.
The government’s initial advertising campaign launched in January focused on informing the Australian community about the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s world-leading independent approval process.
“The second round builds on these safety messages and informs the community about Phase 1a of the vaccination programme rollout, which prioritises those who are the most at risk of serious illness from the virus,” Hunt said.
“The advertising is important, so people understand how the vaccination program is operating, how they can find out when it will be their turn and answer any questions they have about the vaccines.”
Updated
Brazil registered 1,386 Covid-19 deaths on Saturday and 61,602 additional cases, according to data released by the nation’s Health Ministry.
The South American country has suffered an enduring second wave since November, and infection rates have not begun to fall.
Saturday was the fifth consecutive day Brazil registered over 1,300 deaths and 60,000 cases due to the coronavirus.
The nation has now registered 10,517,232 total confirmed cases and 254,221 deaths due to the virus.
Victoria reports no new Covid cases
The Australian state of Victoria has recorded no new Covid cases for the second day in a row.
The state, which was plunged into a five-day lockdown earlier this month, recorded two cases on Friday which authorities said were linked to the Holiday Inn cluster.
On Sunday morning, local time, the health department said 7,440 test results were received the day before and that no new cases were found.
Updated
Updated
The Vatican ambassador to Iraq, the point man for Pope Francis’ trip to the country next week, has tested positive for Covid-19 but the visit will go ahead, he said on Saturday.
Reuters reports:
Archbishop Mitja Leskovar, who has been the key person planning the March 5-8 trip, told Reuters that he as well as several other staff at the nunciature (embassy) were in self-isolation.
“This is not going to influence the pope’s programme, which is going on as planned,” Leskovar said.
Francis is due to start a four-day trip to Iraq on Friday to show solidarity with the Christian community that has been decimated by wars and Islamic State insurgents.
A trip to Iraq, a first by a pope, had eluded Francis’ two immediate predecessors, Pope John Paul II and former Pope Benedict, who were not able to go for security reasons.
Leskovar, who is Slovenian and whose title is Apostolic Nuncio, said he had been experiencing only light symptoms so far.
Since the trip was first announced in December, the Vatican said it would take place if the coronavirus situation in Iraq permitted.
Iraq has seen a recent spike in Covid-19 cases and authorities have banned travel between provinces.
Updated
Three Irish police officers were injured in today’s anti-lockdown protest in Dublin, according to the general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI).
Antoinette Cunningham said that one of the officers has been admitted to hospital.
She tweeted: “I think of them and their families, all of whom will be affected by the disgusting behaviour of these protesters.
“The pressure, stress and danger placed on my AGSI-Ireland colleagues today is unacceptable.”
Updated
France reported 23,996 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Saturday, down from 25,207 the previous day, data from the health ministry showed.
But a week ago, the daily case tally stood at 22,371.
The figures showed that 186 people had died in hospital with coronavirus, after 286 deaths were reported on Friday.
The latest daily death toll compares with 183 new fatalities reported a week earlier.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said 72,806,180 doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered in the country as of Saturday morning and it had distributed 96,402,290 doses.
The tally is for both the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines as of 6am ET Saturday, the agency said. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines involve two doses.
On Friday the CDC had reported a tally 70,454,064 vaccines doses administered and 94,300,910 doses distributed.
The agency said that, as of Saturday, 48,435,536 people had received at least one vaccine dose while 23,698,627 had received the two doses.
A total of 7,043,540 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.
Updated
Mexico registered another 783 coronavirus fatalities on Saturday, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 185,257, according to health ministry data.
The ministry’s data also showed an additional 7,246 confirmed cases, for a total of 2,084,128 cases.
The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases, Reuters reports.
Updated
Romania shipped its first donation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to neighbouring Moldova on Saturday, enabling the country to start vaccinating frontline medical workers next week.
Reuters reports:
Moldova and neighbouring Ukraine, two of Europe’s poorest countries, have lagged behind the rest of the continent in the scramble for vaccines and welcomed donations from friendly governments.
In December, Romania’s centrist president, Klaus Iohannis, said Bucharest would donate 200,000 doses of vaccine to Moldova, in a gesture of solidarity following the election of the pro-Western president Maia Sandu.
[...]
