That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for tonight and that also brings the live blog to an end for the day. Thanks for following along.
We will be back tomorrow but for now, stay across all the top Covid stories from around the world here. Goodbye for now.
Also in Brazil, the country’s health ministry has approved use of Sinovac Biotech Ltd’s Covid vaccine, Coronavac, for children ages 6 to 17.
In a news conference announcing the addition of Coronavac to the national vaccination plan, deputy health minister Rodrigo Cruz said the ministry has six million doses of the vaccine available, with states and cities having their own stocks.
The Chinese vaccine was tested in Brazil at Sao Paulo’s Butantan Institute, a leading biomedical centre tied to the state government. Coronavac received authorisation for emergency use in adults in January last year and was the first vaccine to be used in Brazil. Later, however, it was superseded by other jabs and is no longer being used in adults.
Brazil has already authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children between five and 11 years old.
Brazil records 166,539 new cases of coronavirus, 358 more deaths
Brazil has had 166,539 new cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 358 deaths from Covid, its health ministry said on Friday.
The South American country has now registered 23,751,782 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 622,563, according to ministry data.
The Chinese government on Friday called the Biden administration’s decision to suspend 44 flights by Chinese carriers to the United States “very unreasonable.”
The US Transportation Department said the flights were being suspended in response to China’s decision to suspend 44 flights from United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines in recent weeks, Reuters reported.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said the policy of barring some flights after positive Covid cases are discovered “has been applied equally to Chinese and foreign airlines in a fair, open and transparent way.”
“It is very unreasonable for the US to suspend Chinese airlines’ flights on this ground. We urge the US side to stop disrupting and restricting the normal passenger flights operated by Chinese airlines.”
Also in the US, California would allow children age 12 and up to be vaccinated without their parents’ consent under a proposal by a state senator who said youngsters “deserve the right to protect themselves” against infectious disease.
Currently in California, minors ages 12 to 17 cannot be vaccinated without permission from their parents or guardians, unless the vaccine is specifically to prevent a sexually transmitted disease.
Parental consent laws for vaccinations vary by state and region and a few places such as Philadelphia, San Francisco allow minors to consent to their own Covid vaccines.
Wiener’s bill would lift the parental requirement for that age group for any vaccine that has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If the bill passes, California would allow the youngest age of any state to be vaccinated without parental permission.
That includes immunisations against the coronavirus, but Wiener said vaccine hesitancy and misinformation has also deterred vaccinations against measles and other contagious diseases that can then spread among youths whose parents won’t agree to have them vaccinated.
“You have parents who are blocking their kids from getting the vaccines or ... they may not be anti-vaccine but they just aren’t prioritising it,” Wiener told reporters at a news conference at San Francisco’s Everett Middle School. “Those kids deserve the right to protect themselves.”
A judge in Texas ruled on Friday that President Joe Biden could not require federal employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and blocked the US government from disciplining employees who failed to comply.
It was the latest setback to White House efforts to require various groups of American workers to get vaccinated. Biden had issued an order requiring about 3.5 million government workers to get vaccinated by 22 November barring a religious or medical accommodation or else face discipline or firing.
US district judge Jeffrey Brown said the question was whether Biden could “require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the Supreme Court, is a bridge too far.”
Brown, based in Galveston and appointed by then-President Donald Trump, said the government could protect public health with less invasive measures, such as masking and social distancing. The judge’s ruling is the latest in a series of court decisions to go against government vaccine requirements.
The White House said more than 93% of federal employees have received at least one vaccination and 98% have been vaccinated or are seeking a religious or medical exemption.
The US Postal Service began shipping at-home rapid Covid tests on Thursday after millions of orders were placed through a new federal website launched this week, the White House said.
The federal government has tens of millions of tests on hand to ship out and will disclose next week how many households have ordered them, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients told reporters at a briefing.
The push to get tests in the hands of Americans at no cost, along with free higher quality masks, comes as the surge in cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant began to subside in some states.
The average daily US Covid cases from the Omicron variant fell about 5% in the past week, most notably in areas that saw an early surge in infections such as New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director said.
There were about 744,600 cases per day on average in the past seven days.
Lech Walesa, Poland’s ex-president and former Solidarity pro-democracy movement leader, says that he has Covid.
The 78-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate said on Facebook that he was surprised to find out he is infected despite the three vaccination doses he has received.
“I can’t believe it: I received 3 shots, .... (but) I’m infected. (I have a) headache, I can’t warm up my body. I feel like my flesh is tearing away from the bones,” Mr Walesa wrote.
“After this painful lesson I will never separate from my mask.”
Three US studies show that a third dose of an mRNA vaccine is key to fighting the Omicron coronavirus variant, providing 90% protection against hospitalisation due to Covid, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday.
The studies are among the first in the United States to look at the impact of booster doses against the fast-spreading Omicron variant, which now accounts for 99% of all new Covid cases.
Overall, they suggest that boosters helped protect against both infection and symptomatic disease. Adults aged 50 and older saw the most benefit from an extra dose of the vaccines made by BioNTech with Pfizer or Moderna.
“Protection against infection and hospitalisation with the Omicron variant is highest for those who are up to date with their vaccination, meaning those who are boosted when they are eligible,” CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said in a White House briefing on Friday.
As has been shown in other countries, vaccine boosters performed better against the Delta variant than Omicron, a highly mutated version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has been able to evade immunity from vaccines and prior infections.
Belgium has announced a slight easing of its coronavirus restrictions despite record infections.
It is also determined that people will need booster shots after five months to maintain Covid passes giving access to bars or cinemas, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo extended opening for bars and restaurants to midnight from 11pm, allowed indoor activities such as play areas and bowling alleys to reopen and said venues with good ventilation could host more people than now. The changes will apply from next Friday.
“The reason we can do this is the fact that we have such a high vaccination rate,” De Croo told a news conference, adding that vaccinated people were half as likely to catch Covid and 90% less likely to need to go to hospital if they did.
Some 89% of adults in Belgium are fully vaccinated and 67% have now also received a booster shot.
De Croo said that from March 1 the initial vaccination series would be valid only for five months, with boosters required to keep Covid passes active, although they would still be valid with a test or recent recovery from infection.
Hello. Tom Ambrose here. I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news from around the world over the next four hours.
Let’s start with a bit more detail on the lifting of Covid restrictions in Ireland, which has been announced today.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said it is “time to be ourselves again” as he announced the lifting of almost all Covid restrictions, according to the Press Association.
Earlier on Friday, Cabinet signed off plans to lift all regulations - except for mask-wearing, self-isolation and Covid passes for international travel - from 6am on Saturday morning.
Workers will return to offices on a staggered basis from Monday while normal hours will resume in the hospitality industry this weekend.
An Nphet report has advised the government that Ireland has “weathered the Omicron storm” and that all the key indicators have stabilised and are going in the right direction.
In an address to the nation, Mr Martin said:
It confirmed that Ireland’s world-class vaccination programme and the rollout of the boosters has utterly transformed our situation.
Based on this evidence, we’ve concluded that the rationale and justification for continuing most of our public health restrictions are no longer in place.
Therefore from 6am tomorrow morning, the majority of public health measures that we have had to live with will be removed.
Guidance on household visits and restrictions on gatherings at indoor and outdoor events will be lifted. The Covid pass for international travel will remain, due to the Covid-19 situation in other countries. Masks will still be needed in all the locations where they are currently required.
Protective measures will also remain in place in primary and secondary schools. This will be reviewed at the end of February, by which time all children aged five to 11 will have had the opportunity to be vaccinated, he said. He urged parents to vaccinate their children and speak to their GPs about any concerns they may have.
Ireland to lift almost all Covid restrictions from 6am on Saturday
Ireland’s premier Micheál Martin has confirmed that almost all Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted from 6am on Saturday. The only rules which will remain in place will be face masks, self isolating after testing positive for the virus and Covid passes for international travel.
Confirming the news, he said “we have weathered the Omicron storm” but accepted the lifting of measures will likely cause a rise in infections in the short term but added that he was confident impact will be limited.
He confirmed that some supports would remain in place for businesses.
“You did what you were asked to do,” he said and told the country “your collective efforts have saved thousands of lives”.
