That’s it from me, Helen Livingstone, for today’s Covid blog. Please join us a little later for a new live feed where we will continue to cover the coronavirus crisis.
You can also keep up with the top headlines here.
Summary of key developments
Here is a comprehensive rundown of all the latest Covid developments:
- Spotify has pledged to add content advisory notices to all podcasts featuring coronavirus. This comes after Neil Young and Joni Mitchell withdrew their music from the streaming platform in protest against Covid misinformation.
- Harry and Meghan have expressed concerns about misinformation on Spotify, but have made it clear they plan to continue work on their lucrative contracts with the platform.
- The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said it is the government’s “intention to publish the full report” into alleged lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street. She also admitted: “It is a bit of a mess that we have the police investigation alongside the Sue Gray report”.
- Turnout in today’s finely balanced election in Portugal appears to be high despite surging Covid infections. More than a 10th of the country’s population of 10 million are estimated to be isolating with Covid but the government has allowed infected people to cast ballots in person, recommending they visit the polls after 6pm.
- New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has tested negative for Covid after she was deemed a close contact of a positive case. The prime minister’s office says Ardern will continue isolating until the end of Tuesday in line with Ministry of Health guidance.
- The Winter Olympics, which begin in five days in Beijing, have been hit by 34 new infections among athletes and officials. Meanwhile, the city of Beijing has reported 20 new cases – its highest for 18 months – and officials have sealed off residential communities in the city’s northern district.
- Former British prime minister David Cameron has caught the virus, New Zealand media are reporting. Cameron had been scheduled to open a retreat for the opposition National party in Queenstown this coming week.
- New cases in South Korea’s have hit a record 17,532 as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads. The daily count broke the record for the sixth consecutive day, rising from 8,570 on Tuesday.
- There have been 62,399 new cases of Covid-19 in the UK, according to the latest government figures. This is the lowest number of daily Covid cases since mid-December.
- Thousands have gathered in Prague to protest against Covid restrictions. They are opposed to harsher restrictions for the unvaccinated, including a ban on eating in restaurants.
The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has returned a negative Covid-19 test after she was deemed a close contact of a positive case.
Ardern went into self-isolation on Saturday after she was exposed to a case during a flight to Auckland from the town of Kerikeri on 22 January. She took a PCR test on Sunday and returned a negative result on Monday morning.
Ardern is fully vaccinated and received a booster shot on 17 January.
The prime minister’s office says Ardern will continue isolating until the end of Tuesday in line with Ministry of Health guidance.
Ardern will chair Tuesday’s cabinet meeting remotely and the deputy prime minister, Grant Robertson, will attend post-cabinet on her behalf, the office said.
Good morning, this is Helen Livingstone taking over from my colleague Tom Wall. A quick update from Australia to start with.
The country’s two largest states, New South Wales and Victoria, have reported a combined 35 Covid deaths and more than 23,000 cases. The figures come a day after NSW recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic so far, with 52 deaths from the virus reported on Sunday.
NSW COVID-19 update – Monday 30 January 2022
— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) January 30, 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 8pm last night:
- 95.4% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 94% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/aPNAP1GUxk
Media outlets in New Zealand are reporting that former British prime minister David Cameron has Covid. Cameron, say reports, will be unable to open a retreat for the National party in Queenstown this coming week so George Osborne will be taking his place.
The country’s 1news is reporting:
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron was set to open proceedings; Covid-19 has intervened, however, and after he tested positive, his former chancellor of the exchequer and close political friend George Osborne will give the address instead.
Updated
Here’s a roundup of developments tonight:
- Spotify has pledged to add content advisory notices to all podcasts featuring coronavirus. This comes after Neil Young and Joni Mitchell withdrew their music from the streaming platform in protest against Covid misinformation.
- There have been 62,399 new cases of Covid-19 in the UK, according to the latest government figures. This is the lowest number of daily Covid cases since mid-December.
- Covid cases have fallen in Italy. The country’s health ministry logged 104,065 cases on Sunday, down from 137,147 the day before.
- France’s public health agency reported 249,448 new coronavirus cases and 127 new Covid deaths over the last 24 hours. Overall 103,180 people have died in France.