“Romania keeps its promise ... Today we deliver the first doses, 21,600 of AstraZeneca,” Romania’s prime minister Florin Cîțu wrote on his Facebook page.
“It is the first batch of the 200,000 total that we offer as humanitarian aid. The rest will follow in the coming months.”
Sandu led a delegation to receive the vaccines at Chisinau airport as they arrived in a red air ambulance plane from Romania, which has close historical, linguistic and cultural ties to Moldova.
“Thank you, Romania! Thank you, European Union!” she wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Updated
Schools in the occupied West Bank will shut down for 12 days in an effort to stop a sharp rise in coronavirus variant infections, Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Saturday.
Reuters reports:
High schools will be exempt from the closure which will begin on Sunday, Shtayyeh said in a televised address, adding the new restrictions were prompted by a large number of cases of the British and South African variants in the territory.
Intensive care units for Covid-19 patients have reached 95% occupancy in the West Bank and schools have been identified as a major cause for the fast spread of infections, the Ministry of Health said.
On Thursday, it reported that a randomised sample of coronavirus patients showed that more than three-quarters were infected with the British variant.
The World Bank said in a report this week that the Palestinian territories have one of the lowest testing rates in the Middle East and North Africa and that the positivity rate in the West Bank is over 21%, and in Gaza 29%, indicating an uncontrolled spread of the pandemic.
The West Bank, where 3.1 million Palestinians live, has reported a total of 118,519 coronavirus cases and 1,406 deaths.
Gaza, where coronavirus restrictions have gradually been lifted since January, has reported 55,091 cases and 549 deaths within its population of 2 million.
With around 32,000 vaccine doses in hand to date, the Palestinians launched limited vaccination programmes in the West Bank and Gaza this month, beginning with health workers.
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Mexican president Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador said on Saturday that the US needs at least 600,000 more migrant workers a year.
Lopéz Obrador said he would press for a deal to get legal guarantees for workers from Mexico and Central America when he speaks with his US counterpart Joe Biden on Monday.
He estimated that the United States needs another 600,000 to 800,000 workers per year, Reuters reports.
“It’s better to manage the migration flow, legalizing it to provide guarantees to workers, so they don’t risk their lives, so their human rights are protected,” Lopéz Obrador said at a public event.
Lopéz Obrador and Biden are expected to discuss migration and economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic in a virtual meeting.
“It’s better that we come to a good agreement,” he said.
Updated
UK government data up to 26 February shows that of the 20,450,858 jabs given in the country so far, 19,682,048 were first doses – a rise of 504,493 on the previous day.
Some 768,810 were second doses, an increase of 32,773 on figures released the previous day.
Updated
Italy reported 280 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 253 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections declined to 18,916 from Friday’s 20,499.
Some 323,047 tests were carried out over 24 hours, compared with 325,404 the previous day, the ministry said.
Italy has registered 97,507 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.
The country has reported 2.91 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid-19, excluding those in intensive care, stood at 18,372 on Saturday, increasing from 18,292 a day earlier.
There were 163 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 188 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients rose to 2,216 from a previous 2,194.
Updated
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has presented a five-tier national recovery plan aimed at reviving the national economy battered by the pandemic and restrictions.
Announcing the plan at a press conference on Friday, Morawiecki said the plan would include a number of major economic investments, such as the construction of a central transportation port and a canal across the Vistula Spit on the northern coast, as well as several local and regional projects countrywide.
Nearly €4.4bn (£3.8bn) will be spent on health reforms, and also nearly €4.4bn on economic revival and innovation projects.
First News reports:
Commenting on the plan’s construction, [Morawiecki’s] office said its five main pillars will cover digital transformation, strengthening economic resilience and competitiveness, health service reforms, green and smart mobility, and green energy transition combined with energy consumption reduction projects.
Since 9 February, Poland’s seven-day average in new infections has been rising again. On Friday, 11,536 new cases were reported, and 12,143 on Thursday, compared with 8,772 a week earlier on 19 February.
Updated
A number of people have been arrested as hundreds of protesters took part in an anti-lockdown protest in Dublin.
PA reports:
Protesters clashed with Irish police as they marched through the city centre and attempted to make their way to St Stephen’s Green park.
There was a heavy garda presence around the city centre ahead of the protest, which started at around 2pm.
