That’s it from me, Samantha Lock, for today’s Covid blog.
Please join me on our latest live feed here where I’ll be focusing a little more on the coronavirus crisis across Asia, Australia and the Pacific.
You can also keep up with the top headlines here.
Updated
More details have emerged on the arrest of two Cathay Pacific flight attendants for allegedly contravening Covid regulations.
Hong Kong police arrested and laid charges against two former Cathay Pacific flight attendants for alleged violations of home isolation rules that coincided with the arrival of the Omicron variant in Hong Kong.
The pair – who were believed to have been carrying the highly transmissible variant while allegedly interacting with others in public during what was meant to be a three-day self-isolation period – were released on bail on Monday, and will appear at Tuen Mun Court and Eastern Court, respectively, on 9 February, the South China Morning Post reports.
The first flight attendant, a 45-year-old man, returned to the city from New York on 24 December, and went to the other flight attendant’s home in Tuen Mun for lunch on Christmas. The latter, a 44-year-old man, had just flown home from Chicago that day. Neither were required to undergo hotel quarantine, but were instead allowed to self-isolate at home under medical surveillance.
It is understood that the second flight attendant was the Cathay employee previously found to have visited the Moon Palace restaurant in the Festival Walk shopping centre in Kowloon Tong on 27 December. A cluster sparked there has since grown to 16 Covid-19 cases.
Mexico’s health ministry on Monday reported 59 new deaths from Covid-19, bringing the official death toll in the country since the coronavirus pandemic began to 301,469.
Brazil has had 74,134 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the past 24 hours, and 121 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said on Monday.
The South American country has now registered 23,074,791 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 621,166, according to ministry data.
Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll is the world’s third deadliest after the United States and Russia, according to Reuters calculations.
Poland enters fifth Covid wave, health minister says
Poland is experiencing a fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, the health minister said on Monday, warning that the spread of the Omicron variant could send daily case numbers soaring to levels not yet seen in the country.
While daily case numbers have fallen since early December, the European Union’s largest eastern member has had little respite since the fourth wave, regularly reporting over 10,000 new infections per day amid low vaccine take-up and limited restrictions on public life.
“We predict that the peak of infections will be in mid-February and that peak is about 60,000 cases a day,” Adam Niedzielski told a news conference, Reuters reports.
The highest number of daily cases reported since the pandemic began was 35,251 on 1 April, 2021.
Niedzielski said that he expected figures released on Tuesday to show in excess of 20,000 daily cases.
Samantha Lock back with you on the blog as my colleague Jedidajah Otte calls it a night in London. I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news from Sydney.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how Covid is unfolding across Australia.
The country’s most populous state of NSW recorded an additional 36 deaths - the state’s deadliest day of the pandemic so far - and 29,830 new cases while Victoria recorded 22 deaths and 20,180 new cases.
Novak Djokovic has also landed back in Belgrade after being deported from Australia after his visa was revoked.
The surge of infections with the Omicron variant in the US is showing signs of slowing in some states that were affected earlier than others, after weeks of soaring case numbers.
The US reported an average of nearly 800,000 cases per day over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University, more than three times the level seen during last winter’s previous record. But in a handful of states and cities, particularly on the East Coast, cases appear to have plateaued or fallen in recent days, CNBC reports.
In New York state, the seven-day average of daily new cases has been declining after a new record of 85,000 new cases per day was reached on 9 January, while in New York City, average daily cases have fallen by 31% over the past week, state health department data shows.
New York now ranks 15th out of all states in terms of daily infections, according to a CNBC analysis of population-adjusted case counts, down from the second rank just a few days ago.
New Jersey now ranks 20th, after recently being in the top five, as the state has seen a 32% drop in average daily cases over the past week.
Average daily infections in Washington, D.C., which had the highest number of Covid infections on a per capita basis in the country at the end of last year, have since dropped by 32%.
And in neighboring Maryland, daily infections hit a pandemic high on 8 January, but are down 27% compared to a week ago.
Canada’s study into whether to approve Merck & Co Inc’s Covid-19 oral antiviral treatment “is moving more slowly”, federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said on Monday.
“There are some specific issues for this medication,” Duclos told reporters after Ottawa approved an oral antiviral treatment by Pfizer Inc, but did not give details.
In its pivotal clinical trial, Merck’s pill had less impressive results than the one produced by Pfizer, Reuters reports.