- Thousands have gathered in Prague to protest against Covid restrictions. They are opposed to harsher restrictions for the unvaccinated, including a ban on eating in restaurants.
Updated
Spotify has pledged to add content advisory notices to all podcasts that refer to coronavirus after artists including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell withdrew their music from the streaming platform in protest against Covid misinformation.
The NME reports that Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek, has issued a statement setting out how his company plans to deal with the crisis, which has seen its share value drop by more than £1.5bn in the wake of Young’s campaign. It states:
This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated Covid-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources.
Young claimed Spotify was allowing its star podcaster Joe Rogan to spread vaccine misinformation to his 11m estimated listeners. Last year, Rogan was criticised by the White House’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, for suggesting that young, healthy Americans did not need to be vaccinated against Covid.
Updated
Brazil’s health ministry has reported 134,175 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and 330 deaths due to Covid.
Brazil’s ultra-conservative president, Jair Bolsonaro, has presided over a death toll that is now the second-highest in the world (after the US). He has frequently spoken out against lockdowns, masks and vaccinations.
Today’s figures push the official death toll in the South American country to 626,854, with 25,348,797 confirmed cases recorded since the pandemic began.
Updated
Turnout in today’s finely balanced election in Portugal appears to be high despite surging Covid infections, reports Reuters.
More than a 10th of Portugal’s 10 million people are estimated to be isolating with Covid but the government has allowed infected people to cast ballots in person, recommending they visit the polls after 6pm.
This may have boosted turnout among healthy voters. Almost 46% of those eligible had voted by 4pm, more than the 39% recorded at the same time in the last election. Analysts said total turnout appeared on track to beat 2019’s record low 49% participation.
Exit polls suggest Portugal’s ruling Socialists may win. The Socialist Party could have gained 37% to 42.5% of votes cast – well ahead of the main centre-right opposition Social Democrats on 26.7% to 35%.
Updated
France’s public health agency has reported 249,448 new coronavirus cases and 127 new covid deaths over the last 24 hours. Overall 103,180 people have died in France.
Updated
Thousands have gathered in Prague today to protest against Covid restrictions, Reuters reports. They are opposed to harsher restrictions for the unvaccinated, including a ban on eating in restaurants.
This comes after the Czech Republic recorded its highest daily tally of cases on Wednesday - 54,689. Despite the soaring infections, the center-right government scrapped a decree last week making Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for key professionals and over-60s to avoid “deepening fissures” in society.
The country has reported 37,184 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic, one of the world’s worst rates per capita.
Updated
An NHS palliative care doctor has advised vaccine sceptic Laurence Fox, who announced earlier today he had tested positive for covid, there are better options than an anti-parasitic treatment mainly used on animals.
I wish Laurence Fox a very speedy recovery - but it’s important to stress there is no clear evidence that Ivermectin (a horse de-wormer) reduces the risks of catching Covid, or its severity.
— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) January 30, 2022
We do have excellent evidence-based Covid treatments, though. https://t.co/qzsmcJsHmh
Updated
There has been a slight fall in the number of covid cases reported in Italy, according to Reuters. The country’s health ministry logged 104,065 cases on Sunday, down from 137,147 the day before. Deaths also fell to 235 from 377.
There was a small drop in patients hospitalised with covid, with 19,617 being treated, down from 19,636 a day earlier. There were 95 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 118 on Saturday.
Italy has experienced the second-highest death toll in Europe (after Britain). Over 146,000 deaths have been registered since February 2020. The country has reported 10.9 million cases to date.
The number of people who have received their first jab has risen by 17,652 in the UK, bringing the total to 52,331,601. The latest data - covering vaccinations up to 29 January - shows 48,385,074 second doses have also been delivered, an increase of 37,477. A total of 37,263,317 booster and third doses have been delivered, a day-on-day rise of 52,295.
There have been 62,399 new cases of Covid-19 in the UK, according to the latest government figures. But the cases for Scotland will not be added until Monday.
A further 85 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 155,698. This does not include data from Northern Ireland. Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 177,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate
The former head of the army, Lord Dannatt, has claimed the partygate saga is harming the UK’s international standing. The general told Times Radio that the UK’s position is weakened ahead of the prime minister’s visit to eastern Europe next week, adding: “everyone will know that he’s a man with a time bomb sitting under him”.