Hundreds of people who were not wearing face masks took part in the demonstration.
Gardai used batons to push protesters away from the park.
[...]
Ireland’s minister for further and higher education condemned the anti-lockdown protest.Simon Harris tweeted: “Pure thuggery on the streets of Dublin today. It’s not a ‘protest’. It’s an attack on our national effort. The abuse directed at the Gardai is sickening and shameful. Disgraceful. Thoughts with the Gardai and their families.”
A spokesman for An Garda Síochána said: “A number of traffic diversions and other policing measures are currently in place in Dublin this afternoon, Saturday 27 February 2021 in response to a demonstration in the city centre area.“A policing plan has been implemented and An Garda Síochána will provide a full update when this operation has concluded.”
Irish deputy premier Leo Varadkar said he was “horrified” to see protesters clash with police on the streets of Dublin during an anti-lockdown protest.
Mr Varadkar tweeted: “Irish people have spent last year fighting Covid. There is no excuse for violence to gardai or anyone. This behaviour on Grafton St by a selfish few undermines sacrifices that millions have made in the last 12 months.”
Updated
A further 257 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 82,974, NHS England said on Saturday.
Patients were aged between 23 and 98.
All except seven, aged between 45 and 95, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths occurred between 21 April and 26 February.
There were 63 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
The number of coronavirus tests carried out in Los Angeles county and other parts of the US has sharply declined over the past few weeks, as public demand for tests has almost disappeared.
The Associated Press reports:
Just five weeks ago, Los Angeles county was conducting more than 350,000 weekly coronavirus tests, including at a massive drive-through site at Dodger Stadium, as health workers raced to contain the worst Covid-19 hotspot in the US.
Now, county officials say testing has nearly collapsed. More than 180 government-supported sites are operating at only a third of their capacity.
“It’s shocking how quickly we’ve gone from moving at 100 miles an hour to about 25,” said Dr Clemens Hong, who leads the county’s testing operation.
After a year of struggling to boost testing, communities across the country are seeing plummeting demand, shuttering testing sites or even trying to return supplies.
The drop in screening comes at a significant moment in the outbreak. Experts are cautiously optimistic that Covid-19 is receding after killing more than 500,000 people in the US but concerned that emerging variants could prolong the epidemic.
“Everyone is hopeful for rapid, widespread vaccinations, but I don’t think we’re at a point where we can drop our guard just yet,” said Hong. “We just don’t have enough people who are immune to rule out another surge.”
US testing hit a peak on January 15, when the country was averaging more than 2m tests per day. Since then, the average number of daily tests has fallen more than 28%. The drop mirrors declines across all major virus measures since January, including new cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Officials say those encouraging trends, together with harsh winter weather, the end of the holiday travel season, pandemic fatigue and a growing focus on vaccinations are sapping interest in testing.
“When you combine all those together you see this decrease,” said Dr Richard Pescatore of the health department in Delaware, where daily testing has fallen more than 40% since the January peak. “People just aren’t going to go out to testing sites.”
But testing remains important for tracking and containing the outbreak.
LA county is opening more testing options near public transportation, schools and offices to make it more convenient. And officials in Santa Clara county are urging residents to “continue getting tested regularly”, highlighting new mobile testing buses and pop-up sites.
President Joe Biden has promised to revamp the nation’s testing system by investing billions more in supplies and government coordination. But with demand falling fast, the country may soon have a glut of unused supplies.
The US will be able to conduct nearly 1bn monthly tests by June, according to projections from researchers at Arizona State University. That’s more than 25 times the country’s current rate of about 40m tests reported per month.
With more than 150m new vaccine doses due for delivery by late March, testing is likely to fall further as local governments shift staff and resources to giving shots.
Updated
UK records lowest number of new cases in nearly five months
The British government said a further 290 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 122,705.
Seven days prior, on 20 February, 445 further fatalities from the virus had been recorded.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 143,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
The government also said that, as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 7,434 lab-confirmed cases in the UK, the lowest daily rise in cases since 2 October.
A week ago, the daily tally of new cases stood at 10,406.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and will be at the helm of this blog for the next few hours. As ever, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have anything interesting to flag you think we should be covering, you can contact me on Twitter @JedySays or via email.