He said he had spoken to Ireland on “many dark days” but said: “today is a good day.”
Updated
France reports 400,851 new cases and 233 further Covid-linked deaths
A quick snap from Reuters: France has reported 400,851 daily coronavirus cases and 233 further Covid-linked hospital deaths. More details soon.
Summary of the latest news
Below is a roundup of the latest coronavirus news from around the world.
• The average daily US Covid-19 cases from the Omicron variant fell about 5% in the past week, but some areas of the country may still see a spike in infections, the head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention director said on Friday. Daily Covid hospitalisations were down about 1% on average in the past seven days.
• Ireland looked set to rapidly unwind almost all Covid-19 restrictions with ministers due to meet on Friday to agree on a timetable after being given the all-clear by public health officials.
• There were 95,787 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the UK on Friday, the government said. The figure is based on positive lab-confirmed PCR tests, but also includes most positive lateral flow tests reported in England and all lateral flow tests reported in Northern Ireland.
• European Union health ministers were told on Friday to prepare to deploy a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines as soon as data showed it was needed, as the bloc faces a surge in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
• The estimated range of England’s Covid-19 reproduction “R” number has fallen to between 0.8 and 1.1, the UK Health Security Agency said, adding that cases are likely to be shrinking as prime minister Boris Johnson reopens the economy.
• The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, urged Poles to work from home as daily Covid-19 infections reached their highest ever level.
• Australia on Friday reported its deadliest day of the pandemic with 80 coronavirus fatalities, as an outbreak of the omicron variant continued to take a toll.
A judge in Texas ruled on Friday that president Joe Biden could not require federal employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and blocked the US government from disciplining employees who failed to comply.
Biden issued an order requiring about 3.5 million workers to get vaccinated by 22 November barring a religious or medical accommodation – or else face discipline or firing.
US district judge Jeffrey Brown said the question was whether Biden could “require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment. That, under the current state of the law as just recently expressed by the supreme court, is a bridge too far.”
Brown, based in Galveston and appointed by former president Donald Trump, said the government could protect public health with less invasive measures, such as masking and social distancing.
Updated
The average daily US Covid-19 cases from the Omicron variant fell about 5% in the past week, but some areas of the country may still see a spike in infections, the head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention director said on Friday.
Daily Covid hospitalisations were down about 1% on average in the past seven days, CDC director Rochelle Walensky told reporters in a briefing.
Ireland’s justice minister has posted on Instagram to confirm the news that almost all Covid measures in the country are to be scrapped.
“I am so pleased to be able to say that as of 6 am tomorrow, the vast majority of restrictions that have been in place for almost two years now, on and off, will be lifted,” Helen McEntee said in a video posted on social media following a government meeting.
“I don’t think any of us thought we’d actually be getting to this point as quickly as we are now,” she added. Prime Minister Micheal Martin is due to make a televised address on Friday evening to announce the measures.
Ireland had the second highest incidence rate of Covid-19 in Europe just last week but also one of the continent’s highest uptake of booster vaccines, which has helped keep the number of seriously ill people well below the previous peak.
Following advice from public health officials, the government decided that bars and restaurants will no longer need to close at 8 pm, a restriction put in place late last year when the Omicron wave struck, or to ask customers for proof of vaccination.
Capacity in indoor and outdoor venues is also set to return to full capacity, paving the way for full crowds for next month’s Six Nations rugby championship. Some measures, such as the need to wear a mask on public transport and in shops, will remain in place for now.
Health authorities stepped up anti-infection measures in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, and other major cities in response to a surge in new coronavirus cases driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Schools are limiting in-person classes, requiring students in all grades except first through fourth to switch to distance learning.
The precautions also ban mass events and require restaurants and bars to operate at half of their customer capacity. All catering and entertainment establishments have to close no later than 10pm, and visitors need valid health certificates to be admitted.
Bulgaria, which has the lowest Covid-19 vaccination rate in the European Union and a population of 6.5 million, reported on Friday 8,932 new virus cases and 87 deaths. The country’s test positivity rate for the virus increased to about 24%.
Updated
Ireland looked set to rapidly unwind almost all Covid-19 restrictions with ministers due to meet on Friday to agree on a timetable after being given the all-clear by public health officials.
The country had the second highest incidence rate of Covid in Europe just last week but also one of the continent’s highest uptake of booster vaccines, which has helped keep the number of seriously ill people well below the previous peak.
An 8pm curfew on the hospitality sector could be lifted as soon as this weekend, alongside the ditching of vaccines passes with capacity in indoor and outdoor venues also set to return to full capacity, including for next month’s Six Nations rugby championship, local media reported.
Ministers have said previously said that some measures, such as the need to wear a mask on public transport or in shops, are likely to remain in place beyond the ending of the restrictions put in place late last year when the Omicron wave struck.
Updated
Here is an update of Covid-19 case rates for every local authority area in the UK. The figures, for the seven days to 17 January, are based on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in a lab-reported test, plus:
- in England, positive rapid lateral flow tests that do not have a negative confirmatory lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours.
- in Northern Ireland, positive rapid lateral flow tests.
The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.
Data for the most recent four days (18-21 January) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.
Newry, Mourne & Down in Northern Ireland has the highest rate in the UK, with 2,997 new cases in the seven days to 17 January - the equivalent of 1,649.7 per 100,000 people. This is down from a rate of 1,942.5 for the seven days to 10 January.
Updated
Three US studies released on Friday have offered more evidence that Covid-19 vaccines are standing up to the Omicron variant, at least among people who have had booster shots.
The Associated Press reports that they are the first large US studies to look at vaccine protection against Omicron, health officials said. The papers echo previous research — including studies in Germany, South Africa and the UK — indicating available vaccines are less effective against Omicron than earlier versions of the coronavirus, but also that boosters significantly improve protection.
The first study looked at hospitalisations and emergency room and urgent care centre visits in 10 states, from August to this month. It found vaccine effectiveness was best after three doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines in preventing Covid-19-associated emergency department and urgent care visits.
Protection dropped from 94% during the Delta wave to 82% during the Omicron wave. Protection from just two doses was lower, especially if six months had passed since the second dose.
The second study focused on Covid-19 case and death rates in 25 states from the beginning of April through Christmas. People who were boosted had the highest protection against coronavirus infection, both during the time Delta was dominant and also when Omicron was taking over. Those two articles were published online by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Journal of the American Medical Association published the third study, also led by CDC researchers. It looked at people who tested positive for Covid-19 from 10 December to 1 January at more than 4,600 testing sites across the US
Three shots of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were about 67% effective against Omicron-related symptomatic disease compared with unvaccinated people. Two doses, however, offered no significant protection against omicron, the researchers found. “It really shows the important of getting a booster dose,” said the CDC’s Emma Accorsi, one of the study’s authors.
Updated
Up to 1,900 doctors and dentists in Italy have been suspended from the country’s professional association because they haven’t complied with a law requiring them to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, including having a booster shot, Associated Press reports.
That amounts to 0.4% of total membership, but the federation says some 30,000 other members still haven’t completed their vaccinations. The federation noted that some of them might not be violating the law since they might have tested positive and can’t now receive the vaccine yet or might have health reasons they can’t be vaccinated. Still others are waiting until they are eligible to receive a booster dose at least four months after their last vaccine shot.
Italy requires all health care workers, teachers, police, armed forces members and those who provide services to nursing home residents to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. It also requires all people 50 or older to be fully vaccinated or recently recovered from the illness in order to access services such as public transport.
Health care workers must receive the booster in order to be fully compliant, according to a law decreed by the Italian government last month.
UK reports 95,787 new cases and a further 288 Covid-linked deaths
There were 95,787 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the UK on Friday, the government said. The figure is based on positive lab-confirmed PCR tests, but also includes most positive lateral flow tests reported in England and all lateral flow tests reported in Northern Ireland.
The government also said a further 288 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 153,490.
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.
A total of 52,186,398 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been delivered in the UK by January 20, Government figures show. This is a rise of 17,806 on the previous day.
Some 48,082,636 second doses have been delivered, an increase of 33,674. A combined total of 36,753,644 booster and third doses have been given, a day-on-day rise of 65,203. Separate totals for booster and third doses are not available.