Dannatt remarked:
We’ve got to sort out the leadership of this country so that we can play our role as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, all the things that the UK stands for, in an unequivocal, clear way with a government of integrity and one that people can respect.
Hello. I’m Tom Wall. I’m taking charge of the live blog now. Get in touch if there is anything you think we should be covering.
Djokovic congratulates Nadal
Novak Djokovic has broken his social media silence since being deported from Australia to congratulate Rafa Nadal on winning the Australian Open.
Nadal, who is fully vaccinated, won a record-breaking 21st grand slam title by coming back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev.
Djokovic was deported before the tournament after Australia cancelled his visa on the basis that his presence in Australia might risk “civil unrest” as he is a “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”.
Djokovic, who is one behind Nadal with 20 grand slam titles, said his rival’s record was an “amazing achievement”.
Congratulations to @RafaelNadal for 21st GS. Amazing achievement. Always impressive fighting spirit that prevailed another time. Enhorabuena 👏🏆👍 @Medwed33 gave it his all out there and played with the passion and determination we have come to expect from him. pic.twitter.com/DsOvK8idNc
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 30, 2022
Updated
Qatar’s ministry of health has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged five to 11.
In November, Gulf states Bahrain and Saudi Arabia approved the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use for children in the same age category.
MOPH Approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines for Children aged 5 to 11 years pic.twitter.com/AkCS2o5X6s
— وزارة الصحة العامة (@MOPHQatar) January 30, 2022
Updated
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the latest developments:
- Harry and Meghan have expressed concerns about misinformation on Spotify, after some artists removed their content from the platform in protest at it hosting a popular anti-vax podcast. But the couple made it clear they plan to continue work on their lucrative contracts with the platform.
- Iran has announced that the number of its new cases has almost doubled in the last 24 hours from 11,731 on Saturday to 21,996 on Sunday. Iran’s health ministry also announced a further 44 new Covid deaths.
- The Netherlands has reported 75,199 new cases of coronavirus. This is a daily record but it comes after 13 days of under-reporting involving 131,000 cases.
- The Winter Olympics, which begin in five days in Beijing, have been hit by 34 new infections among athletes and officials. Poland’s short track medal hopeful Natalia Maliszewska is among those who tested positive. Meanwhile, the city of Beijing has reported 20 new cases – its highest for 18 months.
- The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said it is the government’s “intention to publish the full report” into alleged lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street. She also admitted: “It is a bit of a mess that we have the police investigation alongside the Sue Gray report”.
- The NHS has announced it will begin offering vaccinations to children aged between five and 11 who are most at risk from the virus. Children in the cohort who were in a clinical risk group or who live with someone who is immunosuppressed would be able to get a first jab, in line with advice issued last month by the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation.
- Germany has reported 118,970 new infections, a 39% increase on last week’s figures. It also reported that a further 59 people died after testing positive for the virus.
- Russia has reported a record 121,228 new daily cases of the virus. The government’s coronavirus taskforce also reported 617 deaths in the last 24 hours.
- Voting is under way in Portugal in a parliamentary election marred by fears of a low turnout due to record coronavirus infections. The government has allowed those infected to leave isolation and cast ballots in person, recommending that they do so in the last hour before polling stations close at 7pm.
- New cases in South Korea’s have hit a record 17,532 as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads. The daily count broke the record for the sixth consecutive day, rising from 8,570 on Tuesday.
Updated
UK-registered patents and intellectual property rights on vaccines and medicines would immediately be waived in a pandemic under a proposed amendment to the health and social care bill that is backed by the People’s Vaccine Alliance.
The amendment, tabled in the House of Lords by the Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti, is expected to be debated this week. It would seek to avoid a future shortfall of vaccines in poorer countries as has occurred during the coronavirus pandemic.
Describing the situation as “immoral”, Chakrabarti said: “We are failing because of insufficient sharing of our vaccine supply and not allowing generic vaccine production in the global south.”