Japan is considering placing 11 prefectures, including Tokyo and its surrounding area, under a quasi-state of emergency to curb a rapidly accelerating sixth wave of infections, government sources said on Monday.
The Japan Times reports:
Any declaration of a quasi-emergency hinges on requests made by these prefectures, but the government is preparing to make a decision as early as Wednesday, the sources said, as the highly transmissible omicron variant continues to spread.
If declared, Japan would see 14 of its 47 prefectures placed under the anti-virus measure, reinforcing the view that the nation is experiencing what health experts describe as its sixth wave of the pandemic.
The prefectures of Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa have asked the central government to put them under a quasi-emergency after their governors held a virtual meeting to discuss the infection situation in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Separately, Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures are also planning to make a request by Tuesday, as they too seek to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed by a spike in Covid-19 cases.
[...] Under a quasi-emergency, local governors can request that dining establishments shorten their business hours and stop serving alcohol. Residents in these areas would also be asked to refrain from traveling across prefectural borders.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said the occupancy rate of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients in the capital has surpassed the 20% threshold required to seek quasi-emergency steps.
Tokyo’s daily count of coronavirus cases came to 3,719 on Monday, after topping 4,000 on Friday for the first time since late August.
Nationwide, the number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 20,000 for the fourth straight day, with community transmission of omicron accelerating in urban areas including Tokyo and Osaka.
Japan’s strict border restrictions barring almost all foreign nationals is slated to stay in place until the end of February.
Sunday’s 4,172 new cases reported by the Tokyo metropolitan government represent a 3.4-fold increase from a week before, as a number of prefectures nationwide set new single-day records for infections.
Over 90% of people infected with the Omicron variant in Okinawa showed no or mild symptoms however, according to a recent analysis.
Vaccinations for children between the ages of 5 and 11 against the virus may begin in February in Japan, as debates about worries over effects on the health of children continue, the Japan Times noted.
The chairman of Credit Suisse resigned Monday over Covid quarantine violations, leaving the bank’s new risk committee chief in charge and with the task of trying to stabilise the scandal-hit institution.
AFP reports:
Antonio Horta-Osorio, who joined Switzerland’s second-largest bank less than a year ago, had resigned with immediate effect following an investigation commissioned by the board, Credit Suisse said in a statement.
Axel Lehmann, who joined Credit Suisse just three months ago to chair the board’s risk committee, was appointed as his replacement.
The resignation adds to the woes of the Swiss banking giant, which was rocked by its links to the multi-billion-dollar meltdowns at financial firms Greensill and Archegos last year.
“I regret that a number of my personal actions have led to difficulties for the bank and compromised my ability to represent the bank internally and externally,” Horta-Osorio said in the statement.
“I therefore believe that my resignation is in the interest of the bank and its stakeholders at this crucial time.”
Crowned with a solid reputation after having successfully turned around the British bank Lloyds, Horta-Osorio was elected chairman in April, pledging to put better risk management at the heart of the bank’s culture.
But in December, his image was tarnished by revelations in the Swiss newspaper Blick.
Following the tabloid’s report, Credit Suisse confirmed last month that Horta-Osorio had violated quarantine rules.
The Portuguese banker apologised but revelations of other quarantine violations followed and the board launched an investigation.
Switzerland imposed a 10-day quarantine rule on November 26 for people flying in from countries where the Covid-19 variant Omicron had been detected.
Blick reported that Horta-Osorio had travelled back to Switzerland from Britain aboard a private jet, then asked if he could be released from quarantine.
Despite a no from the authorities, Horta-Osorio took a plane to the Iberian peninsula before heading to New York for a board meeting, said the tabloid.
Michael Foeth, an analyst at Vontobel bank, said breaking quarantine rules had created a “credibility problem” for a chairman who had put the culture of personal accountability at the heart of the bank’s transformation.
Summary
Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today so far:
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Moderna is aiming to launch a single booster vaccination that will protect against both Covid-19 and flu within two years, its chief executive said. Stéphane Bancel said that the combined vaccine – which will protect against Covid, influenza and RSV, a common respiratory virus – could be available before the winter infectious season in 2023. Story here.