Updated
Wales allows those with babies under one to bubble with another household
Wales has relaxed its coronavirus restrictions to allow households with a baby below the age of one to bubble with one other household.
The new rules, announced by the first minister, Mark Drakeford, are effective immediately.
Previously, the only people allowed to form a bubble with one other household were those living alone or living alone with children.
Additionally, 16- and 17-year-olds living without an adult will be able to bubble with another household.
Households had always been able to have contact with others on compassionate grounds, or to assist with childcare, Drakeford said.
Announcing the new rule, Wales’ first minister said:
This seeks to ensure new parents can receive support from friends or family during the crucial first year of a baby’s life. This will also help the baby’s development.
“If someone in a support bubble develops symptoms or tests positive for coronavirus, all members of the bubble must self-isolate.
I’ll be handing over to my colleague Jedidajah Otte shortly to will take you through the next few hours.
Updated
Germany to recommend AstraZeneca to over-65s
Germany is considering changing its position and vaccinating over-65s with the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab after a new study showed it to be effective among older people.
Asked if the firm’s vaccine could be approved across all ages cohorts following the latest research, Thomas Mertens, who heads the country’s vaccine commission, said “it is possible and we will do it”.
The commission “will very soon publish a new updated recommendation”, he said in remarks reported by AFP, adding he was awaiting details from the authors of the study that was carried out in Scotland.
Last month, the country’s commission said it was only recommending the jab for under-65s, due to insufficient data on its effectiveness on older people. Several European countries took a similar course of action.
The European Medicines Agency, the regulator for the EU, has recommended the AstraZeneca jab for adults of all ages.
Updated
Summary
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New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, will enter a week-long lockdown from Sunday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced, after a new Covid-19 case was detected.
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The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has extended coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Manila after record rises in cases in recent days.
- Captain Tom Moore’s family have paid tribute to the veteran and NHS charity fundraiser at his funeral on Saturday. Moore’s coffin was carried by soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment while a second world war-era C-47 Dakota performed a flypast.
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South Africa has received its second batch of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines, the country’s health minister said on Saturday.
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Reports of a new variant of coronavirus in New York City have circulated this week, causing a rift between health experts and city officials who questioned how concerned people should be when data is limited.
- A Russian trial testing the effectiveness of revaccination with the Sputnik V shot to protect against new mutations of the coronavirus is producing strong results, researchers said.
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A further 469,003 Covid-19 vaccinations have taken place in England, including first and second doses.
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Turkey’s ruling party has come under fire for holding political rallies in areas near the Black Sea where locals face rising numbers of coronavirus cases. The Black Sea provinces of Rize, Trabzon, Giresun and Ordu have recorded some of the highest weekly infection figures, with medical experts linking the rise in cases to the rallies, Al Jazeera reports.
- People may “drop their guard” and adhere to coronavirus restrictions less closely after being vaccinated, a UK Sage behavioural scientist has warned.
Updated
Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has declared that “victory” is within sight in the ongoing battle against coronavirus.
On the anniversary of the first Covid case to be reported in the country, the centre-right leader urged his restriction-weary nation to maintain the “protective measures” needed to keep the virus in check until the vaccine rollout was completed.
“While the war continues, victory is at last visible on the horizon,” he wrote in the pages of Ta Nea. “And it will come earlier if we are careful. If we draw strength from the many difficulties that lie behind us and with discipline traverse the few steps that separate us from the spring of freedom.”
If precautions were upheld, it would ensure that the “first year of coronavirus in Greece will go down in history as the only year of the pandemic”, he insisted.
A nationwide lockdown was first announced in Greece on 7 November.
Large parts of the country have been under order to curb restrictions on movement ever seen in what has become one of the longest, and most stringent, lockdowns in Europe.
Strict lockdown conditions imposed on Athens, where half of the 11-million strong population live, were due to be eased at the end of February but on Friday were extended until 8 March following a steep rise in infections this week.
Citizens must notify authorities by SMS if they embark on any activity outside their home, be that exercise, shopping, dog-walking or going to a bank.
The government has set a provisional date of 16 March for the opening of retail stores now reeling from measures imposed due to the pandemic. Speaking to SKAI news earlier on Saturday, the country’s deputy interior minister, Stelios Petsas, described the coming weeks as decisive.