Read the full story here:
Updated
The Netherlands has reported 75,199 new cases of coronavirus. This is a daily record but it comes after 13 days of under-reporting involving 131,000 cases.
#COVID19NL
— Marino van Zelst (@mzelst) January 30, 2022
Positief getest: 75.199
Totaal: 4.320.257 (+75.164 ivm -35 corr.)
Perc. positief 22 jan - 28 jan: 52,2%
Opgenomen: 140
Huidig: 945 (+29)
Opgenomen op IC: 10
Huidig IC Nederland: 209 (-4)
Overleden: 2
Totaal: 21.272 pic.twitter.com/pa6ORn2Sg7
Updated
Vietnam has announced a sharp rise in new cases from 17,376 on Saturday to 29,766 on Sunday.
The Scottish government has announced 6,185 new cases in Scotland and a further two deaths from the virus.
Today, 6,185 more people have tested positive for #coronavirus
— Scottish Government (@scotgov) January 30, 2022
1,217 people were in hospital yesterday which is 46 fewer* than the day before.
Sadly two more people who tested positive have died (10,311 in total)
Latest update ▶️ https://t.co/bZPbrCoQux pic.twitter.com/SGA6ygiTlz
The actor and anti-lockdown campaigner Laurence Fox has announced he has tested positive for coronavirus.
Fox, the founder and leader of the Reclaim party, which came sixth in the race to be London’s mayor last year, tweeted this:
In other news, felt shivery and crap yesterday. Turns out I have been visited by Lord Covid at last and have the Omnicold (if the LFT is to be believed!)
— Laurence Fox ✝️ (@LozzaFox) January 30, 2022
On the #Ivermectin, saline nasal rinse, quercetin, paracetamol and ibruprofen.
More man flu than Wu-flu at the moment. pic.twitter.com/oYd7KaQAP9
Updated
There’s more on the Spotify row here:
“General remarks” about Hong Kong’s coronavirus strategy are not illegal and do not violate the Chinese territory’s national security law, the government has said, according to Reuters.
Hong Kong has followed China in sticking to a zero-Covid policy with the economic and psychological tolls rapidly rising, and measures becoming more draconian than those first implemented in 2020.
Experts have said that the policy is unsustainable as cases continue to increase due to the highly transmissible Omicron strain.
Hong Kong’s policy to achieve “dynamic zero infection” was the most effective way to fight the outbreak and protect public health, the government said in a statement.
It came after local legislator Junius Ho said that experts who suggested Hong Kong should live with the virus the way western experts do may have violated its national security law.
More than 1 million of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents are not vaccinated, exposing them to high chance of infection or even a risk of death, the government said.
The city has recorded around 13,600 infections since 2020 and 213 deaths, far lower than other major cities.
Updated
Despite their concerns about misinformation on Spotify, Harry and Meghan have made it clear that they plan to continue work on their lucrative contracts with the platform.
The Archewell statement added:
We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.
We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.
Harry and Meghan have 'concerns' about misinformation on Spotify
Harry and Meghan have waded into the row about Spotify spreading Covid misinformation.
A spokesperson for their Archewell foundation told Reuters:
Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day. Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of Covid-19 misinformation on its platform.
The interventions comes after the veteran Canadian singer-songwriters Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from Spotify in protest at the platform hosting a popular anti-vax podcast.
Harry and Meghan have signed a series of corporate deals, including to produce and host podcasts for Spotify, as part of their efforts to make a living following their split with Britain’s royal family announced in 2020.
Spotify has yet to comment.
The Swedish company has previously said it worked to balance “both safety for listeners and freedom for creators” and had removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid in accordance with its “detailed content policies”.
Young objected to his music being played on the same platform as Joe Rogan’s top-rated podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience”.
Rogan has stirred controversy with his views on the pandemic, government mandates and vaccines to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, 270 scientists and medical professionals signed a letter urging Spotify to take action against Rogan, accusing him of spreading falsehoods on the podcast.
Updated
Algeria has reported its first case of the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron strain of the virus, according Reuters, citing the general director of the Pasteur institute speaking on Ennahar TV.
The North African country registered 1,742 new cases and 10 deaths, bringing the total number to 249,310 cases and 6,555 deaths, according to official figures.