- Downing Street said Boris and Carrie Johnson followed Covid guidance when the prime minister was “commuting” from Chequers to No 10 during the first lockdown in 2020 – but declined to answer further questions, including whether the pair held social events. It emerged last week that the prime minister and his then-fiancee travelled between No 10 and the spacious Buckinghamshire mansion between 16 and 27 March 2020, around the start of the first lockdown. On 16 March, the government advised the public to avoid all non-essential travel, and on 22 March, three days before a full lockdown was ordered, specified that essential travel “does not include visits to second homes”. However, the Tortoise website (paywall) reported that Johnson and his partner relocated to Chequers during this period, after which the prime minister continued to travel to Downing Street from Chequers to work for several days. Johnson’s official spokesperson insisted on Monday that they had not broken the rules, saying they “acted in accordance with both the guidance and subsequent legislation at all times”. Story here.
- Novak Djokovic may not be allowed to defend his French Open title in May after the French government ruled that all athletes will have to be vaccinated in order to attend and compete in sporting events in France. The French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, announced that athletes would not be exempt from France’s Covid pass, which will soon come into effect for over 16s. Story here.
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A fourth shot of Covid vaccine raises antibodies to even higher levels than the third jab but it is not enough to prevent Omicron infections, according to a preliminary study in Israel.
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The UK reported 84,429 new cases and a further 85 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data on the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
- US Joint Chiefs chairman, General Mark Milley, tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday and is experiencing very minor symptoms while isolating and working remotely. His most recent contact with president Joe Biden was on 12 January at the funeral of retired General Raymond Odierno, a spokesman said. Milley had tested negative several days prior to and each day following contact with Biden, until yesterday, the spokesman added.
- Israel’s health ministry said it would shorten the mandatory isolation period for those who tested positive for Covid to five days from seven days, following an initial cut last week, provided they are asymptomatic. Until last week, the isolation period was 10 days.The latest decision, which takes effect on Wednesday, brings Israel in line with recommendations in countries including the United States and England. A negative home antigen test is also required before ending isolation, the ministry said.
- One in four doctors in the NHS are so tired that their ability to treat patients has become impaired, according to the first survey to reveal the impact of sleep deprivation on medics during the coronavirus pandemic. Growing workloads, longer hours and widespread staff shortages are causing extreme tiredness among medics, leading to memory problems and difficulty concentrating, according to the report by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare workers. The survey of more than 500 doctors across the UK, carried out within the past month and seen by the Guardian, uncovered almost 40 near misses as a direct result of exhaustion. In at least seven cases, patients actually sustained harm. Story here.
- Moderna Inc’s vaccine candidate specifically for the Omicron variant will enter clinical development in the next few weeks and the company expects to be able to share data with regulators around March, CEO Stéphane Bancel said. “The vaccine is being finished … it should be in the clinic in coming weeks. We are hoping in the March timeframe to be able to have data to share with regulators to figure out next steps,” Bancel said at the World Economic Forum’s virtual Davos Agenda conference.
- Novak Djokovic landed back in Serbia after a unanimous ruling by a three-judge bench rejected his appeal against the cancellation of his Australian visa on Sunday, halting his chase for a record 21st Grand Slam win at the Australian Open.
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Greece imposed a vaccination mandate for people over the age of 60, as coverage remains below the EU average and a recent rise in infections has sustained pressure on hospitals. Older people who fail to get vaccinated will face penalties, starting at a €50 ($57) fine in January and followed by a monthly fine of €100 ($114) after that. The health minister, Thanos Plevris, said fines would be collected through the tax office with the money to be used to help fund state hospitals.
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French teachers’ unions called for a second major strike this week to protest against the government’s Covid testing and isolation protocols, which they say are severely disrupting classes. The move follows a one-day walkout last week during which half of the country’s primary schools closed, according to unions, who accuse authorities of failing to establish clear rules that would keep as many students in school as possible. The unions said the new strike on Thursday would be a prelude to a “massive” nationwide walkout on 27 January.
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Tickets for the Beijing Winter Olympics, set to begin on 4 February, will be distributed to “targeted” groups of people and will not be sold to the general public, the organising committee said, in the latest setback to the Games inflicted by Covid-19. Story here.
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The outlook for jobs globally this year has worsened markedly since last spring as new variants of the Covid-19 virus have slowed growth and restricted hiring, according to a report from the International Labour Organisation. In its latest assessment of the state of the labour market, the Geneva-based ILO said unemployment would remain above 2019 levels until at least 2023 and the damage caused by the pandemic would take years to repair. Story here.
Moderna is aiming to launch single Covid and flu booster jab in time for the winter infectious season of 2023, my colleague Mark Sweney reports.
Moderna is aiming to launch a single booster vaccination that will protect against both Covid-19 and flu within two years, its chief executive has said.