“The next two weeks are critical if we are to reduce the epidemiological load to open the market place,” he said noting that even with shops closed there was a lot of movement on the streets. “So mid-March is a very important milestone and we shouldn’t miss it.”
A further 1,790 diagnoses were announced by the public health organisation on Friday bringing the total number of coronavirus cases to 188,201 since the onset of the epidemic in Greece. To date 6,439 people have died from Covid-19 with another 29 fatalities announced on Friday.
Updated
A group of fitness trainers and athletes in the Latvian capital of Riga have staged a demonstration in the form of open air training to protest against coronavirus restrictions limiting exercise.
Due to the pandemic, gyms are currently not allowed to open.
Updated
Here’s some more detail on the US House of Representatives passing Joe Biden’s $1.9tn coronavirus aid bill:
A further 469,003 Covid-19 vaccinations have taken place in England, including first and second doses.
Of this number, 452,777 were the first dose of a vaccine, while 16,226 people received their second shot, according to provisional NHS England data.
The latest figures take the total number of first jab to 16,679,881, while 574,963 have now had both doses of a vaccine.
Here’s a breakdown of the doses administered since 8 December, courtesy of PA:
- London – 1,984,318 first doses and 76,897 second doses (2,061,215 total)
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Midlands – 3,235,063 first doses and 89,483 second doses (3,324,546 total)
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East of England - 1,978,029 first doses and 72,509 second doses (2,050,538 total)
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North East and Yorkshire - 2,594,328 first and 95,154 second doses (2,689,482 total)
- North West - 2,184,421 first and 74,901 second doses (2,259,322 total)
- South East - 2,700,998 first and 97,830 second doses (2,798,828 total)
- South West - 1,919,098 first and 67,714 second doses (1,986,812 total)
Updated
South Africa has received its second batch of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines, the country’s health minister said on Saturday.
“It comes as the majority of initial doses received two weeks ago have been administered to healthcare workers,” Zweli Mkhize tweeted as the doses landed in the financial capital Johannesburg.
South Africa's second tranche of Johnson&Johnson #COVID19 vaccines have touched down at OR Tambo Int! It comes as the majority of initial doses received two weeks ago have been administered to healthcare workers via the #SisonkeProject. #VaccineRollOutSA pic.twitter.com/ksTx0hDr76
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) February 27, 2021
According to the ministry, more than 63,600 healthcare workers have been vaccinated since inoculations began 11 days ago.
The continent’s hardest-hit country of almost 59 million people has seen nearly 50,000 succumb to the virus.
US president Joe Biden’s $1.9tn Covid relief plan to help Americans has been approved in the House of Representatives.
The bill, which seeks to increase vaccinations and testing while bolstering the economy, will now go to the Senate, which – evenly-divided between Democrats and Republicans – has already blocked a central policy within the package which had sought to double the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The money would be extended as emergency financial aid to households, small businesses and state governments, with unemployment close to 10% after 10 million jobs were lost over the last year, the BBC reports.
Updated
Reports of a new variant of coronavirus in New York City have circulated this week, causing a rift between health experts and city officials who questioned how concerned people should be when data is limited.
Two separate studies in pre-print stages, meaning they have not been peer-reviewed, were released this week pointing to a coronavirus variant, named B1526, spotted in parts of NYC, US, starting in November.
One report, from Columbia University, analysed 1,142 samples from patients at Columbia’s medical centre taken between November and mid-February. By mid-February, 12% of positive tests analysed contained a mutation, of which a variant can have many different kinds, that could affect protection from the vaccine or antibody treatments.
Another report, by researchers at the California institute of technology, also found evidence of the variant when using a software tool to scan genome sequences of the virus made public by Gisaid, a global health initiative.
After the B1526 variant was first reported by the New York Times and CNN, city officials got defensive, saying the studies proved further research was needed, not that there was a cause for panic.
Updated
A Russian trial testing the effectiveness of revaccination with the Sputnik V shot to protect against new mutations of the coronavirus is producing strong results, researchers said.
Reuters reports:
Last month president Vladimir Putin ordered a review by March 15 of Russian-produced vaccines for their effectiveness against new variants spreading in different parts of the world.