Last week, the health ministry in Denmark said the BA.2 variant was more contagious than original strain of Omicron.
Updated
Iran has announced that the number of its new cases has almost doubled in the last 24 hours from 11,731 on Saturday to 21,996 on Sunday.
Iran is the grip of a fourth wave of the virus as the highly infectious Omicron variant take hold. Iran’s health ministry also announced a further 44 new Covid deaths.
#Iran Health Ministry announced on Sunday:
— Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (@Iran_GOV) January 30, 2022
Total number of #COVID19 patients recovered: 6,102,290
Total number of infected cases: 6,344,179
Total number of death toll: 132,424
In the past 24 hours:
New cases tested positive: 21,996
New death toll: 44 pic.twitter.com/xRHGouAZ3x
Updated
Officials in Beijing have sealed off residential communities in the city’s northern district after two new Covid cases were found, AP reports.
Residents in the Anzhenli neighbourhood in Chaoyang district were sealed off on Saturday, and will not be allowed to leave their compound.
Beijing is on high alert as it prepares to host the Olympic Games opening on Friday.
While the cases are low compared with other countries in the region, China has double down on its “zero-tolerance” policy, which includes breaking the chain of transmission as soon as it is found.
The city is also setting up 19 points in the area to test residents every day until Friday, officials said at a briefing on the pandemic, according to state-backed Beijing News.
Updated
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the latest developments:
- The Winter Olympics, which begin in five days in Beijing, have been hit by 34 new infections among athletes and officials. Poland’s short track medal hopeful Natalia Maliszewska is among those who tested positive. Meanwhile, the city of Beijing has reported 20 new cases – its highest for 18 months.
- The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said it is the government’s “intention to publish the full report” into alleged lockdown breaking parties in Downing Street. She also admitted: “It is a bit of a mess that we have the police investigation alongside the Sue Gray report”.
- The NHS has announced it will begin offering vaccinations to children aged between five and 11 who are most at risk from the virus. Children in the cohort who were in a clinical risk group or who live with someone who is immunosuppressed would be able to get a first jab, in line with advice issued last month by the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation.
- Germany has reported 118,970 new infections, a 39% increase on last week’s figures. It also reported that a further 59 people died after testing positive for the virus.
- Russia has reported a record 121,228 new daily cases of the virus. The government’s coronavirus taskforce also reported 617 deaths in the last 24 hours.
- Voting in under way in Portugal in a parliamentary election marred by fears of a low turnout due to record coronavirus infections. The government has allowed those infected to leave isolation and cast ballots in person, recommending that they do so in the last hour before polling stations close at 7pm.
- New cases in South Korea’s have hit a record 17,532 as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads. The daily count broke the record for the sixth consecutive day, rising from 8,570 on Tuesday.
Updated
The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has stopped short of the government’s previous commitment to publish the full report into alleged lockdown breaking parties.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday Morning show, she said: “It is our intention to publish the full report.”
She also admitted: “It is a bit of a mess that we have the police investigation alongside the Sue Gray report”.
Asked if Boris Johnson should resign if it emerges he lied to parliament, Truss said: “I’m not going to answer hypothetical questions. The future of the prime minister is assured.”
Updated
South Korea reports record 17,532 new cases
New cases in South Korea’s have hit a record 17,532 as the highly infectious Omicron variant spreads, the Yonap news agency reports.
The country reported 17,532 new infections, including 17,303 local cases, raising the total caseload to 828,637, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.
The daily count broke the record for the sixth consecutive day, spiking from 8,570 on Tuesday.
Authorities had earlier said Saturday’s tally reached 17,542 but corrected the figure to 17,526, citing erroneous reporting.
(2nd LD) S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit fresh high of 17,532 amid Lunar New Year holiday https://t.co/hFtl1vPs9W
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) January 30, 2022
Polling has begun in Portugal in a parliamentary election marred by fears of a low turnout due to record coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.
At the University of Lisbon, staff outnumbered mostly elderly voters, with signs on the walls asking people to wear a mask, observe social distancing and to use their own pen.
Some even wore gloves for extra protection.