Stéphane Bancel said that the combined vaccine – which will protect against Covid-19, influenza and RSV, a common respiratory virus – could be available before the winter infectious season in 2023.
“Our goal is to be able to have a single annual booster so that we don’t have compliance issues where people don’t want to get two to three shots a winter,” he said at a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “The best-case scenario would be the fall of 2023.”
Last year, the NHS moved to reassure the public that getting jabs for flu and Covid at the same time did not affect the body’s immune response.
The UK government has been encouraging the public to get a third dose of a Covid vaccine, especially those in more vulnerable groups such as older demographics or those with weakened immune systems. Its efforts include launching a nationwide mobile text message campaign on Boxing Day.
Read the full story here: Moderna aims to launch single Covid and flu booster jab within two years
Hong Kong police have arrested and charged two Cathay Pacific flight attendants for allegedly contravening Covid regulations, after the emergence of the Omicron variant in the territory was traced to their breach of home quarantine, AFP reports.
Like China, Hong Kong maintains a strict zero-Covid strategy that has kept cases low, but has largely cut the finance hub off from both the mainland and the rest of the world for the last two years.
A recent Omicron outbreak traced to Cathay air crew who breached their quarantine period led to a dramatic tightening of already strict anti-coronavirus controls - including shuttering kindergartens, primary schools, and indoor dining at night.
Police announced late on Monday two flight attendants were arrested and charged for violating anti-Covid measures.
“They had conducted unnecessary activities” on 25 and 27 December, when they were supposed to be under home quarantine after returning to Hong Kong, the statement said.
“They were both subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 Omicron variant, and have been discharged from hospital upon completion of treatment,” it added.
The two - who were fired after the quarantine breach - face up to six months in prison and a $640 fine. They have been released on bail and their cases will be heard next month.
The revelation of the quarantine breach piles new pressure on the city’s flagship airline, already battered by the pandemic as border restrictions brought travel to a trickle into a city that used to be a transport and logistics hub.
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said last week that authorities were investigating whether Cathay Pacific has complied with regulations, and could face legal action.
In the onslaught of criticism, chairman Patrick Healy defended his airline, arguing that a “tiny minority” of rule-breakers should not overshadow Cathay Pacific’s contributions to Hong Kong.
In 2021, the airline’s crew spent over 62,000 nights in quarantine hotels, he said, adding that 1,000 of their staff were subjected to more than 11,000 nights in Penny’s Bay, the city’s government quarantine camp.
Unlike other carriers, Cathay Pacific has no domestic market to fall back on and a recent tightening of quarantine rules for aircrews has pushed it to scale back cargo flights - the one part of the business that was making money.
No 10 defends PM’s trips between London and Chequers in March 2020
A Downing Street spokesperson has said that Boris and Carrie Johnson did not break Covid rules by travelling to Buckinghamshire mansion, our political editor Heather Stewart reports.
Downing Street has said Boris and Carrie Johnson followed Covid guidance when the prime minister was “commuting” from Chequers to No 10 during the first lockdown in 2020 – but declined to answer further questions, including whether the pair held social events.
It emerged last week that the prime minister and his then-fiancee travelled between No 10 and the spacious Buckinghamshire mansion between 16 and 27 March 2020, around the start of the first lockdown.
On 16 March, the government advised the public to avoid all non-essential travel, and on 22 March, three days before a full lockdown was ordered, specified that essential travel “does not include visits to second homes”.
However, the Tortoise website (paywall) reported that Johnson and his partner relocated to Chequers during this period, after which the prime minister continued to travel to Downing Street from Chequers to work for several days.
Johnson’s official spokesperson insisted on Monday that they had not broken the rules, saying they “acted in accordance with both the guidance and subsequent legislation at all times”.
“At the time as you know, Mrs Johnson was heavily pregnant, in a vulnerable category, and advised to minimise social contacts. So in line with clinical guidance and to minimise the risk to her, they were based at Chequers during that period, with the prime minister commuting to Downing Street to work,” he said.
He said their decision to move was because of the specific nature of No 10, which “unusually, is both a private residence and an office for hundreds of people.”
The spokesperson pointed out that by the time the guidance against travelling to second homes came in on 22 March, “the prime minister and his wife were already based in Chequers, acting in line with clinical guidance”.
He declined to answer further questions, however, including whether parties or social events were held at Chequers while the pair were there.
It has been reported that Carrie Johnson hosted a baby shower for a group of friends on 14 March 2020. By that time a minister, Nadine Dorries, had been diagnosed with Covid.