Updated
Northern Ireland’s health minister, Robin Swann, has said he is cautiously optimistic about Covid-19.
Earlier this week the Stormont executive announced a swathe of relaxations of the restrictions. From Friday rules on table service in pubs and restaurants were relaxed and the requirement to prove exemptions on wearing face masks was removed.
From next Wednesday nightclubs will be able to reopen and Covid certification will no longer be required to enter pubs, restaurants or cinemas. Ministers are set to consider the remaining restrictions on 10 February.
Updated
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In pictures: Covid in Asia
Updated
‘Half a million’ new Covid cases each day in UK over Christmas, ONS estimates
New cases of Covid in the UK averaged nearly half a million a day during the week after Christmas, almost three times the official figures, the latest analysis suggests.
It comes as health agencies have urged caution about interpreting the regular case numbers published each day for the UK, following changes in rules about testing.
An average of 173,400 new cases of coronavirus per day were recorded from 26 December to 1 January, according to the government’s Covid-19 dashboard.
But the true number of cases was likely to be nearer 479,100 a day, according to estimates by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is because not everyone infected will have reported themselves as having tested positive for the virus.
The sharp difference in totals reflects just how many new cases of Covid-19 are being missed in the official tally.
This means the numbers are affected by how many people are coming forward for tests, have chosen to report their test results, or who are taking a test because they know they have coronavirus symptoms.
By contrast, the ONS figures are based on analysis of nose and throat swabs taken from a representative sample of more than 150,000 people in private households.
The number of new cases reported by the government has always been lower than the level estimated by the ONS, but the gap has become wider since the arrival of the Omicron variant of the virus.
Sadiq Khan stands down 'major incident' over Covid in London
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has stood down the major incident that was declared in the capital last month, but urged Londoners to remain vigilant as daily infections remain high.
Khan declared a major incident on 18 December due to the spread of Omicron, a rise in patients in London hospitals and the impact of staff absences in frontline services.
He said: “Everyone who wore a mask, took a lateral flow test or followed the advice to work from home where possible, has played their part in reducing the pressure they faced and enabled us to stand down the ‘major incident’ in London today.
“But the virus and the omicron variant is still with us and daily infection rates are still too high.
“Wearing a face covering remains one of the single most important and easiest things we can all do to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and that’s why I’m renewing my calls for the government to rethink their plans and keep legislation in place to make them mandatory on public transport.”
While the number of cases has reduced, there remain 3,059 Covid-19 patients in London hospitals and 191 in mechanical ventilation beds. Although Boris Johnson scrapped plan B restrictions earlier this week, including the legal requirement for mask-wearing in shops, schools and on public transport, masks are still mandatory for passengers on London buses and trains.
Updated
Bangladesh has shut schools as daily Covid cases jump to a record high.
Bangladesh on Friday closed all schools and colleges for two weeks to stem an “alarming” rise in infections, reports Reuters. The south Asian country reported 11,434 new cases, the highest single-day jump since August.
Schools had only been open four months after the country ended a year-long school closure imposed due to the pandemic.
“We are seeing an uptick in infections in schools and colleges. This is really alarming,” health minister Zahid Maleque told reporters.
He added that public gatherings like political rallies and religious events with more than 100 people are banned, although didn’t specify how long the restriction would last.
The healthcare system would be overwhelmed if the situation worsens, Maleque said, adding more than a third of the hospital beds in the capital, Dhaka, have already been occupied by coronavirus patients.
Bangladesh has so far administered at least 151m vaccine doses since the drive for jabs began a year ago. About half of the population have received two doses.
Stories of friends or neighbours catching Covid twice or even three times keep cropping up. How likely are you to get Covid multiple times? Is it easier to be reinfected with some variants?
The Guardian’s science correspondent, Nicola Davis, sheds light on why some people are catching the virus multiple times.
- What is a reinfection?
Reinfection figures tend to refer to the detection of a second, or subsequent, Covid infection, regardless of the variant involved. The risk of reinfection is likely to depend on a range of factors: for example, data suggests it is higher in unvaccinated people and potentially in those whose previous infection was more mild with a lower immune response.
It also depends on the variant – one expert said the risk of reinfection with Omicron soon after a first Omicron infection would be lower than Delta followed by Omicron – and how long ago someone was vaccinated.
- How many reinfections have there been?
According to the latest figures for England from the UKHSA, from the start of the pandemic up to 9 January this year there were 425,890 possible reinfections, with 109,936 found in the week ending 9 January, accounting for almost 11% of all cases that week.
“With the combination of being two years into the pandemic, a few rounds of antibody waning, two major waves of immune evasion by Delta and then Omicron, there’s fairly rampant reinfection,” said Prof Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London.
- Is it easier to be reinfected with some variants?
In short, yes. According to scientists at Imperial College London, after taking into account a host of factors Omicron was associated with somewhere between a 4.38 and 6.63-fold higher risk of reinfection, compared with Delta.
Learn more about the science behind Covid reinfections:
Updated
Hello, I’m Georgina Quach. I’ll be covering the blog for the next hour. For news tips and thoughts, you can reach me on: georgina.quach@theguardian.com or message @georginaquach on Twitter.
European Union health ministers were told on Friday to prepare to deploy a fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines as soon as data showed it was needed, as the bloc faces a surge in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The EU drugs regulator said this week it would be reasonable to give a fourth dose to people with severely weakened immune systems, but more evidence was needed.
“If we see data which is conclusive on whether a fourth dose is needed, we need to be ready to act,” the EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, told EU ministers in a video conference.
The meeting was organised at short notice by the French government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and focused on whether a fourth dose is needed and on adapted vaccines against new variants.
Tweeting after the conference, Kyriakides noted that the priority should be to immunise the unvaccinated, who still constitute about a quarter of the EU population.
Updated
The World Bank has approved a $750m (£553m) loan to support South Africa’s Covid response and to bolster the economic recovery from the pandemic, the Treasury said.
In a statement, the Treasury said the loan aims at “protecting the poor and vulnerable from the adverse socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic and supporting a resilient and sustainable economic recovery.”
South Africa has the continent’s second largest economy. The pandemic has left nearly 94,000 people dead, from 3.5 million cases – the highest toll in Africa.
A series of lockdowns and health regulations hobbled the economy, pushing unemployment to a record 34.9% in the third quarter of last year.
Updated
England's R number falls to between 0.8 and 1.1
The estimated range of England’s Covid-19 reproduction “R” number has fallen to between 0.8 and 1.1, the UK Health Security Agency said, adding that cases are likely to be shrinking as prime minister Boris Johnson reopens the economy.
An R number between 0.8 and 1.1 means that for every 10 people infected, they will on average infect between 8 and 11 other people. Last week the range was 1.1 to 1.5.
The daily growth of infections was estimated at between -6% and +1%, a big fall on the previous week’s range of +1% to +5%. The UKHSA said the figures represented the situation in England two to three weeks ago.
Johnson on Wednesday announced the end of Covid-19 measures, including mandatory face masks, in England, as he looks to live with the virus after a peak in cases caused by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Updated
More than half of people in Scotland think the Downing Street “partygate” saga has hurt the case for the union, according to a new poll.
The research, carried out for the Scotsman, also found almost four in five (78%) respondents think the prime minister, Boris Johnson, should resign over the allegations of parties that broke the coronavirus rules.
The survey of 1,004 Scots asked to what extent the alleged parties in Downing Street have hurt the case for the union, with 54% saying they have hurt it either a lot or a little.
More than a third (35%) said the claims had either not really hurt it or not hurt it at all, while 11% said they did not know. The survey was carried out between 14 and 18 January, after allegations emerged on 13 January that a party took place at Downing Street on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
Updated
People in Poland urged to work from home as Covid cases reach highest level
The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, urged Poles to work from home as daily Covid-19 infections reached their highest ever level.
Morawiecki also said the public can receive free lateral flow tests in pharmacies starting next week and doctors will do home visits for elderly Covid patients.
“The fifth wave is now a fact... We are seeing record numbers of infections and we are therefore dealing with a new situation,” Morawiecki told reporters.
“We recommend working remotely. The public administration will switch to remote work as soon as possible. I appeal to employers to do the same.”