“[A] recent study carried out by the Gamaleya Centre in Russia showed that revaccination with Sputnik V vaccine is working very well against new coronavirus mutations, including the UK and South African strains of coronavirus,” said Denis Logunov, a deputy director of the centre, which developed the Sputnik V shot.
So-called viral vector shots - such as Sputnik V and a shot developed by AstraZeneca - use harmless modified viruses as vehicles, or vectors, to carry genetic information that helps the body build immunity against future infections.
Some scientists have raised the possible risk that the body also develops immunity to the vector itself, recognising it as an intruder and trying to destroy it. But developers of Sputnik V disagreed this would pose long-term problems.
Vector immunity is not a new issue but has come under renewed scrutiny as companies including Johnson & Johnson anticipate regular Covid-19 vaccinations, like annual influenza shots, may be needed to combat new variants of the coronavirus.
Italy has tightened restrictions in five of the country’s 20 regions in an effort to head off a rise in cases as scientists warned of a growing prevalence of highly contagious new variants.
Reuters reports:
Italy has established a four-tier colour-coded system (white, yellow, orange and red) which allows for measures to be calibrated according to infection levels, with assessments revised every week.
For the first time since the end of January, two regions - Basilicata and Molise - were shunted into the strictest red zone. This means bars and restaurants must be shuttered, movement severely restricted and all but essential shops closed.
Three regions moved from yellow to orange zones: Lombardy and Piedmont, which are centred on the wealthy northern cities of Milan and Turin respectively, and the central coastal region of Marche.
In these areas restaurants and bars are closed except for takeaways and people are not allowed to leave their towns except for emergencies, work and health reasons.
The island of Sardinia became the first region to be named a white zone, with only minimal restrictions. Today’s decision means that as of Monday, when it becomes effective, two regions will be classified as red, nine as orange, eight as yellow and one as white.
Yesterday, the health ministry signalled a continued rise in infections, with 20,499 new daily cases, up from 19,886 the day before. Over the last five days, new cases have increased by 35% by comparison with the same period last week.
Updated
Attendees have been asked to stand while a verse from the war poem For the Fallen was read at Captain Tom Moore’s funeral.
The bugler is now playing the Last Post.
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Updated
One person has been killed and another wounded in an oxygen explosion at a hospital in the western Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi, the country’s emergency service said.
The explosion occurred on the second floor of the hospital at lunchtime on Saturday and 20 people were evacuated, Reuter reports.
The service did not specify the cause of the incident.
People from 163 countries around the world donated to Captain Tom Moore’s fundraiser, the celebrant conducting the funeral has said, adding that they were “investing in the values he stood for”.
The celebrant said: “It’s quite incredible to think that 163 countries donated to (Moore’s) fundraiser - that’s almost the whole world.
“As wonderful as we think our NHS is, people from other countries really aren’t going to be interested in our health, so it seems obvious to me that they were really investing in Captain Tom and the values he stood for.”
A total of 1,519,442 people around the world donated an average of £21.58 to the veteran’s fundraiser during the first national lockdown.
Updated
Many thousands of people have signed an online book of condolences to Captain Tom Moore.
The veteran’s family asked members of the public to stay home to support the NHS.
The funeral opened with a version of You’ll Never Walk Alone that Moore recorded with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir that reached number one last year.
Wales has administered more than one million vaccine doses, new data shows
Wales has administered more than one million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, new figures shows.
More than one in three adults in the country have now received at least one dose.
A total of 916,316 people in Wales - more than 38% of the adult population - have received their first dose of a vaccine, according to data published by Public Health Wales.
In addition, 89,053 people have received their second dose of the vaccine.
Across Wales, this breaks down to:
- 91.2% of over-80s have received their first dose
- 93.4% of those aged 75-79
- 92.9% of those aged 70-74
- 87.6% of those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable
More than 162,941 frontline health and social care staff have also had their first dose of the vaccine.
Captain Tom Moore’s funeral cortege has arrived at Bedfordshire crematorium.
His coffin, draped in a union flag, was carried on the shoulders of six soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment.
A second world war-era plane, the C-47 Dakota, part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight could be seen flying over the crematorium.
The honour guard fired three rounds in unison.
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The funeral cortege of Captain Sir Tom Moore has left his home in Bedfordshire heading for Bedford Crematorium ahead of his funeral service at midday on Saturday.