Johnson isolated alone in his Downing Street flat after testing positive for Covid on 27 March, eventually being taken into St Thomas’ hospital and spending time in intensive care. He then returned to Chequers to convalesce.
Johnson’s compliance with the strict restrictions in place in the first lockdown has come under intense scrutiny in recent days, since he apologised for attending a “bring your own booze” gathering, telling MPs he believed it was a “work event”.
Johnson appears poised to blame a “culture” of drinking in No 10 for a series of rule-breaking parties, including two held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral. But the prime minister’s critics say he played a key role in encouraging lockdown-busting behaviour.
The story is here: No 10 defends PM’s trips between London and Chequers in March 2020
Updated
A second Grand Slam could be at stake for Novak Djokovic as the French government ruled all athletes will have to be vaccinated for events, my colleague Tumaini Carayol writes.
Novak Djokovic may not be allowed to defend his French Open title in May after the French government ruled that all athletes will have to be vaccinated in order to attend and compete in sporting events in France.
The French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, has announced that athletes would not be exempt from France’s Covid pass, which will soon come into effect for over 16s. “The vaccination pass has been adopted. As soon as the law is promulgated, it will become mandatory to enter public buildings already subject to the health pass (stadium, theatre or lounge) for all spectators, practitioners, French or foreign professionals,” she wrote on twitter.
Le pass vaccinal a été adopté. Dès que la loi sera promulguée, il deviendra obligatoire pour entrer dans les ERP déjà soumis au pass sanitaire (stade, théâtre ou salon) pour l’ensemble des spectateurs, des pratiquants, des professionnels français ou étrangers 1/2
— Roxana Maracineanu (@RoxaMaracineanu) January 16, 2022
Merci au mouvement sportif pour le travail de conviction auprès des derniers rares non vaccinés. Nous travaillerons ensemble à préserver les compétitions et à se faire les ambassadeurs de ces mesures au niveau international 2/2
— Roxana Maracineanu (@RoxaMaracineanu) January 16, 2022
Earlier in January, Maracineanu had suggested that athletes could be exempt from France’s vaccination requirements through a “bubble” system, but the government have now scrapped any such plans.
Stanislas Guerini, the French MP and executive director for En Marche, said Djokovic’s behaviour was “irresponsible” as he discussed the Covid pass in an interview with RTL on Monday morning.
“All the big events which will take place in France will also adopt the Covid pass,” he said. “Who would understand if we asked our citizens to make an effort and respect the rules if we authorise some to get out of them?”
Djokovic arrived back in Belgrade, Serbia on Monday after being deported from Australia following the cancellation of his visa by the Australian immigration minister, Alex Hawke. Under Australia’s visa cancellation rules, Djokovic is currently banned from re-applying for a visa for three years.
Read the full story here: Djokovic’s French Open title defence in doubt after Covid pass ruling
A fourth shot of Covid vaccine raises antibodies to even higher levels than the third jab but it is not enough to prevent Omicron infections, according to a preliminary study in Israel.
Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has given second booster shots in a trial among its staff and is studying the effect of the Pfizer booster in 154 people after two weeks and the Moderna booster in 120 people after one week, said Gili Regev-Yochay, head of the Infectious Diseases Unit.
These were compared to a control group that did not receive the fourth shot. Those in the Moderna group had previously received three shots of Pfizer’s vaccine, the hospital said.
The vaccines led to a increase in the number of antibodies “even a little bit higher than what we had after the third dose”, said Regev-Yochay.
“Yet, this is probably not enough for the Omicron,” she told reporters. “We know by now that the level of antibodies needed to protect and not to got infected from Omicron is probably too high for the vaccine, even if it’s a good vaccine.”
The findings, which the hospital said were the first of its kind in the world, were preliminary and not yet published.
Israel was the fastest country to roll out initial vaccinations against Covid a year ago and last month started offering a fourth shot, or a second booster, to the most vulnerable and high-risk groups.
UK reports another 84,429 cases and 85 deaths
The UK has reported 84,429 new cases and a further 85 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data on the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
That compares to 75,031 infections and 91 fatalities recorded in the 24 hours prior.
Early in the pandemic it emerged that one symptom of Covid was the loss of taste and smell – now researchers have revealed that genetics may play a role in why some people with Covid experience the symptom while others do not.
