Here are the coronavirus morning headlines for Sunday, January 23, as thousands of people in capital cities across UK and Europe protested against vaccine passports and other requirements governments have imposed in the hope of ending the coronavirus pandemic.
Demonstrations took place in London, Helsinki, Paris and Stockholm. Hundreds of people also took to the street of Cardiff. Read more about that protest here.
In London, NHS workers joined anti-vaxxers as they protested against mandatory vaccine rules which will see those refusing vaccinations being sacked - with formal warnings of dismissal to be issued by health bosses from next month. Watch the sassy way Cardiff diners reacted to protest here.
Read more: How a Universal Basic Income could work in Wales
In Sweden, where vaccine certificates are required to attend indoor events with more than 50 people, some 3,000 demonstrators marched though central Stockholm and assembled in a main square for a protest organised by the Frihetsrorelsen, or Freedom Movement.
Swedish media reported that representatives from the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement attended the action with a banner. Police closely monitor the group, which has been associated with violent behaviour at demonstrations. Swedish security police had warned that right-wing extremists might take part in Saturday's protest. No major incidents or clashes were reported by late afternoon.
Find out about coronavirus cases in your area:
A similar demonstration with some 1,000 participants was held also in Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city.
The Finnish government authorised local and regional authorities just before Christmas to introduce "extensive and full measures" in response to rising virus cases involving the Omicron variant. The restrictions included limiting or prohibiting events, moving university classes online, limiting restaurant service and closing venues where people have a higher risk of exposure. Restaurants and events are allowed to require vaccine passports.
Police said some 4,000 people marched on Saturday through the streets of central Helsinki to protest. A group called World Wide Demonstration organised the protest. No unrest or violence was reported to police.
Deputy stands up for Boris Johnson
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has said that Boris Johnson "has taken a few hits but he'll come out fighting".
It comes as Boris Johnson faces calls for an inquiry after a Tory MP said she was told that she was sacked from her ministerial post because her Muslim faith was "making colleagues uncomfortable".
Nusrat Ghani said that when she lost her job as a transport minister in 2020, a Government whip told her "Muslimness" had been raised as an issue at a Downing Street meeting to discuss the reshuffle.
Writing in The Sun on Sunday, Mr Raab said: "In less than three years in office, the Prime Minister has faced two of the nation's biggest challenges in our post-war history: Delivering Brexit and getting us through the worst pandemic in living memory.
"It has not been easy. He has taken some knocks. But the thing about this Prime Minister is that he never stays on the ropes for long."
Mr Raab said the "culture in No 10 needs to be addressed to meet the standards the public rightly expect" but added that the Prime Minister "is in your corner".
Ms Ghani's explosive claim in an interview with The Sunday Times brought immediate condemnation from Conservative MPs and opposition parties alike, with demands for an inquiry.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said there was no place for Islamophobia or any form of racism in the party, and that her allegations must be "investigated properly and racism routed out".
But in a dramatic move, Chief Whip Mark Spencer said that he was the individual who spoke to Ms Ghani - although he strongly denied using the words claimed.
"To ensure other whips are not drawn into this matter, I am identifying myself as the person Nusrat Ghani MP has made claims about this evening," he said in a statement posted on Twitter.
"These accusations are completely false and I consider them to be defamatory. I have never used those words attributed to me."
The row erupted at the start of a crucial week for Mr Johnson, with Sue Gray, the senior civil servant investigating lockdown parties in Downing Street, expected to deliver her report.
Welsh MP calls Tory government blackmail attempts illegal
Boris Johnson threatened to block funding from backbenchers’ constituencies unless they voted ‘the right way’ as he battles to keep his job, MPs have reportedly claimed.
Rhondda MP Chris Bryant, chairman of the Commons Standards Committee said such behaviour should be investigated by the police.
Boris Johnson is battling to save his job amid widespread fury over lockdown parties in Downing Street.
Labour MP Mr Bryant said he had spoken to “about a dozen” Conservative MPs in recent days who claimed they had been threatened by Tory whips either with having funding withdrawn from their constituencies or promised funding if they vote “the right way”, reported The Mirror.
“I have even heard MPs alleging that the Prime Minister himself has been doing this,” Mr Bryant said.
“What I have said to all of those people is that this is misconduct in public office. The people who should be dealing with such allegations are the police.”