“I have been vaccinated, and I haven’t had Covid yet … But I felt very safe,” said Maria Odete, 73, adding that the election race appeared too close to produce a stable government capable of bringing positive change.
The government has allowed those infected to leave isolation and cast ballots in person, recommending that they do so in the last hour before polling stations close at 7pm.
More than a tenth of Portugal’s 10 million people are estimated to be isolating because of Covid. As in many European countries, infections have spiked lately, stoked by the Omicron variant, although widespread vaccination has kept deaths and hospitalisations lower than in earlier waves.
The election is wide open as the centre-left ruling Socialists have lost much of their lead in opinion polls to the main opposition party, the centre-right Social Democrats, and neither is likely to win a stable majority.
Low turnout could make projections unreliable, analysts say. Abstention was already record at 51% in the 2019 general election before the pandemic.
Updated
Ed Davey has accused the Metropolitan police of “undermining” the public’s trust over the Sue Gray report into Downing Street lockdown parties.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Morning show, the leader of the Liberal Democrats said:
I have huge respect for rank-and-file police officers who put their lives on the line to keep us safe.
For them to do their job, the public have to have trust and confidence in them. But the way the Met has handled this, I think, is undermining that.
Downing St parties: The Met's handling of the Sue Gray report is undermining public trust in the police, says Sir Ed Davey
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 30, 2022
The Lib Dem leader tells Sophie Raworth "this may be a cock up but equally it could be something worse"
#SundayMorning https://t.co/N3kwFw2ARR pic.twitter.com/eyFQxvUHDl
Labour’s Lisa Nandy said Gray’s report should be published “in full” this week. She told the programme:
If (Boris Johnson) won’t put an end to this circus and this stasis in government … then that report has to come out in full so that the people can judge for themselves.
Updated
Taiwan’s vice president, William Lai, used his final day in the US to repeat an accusation that China blocked the island from obtaining vaccines last year, Reuters reports.
Last May, the Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen accused China of blocking a deal with Germany’s BioNTech SE for vaccines, after Beijing offered the shots to the island via a Chinese company just as Taiwan was dealing with a rise in domestic infections.
Beijing has denied trying to stop Taiwan getting vaccines, and also offered Chinese-developed shots which the island rejected, citing safety concerns.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory.
Less than two weeks after Tsai’s comments, Senator Tammy Duckworth, visiting Taipei with two other US lawmakers, said the US would donate vaccine doses to Taiwan.
Speaking to the Illinois Democrat during a stopover in San Francisco while on the way back to Taiwan from Honduras, Lai offered his thanks.
Lai said he was “especially grateful to her last year when Taiwan was unable to obtain vaccines due to the China factor”, Taiwan’s presidential office said, citing the de facto US ambassador to Washington Hsiao Bi-khim, who is accompanying Lai.
In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry said Lai’s accusation was “total fiction”, calling it a “malicious slandering and smearing of the true face of the mainland”.
Taiwan eventually began receiving the BioNTech vaccines, jointly developed with Pfizer, in September.
Updated
Thailand has reported a further 8,444 new Covid cases and 12 deaths from the virus.
#COVID19 situation in #Thailand as 30 January 2022
— PR Thai Government (@prdthailand) January 30, 2022
😷New Confirmed Cases: 8,444
🦠Cumulative number of cases: 2,432,534 (+8,444)
👍🏻Recoveries: 2,325,835 (+7,829)
🩺Receiving medical treatments: 84,542
📣Fatalities: 22,157 (+12)
💉Cumulative number of vaccination: 114,956,275 pic.twitter.com/F3P4IdyYPy
Cambodia has reported a further 57 cases.
The daily infections of #COVID19 in Cambodia rose to 57 this morning @WHO @WHOWPRO https://t.co/PPs3WUi3aO pic.twitter.com/yYh55xf1tt
— Office of Cambodia PM 🇰🇭 (@PeacePalaceKH) January 30, 2022
Updated
Beijing recorded its highest number of new Covid-19 cases for a year and a half on Sunday, as the Chinese capital gears up to host the Winter Olympics, AFP reports.
China will hold the Games in a strict “closed-loop” bubble as part of its zero-Covid strategy of targeted lockdowns, border restrictions and lengthy quarantines.