Poland, where less than two-thirds of the adult population is fully vaccinated against Covid, on Friday reported 36,665 infections – a new daily record since the start of the pandemic – as well as 248 deaths.
The government has been heavily criticised by the opposition for not doing enough to combat the crisis, including through vaccine certificates.
Updated
Boris Johnson urges teachers to ditch masks in England and return to face-to-face education
Boris Johnson has urged teachers who insist masks should still worn in lessons to follow the rules which state that they are no longer required for use in classrooms.
A spokesman for the prime minister said “children have been one of the hardest hit as a result of the disruption throughout the pandemic”, adding that Johnson “believes it is vital that children are receiving face-to-face education and can enjoy a normal experience in the classroom”.
He added: “The prime minister also thinks that the schools should follow the latest guidance. We’ve been clear that we removed the requirement for face masks to be worn in classrooms and we will remove advice for face masks to be worn in communal areas from 27 January.”
Updated
The first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, told a Welsh government briefing that the country has passed the peak of Omicron infections.
“After many difficult and worrying weeks, I’m very pleased to say the situation has improved significantly,” he said.
“We can say confidently today that we have passed this peak of the Omicron wave and the incredibly high levels of infections we have seen across Wales.
“It is all your hard work and the ongoing success of our fantastic vaccination programme has helped us through this very challenging period.”
Drakeford said cases peaked at just over 2,300 per 100,000 people in early January before falling back to around 500 cases per 100,000.
“These are similar to the levels we were experiencing just before the Omicron variant arrived in Wales,” he said. “But coronavirus is still circulating at high levels in our communities.”
Updated
Omicron sub-lineage designated variant of under investigation in UK
An Omicron variant sub-lineage, known as BA.2, is under investigation by the the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Current case rates are very low but the health body said further analyses would be undertaken to look into it.
By 10 January 2022, 53 sequences of the BA.2 sub-lineage of Omicron had been identified, the UKHSA said.
Updated
Nearly 3,000 residents at a Hong Kong housing estate will be confined to their homes for five days, authorities announced on Friday, as they struggle to halt an outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The lengthy lockdown order – reminiscent of those used on the Chinese mainland – comes as Hong Kong tacks harder to Beijing’s “zero-Covid” policy.
At least 20 confirmed or preliminary positive cases were found in a public housing block in the Kwai Chung neighbourhood, said the health chief, Sophia Chan.
“Clearly there is a community outbreak and the situation is worrying,” Chan told reporters.
A security guard, cleaner and multiple residents living in non-adjacent flats have been infected, with the source thought to be a man who visited the building on 13 January.
Updated
Poland will shorten the Covid quarantine period to seven days and will introduce free tests in pharmacies from 27 January, the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on Friday, after the country reported a record number of infections.
Updated
Australia on Friday reported its deadliest day of the pandemic with 80 coronavirus fatalities, as an outbreak of the omicron variant continued to take a toll.
But Dominic Perrottet, premier of the most populous state, New South Wales, said a slight decrease in hospitalizations gave him some hope about the strain the outbreak is putting on the health system.
The previous record of 78 deaths was set on Tuesday. There have been just under 3,000 coronavirus deaths in Australia since the pandemic began. New South Wales, home to Sydney, reported a record 46 deaths. They included a baby who died from Covid-19 in December, one of several historical cases that were investigated.
The news came after the premier of Western Australia state, Mark McGowan, backed down on a promise to reopen the state to the rest of the country on 5 February.
In a late-night news conference on Thursday, McGowan said reopening the state as planned would be “reckless and irresponsible” given the large number of Covid-19 cases in other states. No new date has been set for when the state might relax its border closure.
The border decision means neither Prime Minister Scott Morrison nor opposition leader Anthony Albanese can campaign in the state for now. An election is due to be held by May 21.
More than a fifth of adults in Britain had difficulties getting lateral flow tests earlier in January, figures suggest.
Some 22% told the Office for National Statistics (ONS) they had struggled to order or pick up a rapid-result test in the past seven days.
The most common places difficulties were experienced were when ordering on the Government website for home delivery (68%) and collecting from pharmacies (60%).
The majority (85%) said the difficulties did not stop them from doing anything they had planned. The ONS analysed responses from 3,293 people between 6 and 16 January as part of its Opinions and Lifestyle survey.
It found 61% of adults said they had taken a lateral flow test in the last week - up from 57% on 15 December to 3 January. It is also up from 42% in the period before Plan B measures were introduced in England.
The figures also show that one in 10 adults reported self-isolating because of coronavirus in the past seven days.
This is up from 7% in the previous survey period and 5% prior to Plan B measures. It is comparable to the proportion self-isolating this time last year, when the country was in its third national lockdown.
Updated
Today so far …
- The World Health Organization notes that cases of Covid have sharply declined in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the emergence of the Omicron variant.
- Australia’s Omicron wave has likely peaked in NSW and Victoria, according to experts.
- There were 107,364 new Covid cases recorded in the UK yesterday. Over the last seven days there have been 650,700 new coronavirus cases recorded in the UK. Cases have decreased by 32.8% week-on-week.
- The government in Wales has confirmed that nearly all Covid restrictions will be dropped in the country in the next eight days.
- Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford has said Boris Johnson has been permanently damaged by the Downing Street lockdown party scandal. He said “Even if he were to survive, he will just limp on because he’s never going to escape the damage that this week has done to his reputation.”
- European Union health ministers will meet today to try to find a common line over potential fourth doses of Covid-19 vaccines. EU members Hungary and Denmark have already decided to roll out a second booster jab.
- Germany reported yet another new record of 140,160 new coronavirus cases on Friday as the country’s health minister warned the country could see at least 400,000 per day by mid-February.
- Russia has seen an extremely sharp rise in Covid cases over the last three days, and has today set a brand new daily case record of 49,513.
- Poland has set a record for new cases – 36,665 – and deputy health minister Waldemar Kraska has told broadcasters “In the coming days we will also have very high results, it worries us.”
- Israel’s defence minister Benny Gantz said on Friday he was isolating after testing positive for Covid but was in good health.
- Pakistan reported over 7,000 Covid cases in a single day, its highest daily number of infections since the pandemic began. A ban on indoor dinning in cities or districts with test positivity rate above 10% has been imposed with effect from 21 January.
- By contrast, India’s capital New Delhi is set to lift a weekend curfew and allow private offices to be partially staffed after a fall in new infections. Meanwhile, a zoo in India is planning on rolling out a Covid vaccine trial on its resident lions and leopards, the Times of India is reporting.
- China has reported its lowest daily tally of local confirmed Covid-19 cases in nearly two months. However the Beijing Winter Olympics torch relay will be cordoned off from the public because of concern about the spread of the coronavirus, organisers said.
- Authorities and pet-lovers in Hong Kong are locked in a game of cat and mouse, with citizens mounting a clandestine rescue operation for hamsters condemned to be euthanised over fears they could transmit Covid-19.
That is your lot from me this week. Rachel Hall has the UK politics live blog. Sarah Marsh will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day’s Covid news from the UK and around the world. I hope you have a great weekend. I will see you again here on Monday.
The owner of UK restaurant chains including Wagamama and Frankie & Benny’s said it expected full-year profits to hit the top end of its forecast despite a dramatic slowdown in sales last month because of the impact of the spread of the Omicron variant.
The Restaurant Group (TRG), which owns 650 restaurants and pubs and operates 70 concessions mostly in airports, expects adjusted profits for 2021 to be at the top end of its £73m to £79m guidance to investors. It welcomed the government’s decision to lift plan B restrictions but warned that consumer confidence might take longer to recover.
Read more of Mark Sweney’s report here: Wagamama owner TRG expects to rise above the Omicron effect
EU health ministers meeting today to discuss approach to fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines
Francesco Guarascio has a scene-setter for Reuters from Brussels where European Union health ministers will try to find a common line on Friday over a potential fourth dose of Covid-19 vaccines.
The EU drugs regulator said earlier this week it would be reasonable to give a fourth dose to people with severely weakened immune systems, but more evidence was needed.
Ministers will discuss “the administration of the fourth dose,” said a press release issued by the French presidency of the EU, which organised the video-conference for health ministers at short notice.