Writing in the journal Nature Genetics, experts report how they studied data from 69,841 individuals aged 18 or over who are taking part in a study with the genetics company 23andMe, and reported having had a Covid positive test.
The work found 68% reported loss of smell or taste as a symptom, with the symptom more commonly reported by those of European ancestry compared with those of East Asian or African American ancestry.
The study further revealed that the presence of a variant near two genes, UGT2A1 and UGT2A2, was associated with an 11% increase in the likelihood that someone with Covid would experience a loss of smell or taste. These genes give rise to enzymes in the lining of the nose that are involved in the elimination of odour-related chemicals that enter the nasal cavity and bind to olfactory receptors. In other words, the enzymes affect whether odour-related chemicals can be detected by the brain.
“These findings provide a genetic link to the biological mechanisms underlying Covid-19-related loss of smell or taste,” the authors write.
However it seems other factors are also at play, including the variant involved. According to a recent report from the UK Health Security Agency: “Of symptomatic cases, loss of smell and taste was found to be more common in people who tested positive for Delta than those who had Omicron.”
Updated
Top US general Mark Milley tests positive for Covid-19
US Joint Chiefs chairman, General Mark Milley, tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday and is experiencing very minor symptoms while isolating and working remotely, a spokesman has said.
Milley’s most recent contact with president Joe Biden was on 12 January at the funeral of retired General Raymond Odierno, the spokesman said on Monday.
Milley had tested negative several days prior to and each day following contact with Biden, until yesterday, the spokesman added.
All other Joint Chiefs of Staff except for one tested negative for Covid-19 yesterday, the spokesman said, without saying who else had tested positive.
Milley is vaccinated and has received his booster, the spokesman added.
The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this month. He tested negative on 9 January and exited isolation to return to work at the Pentagon.
Updated
Israel cuts Covid isolation to five days for asymptomatic people
Israel’s health ministry has said it would shorten the mandatory isolation period for those who tested positive for Covid to five days from seven days, following an initial cut last week, provided they are asymptomatic.
Until last week, the isolation period was 10 days.
The latest decision, which takes effect on Wednesday, brings Israel in line with recommendations in countries including the United States and England.
A negative home antigen test is also required before ending isolation, the ministry said.
The country’s pandemic-response coordinator, Salman Zarka, said the health ministry has found that people are at their most contagious during the first three days after infection.
Updated
Here four medics reveal to the Guardian’s health editor Andrew Gregory how tiredness, fatigue and sleep deprivation are affecting their ability to provide the best care for patients in the NHS.
A report has found patients are suffering harm as a result of NHS doctors being so deprived of sleep during the Covid pandemic, my colleague Andrew Gregory reports.
One in four doctors in the NHS are so tired that their ability to treat patients has become impaired, according to the first survey to reveal the impact of sleep deprivation on medics during the coronavirus pandemic.
Growing workloads, longer hours and widespread staff shortages are causing extreme tiredness among medics, leading to memory problems and difficulty concentrating, according to the report by the Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal support to about 200,000 doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare workers.
The survey of more than 500 doctors across the UK, carried out within the past month and seen by the Guardian, uncovered almost 40 near misses as a direct result of exhaustion. In at least seven cases, patients actually sustained harm.
Despite encouraging signs the Omicron wave may be fading, doctors admitted the constant pressure of the past 22 months spent fighting coronavirus on the frontline was taking a toll on their technical skills and even their ability to make what should be straightforward medical decisions. Medics admitted for the first time sleep deprivation was causing real harm to patients in the NHS.
Almost six in 10 doctors (59%) reported their sleep patterns had worsened during the pandemic. More than a quarter (26%) of medics admitted being so tired that their ability to treat patients was “impaired”. Of these, one in six (18%) said a patient was harmed or a near miss occurred as a result.
One described how their patient collapsed after being prescribed penicillin, something they had previously told the same doctor they were allergic to. The doctor blamed a “perfect storm” of “chronic fatigue” and “an unmanageable workload”. Another said widespread staff shortages meant “mistakes are more frequent by the end of the day”.
“Doctors and their healthcare colleagues are running on empty,” said Dr Matthew Lee, the chief executive of the MDU.
Our members have come through a period of immense pressure caused by the pandemic and it is affecting all aspects of their life, including sleep patterns.
Fatigue increased the risk of mistakes and harm to patients’ and doctors’ health, he said. “In our survey, side-effects doctors reported due to sleep deprivation included poor concentration (64%), decision-making difficulties (40%), mood swings, (37%) and mental health problems (30%).”