The approach has helped the world’s second-largest economy keep new infections far lower than many other countries, but it is battling local outbreaks in several cities as well as in the Olympic bubble.
The upcoming lunar new year – China’s biggest national holiday – presents a further challenge as millions of people return to their hometowns and mingle with family and friends.
Beijing’s tally of 20 new cases on Sunday was the city’s highest since June 2020, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
City authorities have locked down some housing compounds, while officials in Fengtai district – where most of Sunday’s infections were detected – have begun testing about 2 million people for the virus.
The Olympics bubble separates everyone involved in the Games from the wider Chinese population to curb the risk of infections leaking out.
The estimated 60,000 people inside the bubble are subject to daily testing.
On Sunday, organisers reported 34 new cases related to the Games, bringing the total to more than 200 since the bubble was sealed on 4 January.
Updated
Republican state lawmakers across the US have proposed – and in some cases passed – legislation they say keeps the government from interfering with doctors who want to prescribe ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to help prevent and treat Covid-19.
But those treatments have not proven effective at preventing or treating Covid and infectious disease experts see the bills as examples of rightwing lawmakers politicising medicine – a trend that is increasing as the pandemic drags on in America into its third year amid an increasingly fraught political atmosphere.
And so it goes with the latest suspect Covid-19 treatment that has become about more than just a drug, but rather about whether to trust established public health organisations or doctors who stray from their guidelines, and podcast and cable news hosts.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Russia reports record 121,228 new cases
Russia reported a record 121,228 new daily cases of the virus. This is up from Saturday’s total of 113,122. The government coronavirus taskforce also reported 617 deaths in the last 24 hours.
За сутки в России выявили 121 228 новых случая коронавируса в 85 регионах. pic.twitter.com/5z2GUrkbYf
— РЕН ТВ | Новости (@rentvchannel) January 30, 2022
Updated
In the UK, attempts by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to investigate fraudulent Covid handouts were resisted by the Treasury, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
It quotes a source saying:
The Treasury effectively said, ‘butt out of this’”.
Another source said they believed that the move was designed to prevent embarrassment about the scale of fraud involving public funds.
The story follows the resignation of Lord Agnew over the government’s decision to write off £4.3bn in fraudulent Covid loans.
The front page of tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph:
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) January 29, 2022
'PM's aide watched cricket as Kabul fell'#TomorrowsPapersToday
Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomry pic.twitter.com/MHkiWdICw2
Updated
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute has reported 118,970 new infections, a 39% increase on last week’s figures. It also reported that a further 59 people died after testing positive for the virus.
Die Zahl der dem RKI gemeldeten #Corona-Fälle in 🇩🇪 lag gestern bei 118.970.
— Olaf Gersemann (@OlafGersemann) January 30, 2022
➡️ plus 39% gegenüber Vorwoche
➡️ 31. Anstieg hintereinander im Vorwochenvergleich@welt pic.twitter.com/DuQJqL2ubN
Welcome to a Sunday edition of our coronavirus live blog.
The Winter Olympics in Beijing have been hit by 34 new infections among athletes and officials.
Poland’s short track medal hopeful Natalia Maliszewska is among those who tested positive.
Of the total infections, 23 were among new airport arrivals, while 11 were people already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates event personnel from the public in an effort to curb the spread of infections.
Maliszewska is the eighth Polish athlete to have tested positive and has gone into isolation, the Polish Olympic Committee said on Sunday. She joins infected fellow speedskaters Natalia Czerwonka, Magdalena Czyszczoń and Marek Kania in isolation.
Beijing Games organisers have warned of more cases in coming days as the Chinese capital enforces stringent measures, restricting movement and contact of any Games participant with the local population.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the NHS has announced it will begin offering vaccinations to children aged between five and 11 who are most at risk from the virus.
Britain has been slower than some other countries in offering the shots to five- to 11-year-olds, and is not planning to vaccinate the age group more broadly unlike countries such as the US and Israel.
NHS England said children in the cohort who were in a clinical risk group or who live with someone who is immunosuppressed would be able to get a first jab, in line with advice issued last month by the Joint Committee on Vaccine and Immunisation.
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