Mr Bryant added: “It is illegal. We are meant to operate as MPs without fear or favour. The allocation of taxpayer funding to constituencies should be according to need, not according to the need to keep the Prime Minister in his job.
“The levelling up funds that have been introduced in the last two years are an open opportunity for Government ministers to corruptly hand out money to some MPs and not to others.”
New Zealand's PM postpones her own wedding
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been forced to postpone her own wedding due to the introduction of new Covid restrictions.
Ms Ardern said tighter rules were needed after nine cases of the Omicron variant were detected in a single family that flew to Auckland for a wedding earlier this month.
The prime minister was planning to get married next weekend but the celebration has been postponed
.
"I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic and to anyone who's caught up in that scenario, I am so sorry," she said.
The so-called "red setting" of the country's pandemic response includes heightened measures such as required mask wearing and limits on gatherings, and the restrictions will go into effect on Monday.
Ms Ardern stressed that "red is not lockdown", noting that businesses could remain open and people could still visit family and friends and move freely around the country.
"Our plan for managing Omicron cases in the early stage remains the same as Delta, where we will rapidly test, contact trace and isolate cases and contacts in order to slow the spread," the PM told reporters in Wellington on Sunday.
New Zealand had been among the few remaining countries to have avoided any Omicron outbreaks, but Ms Ardern acknowledged last week an outbreak was inevitable given the high transmissibility of the variant.
The country has managed to contain the spread of the Delta variant, with an average of about 20 new cases each day. But it has seen an increasing number of people arriving into the country and going into mandatory quarantine who are infected with Omicron.
That has put strain on the quarantine system and prompted the government to limit access for returning citizens while it decides what to do about re-opening its borders, angering many people who want to return to New Zealand.
About 93% of New Zealanders aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated and 52% have had a booster shot. The country has just begun vaccinating children aged between 5 and 11.
The family from the Nelson-Marlborough region attended a wedding and other events while in Auckland, with estimates suggesting they came into contact with "well over 100 people at these events", Ms Ardern said.
"That means that Omicron is now circulating in Auckland and possibly the Nelson-Marlborough region if not elsewhere," she added.
Samoa's lockdown after passengers from Australia test positive
Samoa has been placed into a 48-hour lockdown after 15 passengers on a flight from Australia tested positive for Covid.
The infected passengers were among 73 who arrived in the small Pacific nation from Brisbane on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa also said Saturday the government might cancel further flights from Australia.
A scheduled flight from New Zealand on Saturday has already been postponed, according to Radio New Zealand.
All the passengers were reportedly fully vaccinated and had tested negative for Covid before departure.
The governor of neighbouring American Samoa, Lemanu Palepoi Sialega "Peleti" Mauga, issued a statement offering solidarity with Samoa and support for its prime minister.
He also announced the cancellation of flights between the territory and Samoa for one week.
Samoa, population 200,000, has reported 18 active cases.
American Samoa also has 18 cases, all of them travellers from Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines flights from Honolulu.
The latest group of seven who tested positive arrived on January 6.
There is no lockdown in American Samoa and flights between Honolulu and Pago Pago continue on a limited basis.
Hong Kong leader defends hamster cull
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has defended a mass cull of hamsters as she warned that Covid infections could be growing exponentially in a residential section of the city.
Earlier this week, some 2,000 hamsters from dozens of pet shops and storage facilities were ordered to be ‘disposed of’ after an outbreak was linked to one where 11 pet rodents tested positive.
Soon after, health workers in hazmat suits were seen walking out of pet shops around the city carrying red plastic bags into their vans. More than 100 customers of the pet shop were also sent into quarantine.
Scientists around the world as well as health and veterinary authorities in the city have all said there is no evidence that animals play a major role in transmitting the virus to humans.
But the rise in cases is testing Hong Kong’s ‘zero Covid’ strategy aimed at eradicating the virus, which has seen schools and gyms shut, restaurants ordered to close by 6pm and air travel disrupted.
Ms Lam has now urged people to avoid gatherings ahead of next week’s Lunar New Year following an outbreak of the highly-infectious Omicron variant in Kwai Chung.
She said: "We are worried that the exponential growth of cases that we have seen in other parts of the world is now happening in Kwai Chung."
To get the latest newsletters from WalesOnline, click here