Residents in the village of Marston Moretaine, stood outside their homes to applaud Moore as the hearse was driven past.
Many lampposts had red ribbons tied to them in remembrance of the 100-year-old war veteran, who died earlier this month.
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Child mental health experts in Germany have voiced growing concern that school closures and restrictions worsening the stress of the pandemic among the country’s 13.7 million children and teenagers, highlighting the possibility of a future mental health crisis.
One in three children is suffering from pandemic-related anxiety or depression or is exhibiting psychosomatic symptoms like headaches or stomach aches, a recent survey by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found.
Children from low income and immigrant families are disproportionately affected, according to the survey, reported by the Associated Press.
“We don’t have any long-term studies yet, but there’s lots of anecdotal evidence of a crisis-driven rise in hospitalisations and overflowing psychologists’ practices,” Julia Asbrand, a professor of child and youth psychology at Berlin’s Humboldt University, told the news agency.
Primary school pupils in years one to three returned to the classroom this week, with reduced lessons and class sizes. The government aims to relax further restrictions in coming weeks and has said that the re-opening of all schools is a top priority.
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A second world war-era plane will perform a flypast over Captain Sir Tom Moore’s funeral on Saturday in honour of the veteran, who raised almost £39m for NHS charities during the UK’s first coronavirus lockdown.
Moore, who died this month at the age of 100 after testing positive for coronavirus, will have his coffin carried by six soldiers from the Yorkshire Regiment. A firing party of 14 will each fire three rounds in unison, and a bugler will sound the Last Post at the end of the private service.
The funeral will be attended by eight members of his immediate family. Due to lockdown, funerals can be attended by a maximum of 30 people.
The family has asked people to support the NHS by staying at home.
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More details from New Zealand as Auckland prepares to enter a seven-day lockdown:
- Health officials are carrying out genome sequencing of the new infection.
- Officials have not been able to immediately confirm how the person got infected.
- The patient developed symptoms on Tuesday and is regarded as having been potentially infectious since Sunday. They visited several public venues during this time.
- Health authorities are trying to learn whether the new case was linked to the earlier February cluster, now at 12 infections.
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Philippines president extends lockdown in Manila
The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has extended coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Manila after record rises in cases in recent days.
Curbs will stay in place for another month in Manila. The southern city of Davao and the northern city of Baguio are also under partial restrictions limiting business operations and public transport.
The decision follows 2,651 new cases reported on Friday, the highest daily increase in more than four months, and another new high of 2,921 new cases on Saturday.
The country is awaiting the arrival of vaccines made by China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca, which will reach the Philippines on Sunday and Monday respectively.
The south-east Asian nation is the last country in the region to get its initial shipment of vaccines, and has recorded the second-highest tally of infections and deaths.
Duterte has said he will maintain restrictions in the virus epicentre of Manila until mass vaccinations begin.
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People may “drop their guard” and adhere to coronavirus restrictions less closely after being vaccinated, a UK Sage behavioural scientist has warned.
Prof Susan Michie told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
The concern is that as the vaccination programme rolls out and more people are getting vaccinated themselves and seeing other people in their community getting vaccinated, that people may drop their guard.
She said evidence there is evidence from Lyme disease and influenza vaccine rollouts where those vaccinated were less likely to stick to preventative behaviours.
In national surveys from December, some 29% of people said that after getting vaccinated they would adhere to restrictions less strictly, while 11% said they would not follow them at all.
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Turkey’s ruling party has come under fire for holding political rallies in areas near the Black Sea where locals face rising numbers of coronavirus cases.
The Justice and Development party (AK Party) has been hosting a number of gathering across the country in recent weeks, with many attended in person by the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Black Sea provinces of Rize, Trabzon, Giresun and Ordu have recorded some of the highest weekly infection figures, with medical experts linking the rise in cases to the rallies, Al Jazeera reports.
Sinan Adiyaman, a member of the Turkish Medical Association’s Covid-19 monitoring board, told the outlet: “The number of cases is increasing wherever the government is holding congresses.”
“They also held a congress in [the Mediterranean city of] Mersin and the number of cases increased there as well. This is also the case in the Black Sea provinces because thousands of people attend these congresses.”
Adiyaman said the government is ignoring national and global health recommendations.