EU members Hungary and Denmark have already decided to roll out a fourth dose of Covid vaccines. Copenhagen said it would do so for the most vulnerable, while the Hungarian government said everybody could get it after a consultation with a doctor.
The rollout of fourth doses began in Israel last month, making it the first country to administer the so-called second booster.
Many, though, consider that more data is needed before making decisions on that.
The French presidency said the video conference was meant to find a common approach at an EU level on vaccination strategies. The meeting will also discuss coordination of other Covid policies, including for possible new joint purchases of vaccines, as “vaccines adapted to variants are coming soon,” the French presidency said.
Russia sets new record for daily Covid cases at 49,513
Russia has seen an extremely sharp rise in Covid cases in the last couple of days, and today set a new record of 49,513. That surpasses the previous peak of just over 40,000 cases in November.
Yesterday there were 38,850 new cases, the day before around 32,000. Reuters note that the Russian Covid taskforce also announced an official figure of 692 deaths yesterday.
Rachel Hall is in the hot seat this morning for our UK politics live blog, which she has just launched. You can follow that with her here.
I will be carrying on here with the latest coronavirus news from around the world, including key Covid developments from the UK, so stay tuned.
Rocky Swift has an update on the situation in Japan for Reuters, having spoken to Haruka Sakamoto, a physician and public health researcher at Keio University in Tokyo.
She said that while newly-introduced curbs in Tokyo and twelve other prefectures may have some impact on a public that has adapted to a “new normal” of behaviour over the past two years, promoting booster shots, building up testing capacity and protecting essential workers are more critical. “The response in these areas by the Cabinet seems to be very slow,” she added.
One doctor told Reuters there appeared to be delays in imports of vaccines for boosters, as Japan depends on overseas drugmakers for almost all of its supplies.
Another pointed to a decision to shut down mass vaccination centres after the main inoculation push last year, and the health ministry’s initial insistence on an eight-month gap between first-phase inoculations and booster shots.
Makoto Shimoaraiso, a Cabinet official guiding Japan’s pandemic response, said that delays in regulatory approvals and reopening of inoculation sites had hampered the vaccine rollout.
Japan’s initial inoculation push started off slowly before reaching up to 1.7m shots a day last year, and with boosters, “we can also see the same rapid increase,” he added.
The country has recorded just over 2 million coronavirus cases and 18,461 deaths during the pandemic.
“When you look at the infection situation, the quasi-state of emergency is inevitable,” said office worker Masayuki Fujii, 49. “However, we have to get the economy going.”
Here are a few more words from Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford from the media round today. PA Media quote him telling Sky News that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suffered permanent damage from the scandals of the last few weeks. He said:
Even if he were to survive, he will just limp on because he’s never going to escape the damage that this week has done to his reputation.
From my point of view, the thing that worries me the most is the fact that the UK government is frozen by the impact of what has happened to them.
They’re just not able to make the sorts of decisions you’d expect the government to make, because everything is seen through this lens, the attempt to try and shore up the prime minister to protect him from the attacks that his own side are making on him.
That means it’s a government that’s turned in on itself and isn’t capable of doing the job that it was elected to do.
On the future of Covid passes in Wales, he said their use would be reviewed on 10 February, saying they “will stay in place for a bit longer than some of the other protections we put in place.”
Asked if people could expect that 10 February could mean the end for the Covid pass, he said: “I think it’s conceivable, but by no means guaranteed. We’ve just seen in the last week or so how fast things can change with this virus and 10 February is still three weeks away.
“So if things continue to improve on that current rate, and we were in a position to lift some of the further protections, of course that’s what we want to do. But in Wales, we will only do it when we’re sure we have a clinical advice or scientific advice that would tell us that it will be safe to do that.”
Reuters have an update from Poland, where a deputy health minister has said the country will report a record 36,665 daily Covid cases today.
Authorities have warned that the latest wave of the pandemic will drive case numbers to levels as yet unseen in the European Union’s largest eastern member, putting severe strain on the health service.
“In the coming days we will also have very high results, it worries us,” Waldemar Kraska told broadcaster Radio Plus, adding that daily cases would top 50,000 next week. A week ago daily cases were just over 16,000.
Poland has a lower rate of vaccination than the EU average and the limited restrictions in place, such as wearing masks in enclosed public spaces, are often not strictly enforced.
On Wednesday, health minister Adam Niedzielski said that state employees would move to remote working and private sector companies should follow suit in order to limit the spread of the virus.
Further civil unrest broke out overnight on Friday in the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe and at least one police officer was injured, the Caribbean island’s prefect said.
Guadeloupe and the nearby French island of Martinique have been hit by violent protests over the past few months, due partly to public anger over Covid restrictions.
“The prefect condemns the unspeakable actions and offers its support to the injured person,” the statement said.
Reuters remind us that a curfew was put in place in Guadeloupe at the end of last year in an effort to curb the sometimes violent protests.
In Guadeloupe there has been mistrust of the French government’s handling of health crises since the 1970s when many islanders were exposed to toxic pesticides used in banana plantations.
Authorities and pet-lovers in Hong Kong are locked in a game of cat and mouse, with citizens mounting a clandestine rescue operation for hamsters condemned to be euthanised over fears they could transmit Covid-19.
On Tuesday, government and health officials announced traces of the virus had been found on 11 hamsters, all in a pet shop where a 23-year-old staff member had fallen ill. They decided more than 2,000 of the imported animals, including any pets bought since 22 December, must be killed, and “strongly recommended” owners surrender their pets.
For many, it was the final straw after two years of ad hoc and often illogical pandemic measures, and residents sprung into action, offering to hide or adopt the doomed pets. Tens of thousands signed petitions, while others offered to fake backdated receipts to before 22 December, the Washington Post reported. Groups gathered outside collection facilities urging people not to hand over their animals.
One Causeway Bay woman, who gave the name Jessica, said she volunteered on a social media group to house a hamster, but was still waiting to be assigned one. “There are a lot of other volunteers,” she said. “I left a message saying which area I’m in, and that I could take one hamster because the flat I live in is small and I have a dog.
Read more of Helen Davidson’s report here: Hongkongers launch hamster rescue mission after Covid cull declared
A quick snap from Reuters here that Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz said on Friday he was isolating after testing positive for Covid but was in good health.
“I feel good because I am vaccinated. In the coming days I will manage security affairs from my home,” Gantz wrote on Twitter.
Israel has shortened its mandatory isolation period for confirmed carriers to five days. Other senior Israeli cabinet members, including the foreign and finance ministers, have recently tested positive for Covid as well.
First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford has had a little sideswipe at the UK government on BBC Breakfast this morning while confirming that he is “confident” it is safe to lift restrictions on outdoors sporting events and outdoor hospitality from Friday.
Drakeford accused the UK Government of moving too fast to ease restrictions in England to distract attention from the scandals engulfing it. PA Media quote him saying:
We’ve always taken a different approach in Wales, one that does things step by step in line with a science. We’re a government that doesn’t need to grab headlines to distract attention from the difficulties.
I think people in Wales have demonstrated their support for that more cautious, more step by step approach because it has kept Wales safe.
Germany records another new record for daily Covid cases
Germany reported yet another new record of 140,160 new coronavirus cases on Friday as the country’s health minister warned the country could see at least 400,000 per day by mid-February.
That figure would be reached under an optimistic scenario in which booster shots provide very good protection, Karl Lauterbach said in a discussion with state government leaders, sources involved in the talks told Reuters late on Thursday.
The number could climb to more than 600,000 daily new cases if the booster shots were less protective, he said, according to the sources.
Lauterbach also said he expected the numbers in intensive care in hospitals to increase significantly over coming weeks. Federal and state leaders will discuss on Monday measures to curb the increase.
One thing that has come out of Kwasi Kwarteng’s media round in the UK is a debate on whether schools should be making children wear face masks in class or not in England. He was asked on Sky News about reports that some schools were still enforcing a mask mandate. He said:
That’s a matter also for teachers and parents to negotiate. The guidance of the prime minister is very clear that we won’t need to be wearing masks.
Pressed on whether it was wrong for schools to do so, he said:
All I say is that they have to follow the guidance.