The MDU survey of medics within the last month had 532 respondents including hospital doctors, GPs, consultants, specialists and junior doctors. Nearly one in 10 (9%) medics said they felt sleep deprived at work on a daily basis. A further 28% reported feeling sleep deprived every week. More than one in six (17%) said sleep deprivation was affecting their technical abilities when caring for patients.
The full story is here: One in four NHS doctors tired to the point of impairment, survey finds
Moderna CEO says data for Omicron-specific jab likely available in March
Moderna Inc’s vaccine candidate specifically for the Omicron variant will enter clinical development in the next few weeks and the company expects to be able to share data with regulators around March, CEO Stéphane Bancel said on Monday.
“The vaccine is being finished … it should be in the clinic in coming weeks. We are hoping in the March timeframe to be able to have data to share with regulators to figure out next steps,” Bancel said at the World Economic Forum’s virtual Davos Agenda conference.
The company is also developing a single vaccine that combines a booster dose against Covid-19 with its experimental flu shot.
Bancel said the best case scenario was the combined Covid/flu vaccine would be available by the fall of 2023, at least in some countries.
Our goal is to be able to have a single annual booster so that we don’t have compliance issues where people don’t want to get two to three shots a winter.
Many countries are already offering a third dose of a Covid jab to their citizens, especially to older individuals and those who are immunocompromised, while Israel and Chile have started offering their citizens a fourth dose.
Earlier in January, Moderna’s CEO said people may need a fourth shot in the autumn of 2022 as the efficacy of boosters against Covid was likely to decline over the next few months.
However, booster programmes have met with skepticism from some disease experts over whether, and how widely, additional doses should become available, including the European Union’s drug regulator, which has expressed doubts about the need for a fourth booster dose.
Speaking at the same event, top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said there was no evidence that repeat booster doses would overwhelm the immune system.
Giving boosters at different times, there is really no evidence that’s going to hinder [immune response].
Fauci said the goal should be to have a booster that induces a response against multiple potential variants.
Updated
And here is a very helpful video explainer of how the Djokovic deportation controversy unfolded.
Updated
Novak Djokovic landed back in Serbia earlier today, after a unanimous ruling by a three-judge bench rejected his appeal against the cancellation of his Australian visa on Sunday, halting his chase for a record 21st Grand Slam win at the Australian Open.
The circus around the world No 1’s deportation case has unleashed a toxic chain reaction of mistrust and resentment, writes Guardian sportswriter Jonathan Liew.
Here is an extract:
No athlete is obliged to stay in their lane. But anybody who leverages their fame, power and privilege in this way has a responsibility to do so with care, to reckon with the consequences of their choices, to recognise when they have become counter-productive. And perhaps the most disquieting aspect of the last fortnight, as the Djokovic circus rolled out of Melbourne airport and on to our smartphones and television screens, is the way Djokovic’s choices have unleashed forces and currents far larger than him, or indeed tennis: a toxic chain reaction of mistrust and resentment that could lead us into some extremely dark places.
You could see it in the seething throngs who gathered outside Djokovic’s hotel to rail against Australia’s vaccine laws. You could see it in the Serbian politicians attempting to redefine this visa paperwork dispute as a parable of liberty versus tyranny. “A symbol of the free world, a beacon of free men,” declared the former prime minister Nebojša Čović. You could see it, too, in the bowels of the internet, where one conspiracy movement has anointed Djokovic as its “unvaxxed sperm hero”. Which, if nothing else, is one way of settling the GOAT debate.
Doubtless Djokovic would repudiate many of the causes now attempting to trade on his name. And of course this stuff has always been there in various forms. But thanks to Djokovic and his belligerence, it now has a bigger platform, attention and momentum, lenses and microphones. There is a time to fan the flames and a time to rein things in, and when Nigel Farage is travelling to Serbia to meet your parents and pose for photos in your trophy room, that time has probably passed.
You can read the full piece here: Djokovic circus unleashes toxic chain reaction of mistrust and resentment
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Thailand is considering bringing back a quarantine waiver for vaccinated visitors, its health minister said on Monday, as part of a proposed easing of some Covid measures later this week.
Thailand reopened to vaccinated foreign visitors in November last year in a bid to help revive its vital tourism industry that collapsed during nearly 18 months of strict entry policies. It had about 200,000 arrivals last year, compared with nearly 40 million in 2019.