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Vaccinating school staff would have given confidence to parents and pupils about the return to classrooms, the general secretary of the UK’s Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has said.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Geoff Barton was asked what he thought about the plans to prioritise vaccines by age rather than job. He said:
“I am certainly not going to argue with an eminent scientist but I think what I would say is a week on Monday we are at a moment, a national moment - 10 million children and young people are going to start the process of going back into their schools.
“The government today is launching a campaign to try to reassure parents that they should be sending their children back - that tells you something about the level of anxiety there is.
“So, it’s understandable that what teachers will say is if you want that public confidence would it not make sense that you simply say to those people working in schools, they have been vaccinated as well.
Speaking on the same programme earlier this morning, a former chief scientific adviser to the government, Prof Mark Walport, said the decision to continue the vaccine rollout in age order, rather than prioritising the frontline professions, “makes sense”.
Walport said the rollout is proceeding efficiently by prioritising age, and backed the choice to focus on limiting the number of people getting seriously ill and potentially dying.
Here’s the latest from New Zealand, after the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern announced a week-long lockdown in Auckland.
The latest community outbreak had no known links to other cases and spent seven days visiting supermarkets, gyms and and university.
Ardern told New Zealanders “this is so hard; we all have to hang in there”.
In the UK, former Conservative chancellor, Ken Clarke, has said Rishi Sunak should not halt emergency job support schemes yet, while adding that the public debt must be reined in.
Clarke, who was led the Treasury under John Major, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
He has to keep in place things like the furlough scheme, the successful parts of the package that stopped the economy collapsing and kept alive good business, good jobs, that will revive if we can get ourselves through the end of this Covid crisis.
The former chancellor said Sunak also has to “start actually preparing for how he’s going to get that debt under control”, adding that he would consider raising personal tax.
He said raising corporation tax would be “quite sensible” as it is “quite unnaturally low levels”.
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Russia has reported a further 11,534 Covid-19 cases, including 1,825 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,234,720 since the pandemic began.
There were an additional 439 deaths in the same period, the government coronavirus task force said, bringing the official death toll to 85,743.
Auckland to enter seven-day lockdown
New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, will enter a week-long lockdown, Jacinda Ardern has announced, after a new Covid-19 case was detected.
The measures will come into effect on Sunday, the prime minister told a news conference. The lockdown was announced after a single coronavirus community case of unknown origin was recorded.
The rest of New Zealand will be placed under Level 2 restrictions limiting public gatherings.
Public finances under 'enormous strain', UK chancellor says
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has warned that the UK’s finances will come under “enormous strains” following the third national lockdown, adding that debt accrued by spending on coronavirus support will have to be paid.
Speaking to the FT ahead of Wednesday’s unveiling of the budget, Sunak said low interest rates have left public finances “exposed”. The government has invested £280bn in coronavirus support over the course of the pandemic.
Sunak said next week’s budget will provide hope to the 750,000 people who had lost their jobs due to the crisis, while underlining that “there is a challenge [in the public finances] and I want to level with people about the challenge”.
He did not disclose any details on specific tax changes.
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Summary of recent events
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s coronavirus live blog. We’ll be bringing you rolling coverage of the pandemic from around the world. Here’s a quick summary of recent events.
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US president Joe Biden has that Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations could go back up as new variants emerge, and urged people that now was “not the time to relax”. Cases have been increasing in the US for the past three days compared to last week.
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Brazil’s capital Brasilia entered a ‘total’ 24-hour lockdown on Friday amid a worsening virus outbreak that is threatening to overwhelm hospitals.
- Israel’s drop in coronavirus infections has reversed and the country’s R rate is inching toward 1 again, as Israel continues to reopen its economy after exiting a six-week lockdown.
- The Czech government has approved a series of strict restrictions limiting people’s movement over the next three weeks and tightening shop and school closures in an attempt to slow fast spreading Covid-19 infections.
- Nigeria and Honduras are both expecting their first vaccine deliveries from the COVAX programme, with Nigeria set to receive 4 million doses next week and Honduras nearly 430,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in March.
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Ireland has added 13 mainly Central and South American countries to its 14-day mandatory quarantine list, which will soon require arrivals from countries designated as “high risk” to quarantine in designated hotels.
If you’d like to get in touch with any suggestions for coverage, please DM me on Twitter.
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