However, he then went on to say “I’m not here as the business secretary responsible for the economy, which I thought we’d be talking about, to tell school teachers and head teachers how they’re going to run schools.”
The Welsh government has confirmed that nearly all Covid restrictions will be dropped in the country in the next eight days. Ruth Mosalski reports for WalesOnline:
It will mean that after 28 January, the only rules in place in Wales are that everyone over the age of 11 has to wear face coverings in indoor public places, with the exception of hospitality venues; businesses need to undertake risk assessments and people must continue to self-isolate when they test positive. Covid passes will still have to be used for large events, cinemas and nightclubs.
The first minister said the decision has been taken because the data suggests Wales has passed the peak of the Omicron wave and coronavirus cases are falling back to levels similar to those seen earlier in the autumn. There have also been reductions in the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital.
Wales had been at alert level two since Boxing Day. It meant caps on people meeting indoors and outdoors, hospitality must stick to rules about table service and have groups no larger than six, and has seen a ban on crowds at sporting events. Nightclubs were also forced to close their doors.
Hannah Devlin, our science correspondent, writes for us this morning that experts say when the rules are relaxed there tends to be a gradual erosion of protective behaviours:
“The research so far has shown that it has been rules that have been the dominant feature in driving behaviour,” said Prof Robert West, a behavioural scientist at University College London (UCL). “When you take the rules away, it won’t happen immediately, but what we’ve seen previously is a gradual erosion of protective behaviours even when attitudes are not changing that much.”
West points to a steady decline in the number of people adhering to advice to wear masks once it is not longer a requirement. “People still said they thought it was a good idea, but fewer and fewer people were actually doing it.”
West said that indications that the government would allow the legal requirement to self-isolate to lapse did not necessarily mean that people would jump the gun and change their behaviour in advance of this rule change.
“From data earlier in the pandemic we did not see substantial rule-breaking ahead of relaxations but in any event the adherence to self-isolation requirements has been low – one of the reasons why we have done so badly in the UK,” he said.
Read more of Hannah Devlin’s analysis here: Mixed messages? How end of Covid plan B rules could change behaviour
Retail sales in Great Britain tumbled last month as the introduction of Covid-19 restrictions hit spending over the crucial Christmas period. Retail sales volumes fell by 3.7% in December 2021, the Office for National Statistics reports.
My colleague Graeme Wearden has more coverage of this over on our business live blog, which you can find here.
Pakistan sets new record for daily Covid cases – imposes indoor dining ban in some areas
Pakistan reported on Friday over 7,000 Covid cases in a single day, its highest daily number of infections since the pandemic began.
At least 7,678 cases in the past 24 hours pushed the positivity ratio to 12.93%, the highest ever in the last two years. 23 deaths were also reported in the last 24 hours, according to data from the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC), which is overseeing the pandemic response.
“Amid rising trend of disease across the country a ban on indoor dinning in cities/districts with positivity above 10% has been imposed with effect from 21 January,” said a notification issued by NCOC.
Syed Raza Hassan reports for Reuters from Karachi that the government authorised booster vaccination shots for citizens over the age of 30. Vaccination of children over the age of 12 has been made mandatory to attend the schools and children under 12 will attend schools with 50% attendance.
“We might see a peak after two weeks followed by a gradual decline,” Faisal Mahmood associate professor of infections diseases at Aga Khan University Hospital told Geo television channel on Friday morning.
He said the number of hospitalisations are rising, citing the on-going wedding season for the rapid spread of the virus. About 70 million people in Pakistan, or 32% of the population, have had two vaccine doses.
New Delhi set to lift some weekend restrictions as case numbers fall
India’s capital is set to lift a weekend curfew and allow private offices to be partially staffed after a fall in new Covid-19 infections, a city government official said on Friday.
The number of new cases in Delhi has more than halved from a peak of 28,867 on 13 January and more than 80% of Covid beds across the city’s hospitals were unoccupied, according to government data.
“In view of the declining cases of corona, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal approved the proposal,” the official, who declined to be identified to Reuters, said of a suggestion from authorities that the weekend curfew be scrapped.
The city’s lieutenant governor, who must sign off on the city government’s executive decisions, was expected to review the proposal and clear the way for its formal approval later on Friday.
Delhi has been one of the centres of India’s coronavirus pandemic for the past two years and has endured various lockdowns and curfews over different waves of infection. The city imposed the most recent curfew on 4 January and ordered schools and restaurants to close as infections caused by the Omicron variant surged.
It was not clear if those curbs and a night curfew on weekdays would also be scrapped. Frustrated Delhi shopkeepers protested on the streets this week, demanding that curbs be lifted.
I am not sure it is worth giving you a full transcript of the exchanges featuring UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Sky News this morning because this one line “Look, I don’t want to get drawn into what will happen if unsubstantiated allegations are proven true” pretty much covers off everything he said in reply to both the allegations that government whips have been threatening and blackmailing MPs and the impending release of the Sue Gray report into those Downing Street lockdown-breaking parties.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is on the media round for the government this morning, and has immediately offered his 100% support for beleaguered UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the Downing Street lockdown party scandal on Sky News. I’ll bring you any key Covid lines that emerge from that.
Only two UK Covid briefings were led by a female MP, report finds
Only two of the government briefings held at the height of the coronavirus pandemic were led by a female politician, and in both cases it was the home secretary, Priti Patel, a report into gender representation across the UK’s top jobs has shows.
The 2022 Sex and Power Index, compiled by the Fawcett Society, a charity campaigning for women’s rights, showed equality is still “decades off”, as men continue to dominate the top ranks of law, politics and business.
The biennial report also highlighted the complete lack of women of colour in senior roles and what it lamented as a “glacial” pace of change. Women account for just 8% of FTSE 100 CEOs, none of whom is a woman of colour.
Read the full story here.
Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London, taking over from Samantha Lock in Sydney. Here’s a quick run down of where the Covid numbers stand in the UK.
There were 107,364 new Covid cases recorded yesterday. Over the last seven days there have been 650,700 new coronavirus cases recorded in the UK. Cases have decreased by 32.8% week-on-week.
There have been 1,860 deaths within 28 days of a positive test recorded in the last week, including 330 recorded yesterday. Deaths have increased by 1.8% week-on-week.
Hospital admissions have decreased by 7.2% week-on-week. At the latest count on the UK government’s own dashboard, there were 18,494 people in hospital in total, of whom 675 are in ventilation beds. According to the government’s figures, the peak of hospitalisations during the pandemic was in January 2021, with 39,254 patients in hospital.
There were around 1.5m tests for Covid carried out on 19 January. That compares to a recent peak of 2m on 4 January.
Summary of key events
Here’s a round-up of all the latest international developments:
Asia:
-
China has reported its lowest daily tally of local confirmed Covid-19 cases in nearly two months, after a national strategy to stamp out flare-ups and lock down affected cities.
- Despite the decrease in daily case counts, experts say China’s zero Covid policy ‘not sustainable’ in light of Omicron.
- A clinic in Malaysia injected people with distilled water before providing fraudulent Covid vaccination certificates, according to local media reports.
- The Beijing Winter Olympics torch relay will be cordoned off from the public because of concern about the spread of the coronavirus, organisers said.
- A zoo in India is planning on rolling out a Covid vaccine trial on its resident lions and leopards, the Times of India is reporting.
-
Hong Kong police will deal with pet lovers who try to stop people giving up their hamsters to be put down, or who offer to care for abandoned hamsters, authorities said, after they ordered a cull of the cuddly rodents to curb the coronavirus.
Europe:
- Germany reported another record rise of 140,160 new daily cases. It is the third consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record, with 170 deaths also reported.
Australia and New Zealand:
- Australia’s Omicron wave has likely peaked in NSW and Victoria, according to experts.
- New Zealand has extended Covid isolation requirements to 14 days in light of the spread of the Omicron variant.
- An Australian aid flight en route to the South Pacific nation of Tonga recently devastated by a volcanic eruption and tsunami has been turned back to base due to a positive Covid-19 case onboard.
Africa:
- The World Health Organization notes that cases of Covid have sharply declined in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the emergence of the Omicron variant.
- The World Bank has approved a Covid-19 linked $750m development policy loan to South Africa to protect the poor and support economic recovery from the pandemic.
United States:
- Adele has been forced to delay her three-month Las Vegas residency after Covid hit the production.
China’s zero Covid policy ‘not sustainable’ in light of Omicron
In the past two years, China’s controversial zero Covid policy achieved much success – although the personal and societal cost was high.
“[The] detection of Omicron variant in many cities in China including Beijing shows how difficult it could be to maintain the zero Covid policy,” said Prof Jin Dong-yan, of Hong Kong University’s School of Biomedical Sciences.
Without changing course (and it is probably already too late before the winter Games), experts expect more extreme measures to be announced in the coming weeks. Earlier this month, the Beijing municipality’s traffic management authority asked people to stay away from the special vehicles used to ferry athletes to and from the Winter Olympics venues in the event of a car incident.
Read the full story here.
After remaining Covid-free for the entirety of the pandemic, the Pacific island nation of Kiribati has reopened its borders – only for two thirds of the passengers on the first international flight to arrive in ten months to test positive for the virus.
The island is now set to impose a four-day lockdown from Monday after the virus was found to have spread into the community.
All 54 passengers, 36 of whom were diagnosed with Covid after arriving from Fiji last Friday, have now been quarantined and are recovering well, according to authorities.
Read the full story from our reporter Rimon Rimon in Tarawa here.
A clinic in Malaysia injected people with distilled water before providing fraudulent Covid vaccination certificates, according to local media reports.
The private clinic in Terengganu State was responsible for vaccinating people under the national immunisation programme, and issuing vaccine certificates that are required for travel. However, police suspect more than 1,200 people who attended the clinic were not actually vaccinated.
Of 23 people who attended the clinic and have been interviewed by police so far, all admitted to not receiving the Covid vaccination. “Some of them admitted to taking injections of distilled water or saltwater on the grounds that they were still getting the shots, even though they were not the vaccine,” said Terengganu police chief Rohaimi Md Isa. Customers reportedly paid up to RM600 ($143 USD) each for the service.
The clinic in Marang, Terengganu State, is one several under investigation by the police for fraudulently selling Covid certificates.
Malaysia has fully vaccinated 80% of the population, and is now rolling out booster jabs. It will also begin vaccinating children aged five to 12 next month.
However, officials have cited vaccine hesitancy and misinformation about side effects as a concern. In a statement published last week, Noor Hisham Abdullah, Director General of Health, said the government needed to “disentangle vaccine disinformation on Covid-19 vaccines, predominantly through social media platforms.”
The Beijing Winter Olympics torch relay will be cordoned off from the public because of concern about the spread of the coronavirus, organisers said on Friday, according to a Reuters report.
The relay involving 1,200 torchbearers will begin on 2 February and wind up just two days later, on 4 February when the Games open in the capital, Beijing, and neighbouring Hebei province.
Yang Haibin, an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports told a briefing:
This torch relay will always prioritise safety.
Taking into account factors such as epidemic prevention ... the torch relay and ceremonial activities will be arranged in safe and controllable closed venues.”
Beijing, the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games, is on high-alert for the coronavirus after a handful of small outbreaks in various parts of the country that authorities have responded to with sweeping restrictions and mass testing.
All of the torchbearers must be vaccinated and will be tested for the virus and have their health monitored for 14 days before the relay.
The relay route, which will be much shorter than previous ones, will include a stop at the Great Wall, China’s most famous landmark, as well as central Beijing’s Olympic parks, the Summer Palace and other venues including International Grape Exhibition Garden and Zhangjiakou Industrial Culture Park.
Only selected members of the public will be allowed to watch the relay in person.
A zoo in India is planning on rolling out a Covid vaccine trial on its resident lions and leopards, the Times of India is reporting.
The experimental study comes after two lions died of Covid-19 at the Chennai zoo last year.
The trial will be conducted on 15 animals in the Sakkarbaug zoo using a vaccine developed by ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE).
The World Bank has approved a Covid-19 linked $750m development policy loan to South Africa to protect the poor and support economic recovery from the pandemic, a statement from National Treasury said on Friday.
“This loan will support the government of South Africa’s efforts to accelerate its Covid-19 response aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable from the adverse socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic and supporting a resilient and sustainable economic recovery,” the statement read.
Director-general of the national treasury of South Africa, Dondo Mogojane, said in a statement: “The world bank budget support is coming at a critical time for us and will contribute towards addressing the financing gap stemming from additional spending in response to the Covid-19 crisis.”
For airline staff, navigating the pandemic has meant grappling with a surge in bad behaviour, ranging from temper tantrums to punching flight attendants in the face.
In the latest incident, 129 passengers paid a remarkable price: a maskless “disruptive customer” forced American Airlines’ flight AAL38 flying from Miami to London to turn around and go back, the New York Times reports. The reversal occurred off the North Carolina coast, after the flight had traveled about 500 miles.
The customer, described by police as a woman in her 40s, was “refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement”, American Airlines said in a statement to the newspaper.
“Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff,” a police detective said, according to CNN.
Read the full story here.
Aid flight to tsunami-hit Tonga forced to return over Covid case
An Australian aid flight en route to the South Pacific nation of Tonga recently devastated by a volcanic eruption and tsunami has been turned back to base due to a positive Covid-19 case onboard.
The flight left Brisbane on Thursday afternoon but was turned around midflight after being notified of the positive Covid-19 case, an Australian defence spokeswoman said today.
All crew had returned negative rapid antigen tests before departure, but PCR tests later showed the positive result. The supplies were moved to another flight that took off on Friday.
Tonga is Covid-free and has a strict border control policy, and is requiring contactless delivery of aid that began arriving by plane on Thursday.
Germany reports record rise of 140,160 new cases
Germany is reporting another record rise of 140,160 new daily cases.
It is the third consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record, with 170 deaths also reported, according to recently updated figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
The previous daily count recorded on Wednesday was 133,536 daily new cases and 234 deaths.
Tuesday saw 112,323 new coronavirus cases and 239 deaths.
The nationwide seven-day incidence reported by the RKI has exceeded the threshold of 600 for the first time at 638.8.
Germany now joins other European countries like the UK, France and Italy in recording more than 100,000 new Covid-19 infections on one day.
Omicron now accounts for more than 70% of new infections.
The country recently tightened restrictions on access to restaurants, bars and cafes to people who have received their booster jabs or who are tested on top of being fully vaccinated or recovered. Germany has also pledged to accelerate vaccinations while the parliament prepares to discuss introducing mandatory vaccinations - a measure supported by new chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Hong Kong warns people interfering in Covid hamster cull
Hong Kong police will deal with pet lovers who try to stop people giving up their hamsters to be put down, or who offer to care for abandoned hamsters, authorities said, after they ordered a cull of the cuddly rodents to curb the coronavirus.
On Tuesday, officials ordered the killing of about 2,000 hamsters from dozens of pet shops after tracing a coronavirus outbreak to a worker at a shop, where 11 hamsters later tested positive for Covid-19.
Thousands of people have offered to adopt unwanted hamsters amid a public outcry against the government and its pandemic advisers, which the office of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam called irrational.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said any effort to try to save hamsters would be dealt with, even if that meant calling in the law.
The department said:
If the people concerned continue with such action, or fail to return the hamsters taken away, the AFCD will stringently follow up and hand it over to the police for handling.”
The government has said the animals are being humanely dispatched and called on all sectors of society to unite to fight the spread of coronavirus.
Hong Kong has also been testing rabbits and chinchillas but only the hamsters were positive. They were all imported from the Netherlands, according to broadcaster RTHK.
China has reported its lowest daily tally of local confirmed Covid-19 cases in nearly two months, after a national strategy to stamp out flare-ups and lock down affected cities.
China reported 23 domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms for Thursday, official data showed, down from 43 a day earlier.
This marks the fourth consecutive day of decline in local symptomatic cases, with the lowest daily case load since 29 November.
The central province Henan and the northern city of Tianjin, two areas that have detected most of China’s local cases in the past 10 days, each reported fewer than 10 local confirmed infections for Thursday.
The capital, Beijing, reported five, slightly up from three a day earlier. The southern city of Zhuhai and Xian in the northwestern also reported a handful of new local cases.
China reported for Thursday two new domestically transmitted asymptomatic cases, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, in the southwestern province of Yunnan. There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll at 4,636. As of 20 January, mainland China had 105,484 confirmed symptomatic cases, including both local ones and those arriving from abroad.
While we are on the topic of New Zealand, the island nation is reporting 23 new locally-transmitted coronavirus cases and 44 cases identified at the border.
The seven day rolling average of community cases stands at 22 while the seven day rolling average of border cases is 40.
A total of 18 people are currently in hospital while one person is in ICU for Covid-related problems.
More than 900,000 boosters have been given to date.
Another possible Omicron case has also been detected in Auckland in a person who works at Auckland Airport and so far not linked to previously reported Auckland Omicron cases, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
New Zealand extends Covid isolation to 14 days
New Zealand has just announced it will be extending Covid isolation requirements to 14 days in light of the spread of the Omicron variant.
“To help address the increased infectiousness of Omicron, as an interim measure the isolation time for all Covid-19 cases is being extended to 14 days. It was previously ten days,” the ministry of health said in a statement on Friday.
A similar change is also being applied for close contacts where all close contacts will now isolate for ten days - an increase from the previous seven days.
“As part of the response to Omicron, at this stage our public health teams are focussed strongly on stamping out early any Omicron cases in the community,” the ministry added.
The changes are to take effect from Friday, 21 January.
To help address the increased infectiousness of Omicron, as an interim measure the isolation time for all COVID-19 cases is being extended to 14 days. It was previously ten days.
— Ministry of Health - Manatū Hauora (@minhealthnz) January 21, 2022
Updated
As we continue across Asia, Malaysia is reporting another 3,497 new coronavirus cases and 27 deaths, according to recent government data.
A total of 3,242 cases were locally transmitted while 522 were imported.
While we are in the Asian region, South Korea is reporting an additional 6,769 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to a recent update from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another 21 deaths have also been reported, taking the cumulative death toll in the country to 6,501.
A total of 431 people are in in critical condition with 626 new hospital admissions per day.
The intensive care bed utilisation rate - a closely watched figure - is at 21.9%.
Updated
Just a quick snap from Thailand as the Southeast Asian nation reports another 8,640 new daily coronavirus cases today and 13 deaths, according to recent report from the ministry of health.
Australia’s Omicron wave has likely peaked, experts say
The Omicron outbreak of Covid cases appears to have peaked in New South Wales, Victoria and other parts of Australia, epidemiologists believe.
Prof Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist and biostatistician at the University of South Australia, said the Omicron wave had “absolutely certainly” peaked in NSW and Victoria.
The Reff – the effective reproduction number, which measures how many other people someone with Covid will infect, on average – had dropped below 1 in both states, Esterman said.
“We know that the peak has been reached when the Reff gets below 1.”
On Thursday, Esterman calculated the Reff to be 0.83 in NSW and 0.8 in Victoria.
“You can’t really interpret the daily cases very well because of huge fluctuations and large of numbers of rapid antigen tests coming through on a given day but being distributed over previous days,” Esterman said. “The Reff is still reasonably stable despite the daily fluctuation in case numbers.” 2
Read the full story here.
Adele postpones Las Vegas residency with half her crew infected with Covid
Adele has been forced to delay her three-month Las Vegas residency after Covid hit the production.
“I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready,” the singer announced in an Instagram post. “We’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and Covid. Half my crew … are down with Covid – they still are – and it’s been impossible to finish the show.”
The residency, titled Weekends with Adele, was due to begin on 21 January at the Colosseum in the Caesars Palace casino, celebrating her highly lauded album 30, which topped music charts in the UK, Australia and the US. Its first single, Easy On Me, broke records upon its release, becoming Spotify’s most-streamed song in a single day.
“I’m gutted and I’m sorry it’s so last minute,” Adele said. “We’ve been awake for over 30 hours now and we’ve run out of time. I’m so upset and … I’m so sorry to everyone that travelled to get [here].
“We’re going to reschedule all of the dates, we’re on it right now … I’m gonna finish my show and I’m gonna get it to where it’s supposed to be.”
Read the full story here.
Covid cases 'drop significantly' in Africa, WHO says
Cases of Covid have sharply declined in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the emergence of the Omicron variant, the World Health Organization has said.
The UN health agency’s regional office for Africa said newly reported cases fell 20% in the week to Sunday while notified deaths dropped 8%.
Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, described the 56-day flareup as Africa’s “shortest upsurge yet” but added: “The continent has yet to turn the tables on this pandemic. So long as the virus continues to circulate, further pandemic waves are inevitable.”
Moeti said Africa should “not only broaden vaccinations, but also gain increased and equitable access to critical Covid-19 therapeutics to save lives and effectively combat this pandemic”.
Only 10% of people in Africa are fully vaccinated, according to the WHO.
The continent, with a population of 1.2 billion, has been relatively unscathed by the pandemic, reporting 234,913 deaths from 10.5 million cases, according to AFP tallies.
However, most data experts agree that the lower numbers are most likely due to access to testing and the true number is much higher.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you on the blog, reporting all the latest Covid developments from across the world.
I’ll be reporting to you from Sydney and my colleagues from London will take over a little later in the day.
Let’s dive in with the cautiously optimistic news that Australia’s Omicron wave has likely peaked in NSW and Victoria, according to experts.
Epidemiologist and biostatistician, Prof Adrian Esterman, said the Omicron wave had “absolutely certainly” peaked in NSW and Victoria after noting the reproduction number, which measures how many other people someone with Covid will infect, on average – had dropped below 1 in both states.
In more hopeful news, the World Health Organization notes that cases of Covid have sharply declined in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Describing the 56-day flareup as Africa’s “shortest upsurge yet,” the WHO’s African regional office said newly reported cases fell by 20% in the week to Sunday, while notified deaths dropped by 8%.
Here’s a round-up of all the latest international developments you may have missed:
Europe:
- The Irish government has been given the green light to lift the majority of the state’s Covid restrictions.
- In France, Covid-19 restrictions will be loosened from February onwards, the prime minister has said, shortly after country’s Covid vaccination pass comes into effect. Jean Castex said on Thursday the pass will come into effect on 24 January, provided it is approved by the Constitutional Council.
- Austria announced it will introduce a national vaccine lottery to encourage holdouts to get shots and has extended Covid lockdown measures for another ten days. MPs voted to approve a Covid-19 vaccine mandate which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over.
- England will soon scrap virtually all Covid measures, the health secretary confirmed.
- Germany reported another record rise of 133,536 daily new cases. It is the second consecutive day the European country has broken a pandemic record, with 234 deaths also reported, according to recently updated figures from the Robert Koch Institute.
Australia and New Zealand:
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Australia’s drugs regulator has for the first time approved oral treatments for Covid-19 which should help address supply shortages of other treatments.
- Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Association has also given provisional approval to the protein-based Novavax Covid-19 vaccine.
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New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said restrictions will be tightened if there is a community transmission of Omicron.
- The state of Western Australia has cancelled plans to reopen its borders on 5 February, citing health risks from a surge in Omicron cases elsewhere in the country, as the tally of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began topped two million.
Asia:
- Taiwan will mandate the use of passes for proof of Covid vaccination to enter entertainment venues.
- Thailand will resume its ‘Test & Go’ quarantine waiver for vaccinated arrivals starting on 1 February, the country’s coronavirus taskforce said on Thursday.
- Japan recorded a daily rise of 41,377 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, shattering the record it set a day earlier by about 10,000 as the government puts more prefectures under a quasi-state of emergency.
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Hong Kong will likely suspend face-to-face teaching in secondary schools from 24 January, local media reports.
- China’s capital Beijing has ramped up efforts to curb Covid-19 infections, ordering checks among cold-chain firms and urging residents to cut unnecessary gatherings.
United States:
- US president Joe Biden has admitted that more should have been done in terms of Covid-19 testing availability earlier in the pandemic.
- The US is set to require Covid vaccines for essential workers crossing borders.
Africa:
- Cases of Covid have sharply declined in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the emergence of the Omicron variant, the World Health Organization has said.