The “test and go” policy, which allows visitors to skip the mandatory quarantine if they test negative on arrival, was suspended late in December over concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant.
“We will propose measures that can be done safely and are medically sound,” the health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, told Reuters.
“If approved it can start by 1 February,” he said of the quarantine waiver.
Thailand recorded 6,929 new Covid infections and 13 deaths on Monday. More than 2.3 million infections and 22,000 deaths have been officially reported overall.
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Unvaccinated over-60s in Greece now face monthly fines
Greece on Monday imposed a vaccination mandate for people over the age of 60, as coverage remains below the EU average and a recent rise in infections has sustained pressure on hospitals, the Associated Press reports.
Older people who fail to get vaccinated will face penalties, starting at a €50 ($57) fine in January and followed by a monthly fine of €100 ($114) after that.
About two-thirds of Greece’s 10.7 million population is fully vaccinated – the EU average is just over 70%. The rate of death and daily hospitalisations has increased following the recent spread of the Omicron variant, though pressure on ICU capacity has eased slightly.
The health minister, Thanos Plevris, said fines would be collected through the tax office with the money to be used to help fund state hospitals.
“The age factor is important because of its impact on the public health service,” Plevris told private Open TV on Sunday.
A vaccination mandate was imposed for health care workers last year. And starting on 1 February, vaccination certificates for adults will expire after seven months unless the holder receives a booster shot.
New infections sharply surged in early January, and have eased over the past week.
The mandate for over-60s was announced in late December and, according to government data, 41.5% of the 530,000 people targeted by the measure are now fully vaccinated.
Greece has the seventh oldest population in the world, as measured by share of residents aged 65 and over, according to the US-based Population Reference Bureau.
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In the absence of Department for Education guidance, parents’ groups in England have reported instances of schools turning down offers of air purifiers and are instead prioritising cleaning and opening windows, my colleague Georgina Quach reports.
Parents who offer to donate air filters that limit Covid transmission in their children’s classrooms are being turned down by some schools, say parents’ groups.
As headteachers report disruption caused by soaring staff absences, parents are buying high efficiency particulate air (Hepa) filters to supplement the 7,000 additional units that will be offered to schools in England by the Department for Education (DfE).
While some heads have accepted parents’ donations, others are prioritising cleaning regimes and opening windows, as official guidance does not specify the need for air filters and recommends schools use their own risk assessments.
Sarah Saul, the co-founder of parents group SafeEdforAll, said some schools were rejecting the free filters because of insufficient government guidance. She said:
I’ve encountered tens of schools which are forgoing layers of mitigation – including filters and ventilation improvements – because they have been poorly explained and are not mandated by the government. Rejecting free donations just doesn’t make any sense to us. We’re not blaming school leaders, we’re blaming the guidance that they’re trying to follow, wrongly.
The full story is here: Schools rejecting offers of air filters that limit Covid spread, say parents
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Teachers in France call for new strike to protest government isolation protocols
French teachers’ unions have called for a second major strike this week to protest against the government’s Covid testing and isolation protocols, which they say are severely disrupting classes, AFP reports.
The move follows a one-day walkout last week during which half of the country’s primary schools closed, according to unions, who accuse authorities of failing to establish clear rules that would keep as many students in school as possible.
Teachers say class disruptions have become unmanageable with the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, with many parents struggling to get vaccination appointments for their children and long lines for tests forming outside pharmacies.
In response, the government pledged to provide 5m high-grade FFP2 face masks for school staff and to hire more than 3,000 substitute teachers to replace those forced to isolate after contracting Covid or coming into contact with an infected person.
But that was not enough for unions, who said the new strike on Thursday would be a prelude to a “massive” nationwide walkout on 27 January.
“The chaos resulting from the handling of this health crisis requires strong measures, beyond the commitments made by the prime minister and education minister,” a group of four unions said in a statement that was also signed by the FCPE, France’s largest parents’ federation.
They want the government to hire enough substitutes to replace all teachers absent as Covid cases spread rapidly throughout schools.
Children who test positive for the virus have to remain home for up to 10 days while their classmates are forced to take three tests in four days.
Teachers also want more PPE “well beyond the amounts promised” and more fundamental investments in the French education system, where average teacher pay lags behind that of many other European nations.
However, the call for a new Thursday strike was not joined by other main union groups, including the Snuipp-FSU, the largest among primary schoolteachers.
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Beijing Winter Olympics tickets will not be sold to general public in latest Covid setback
Tickets for the Beijing Winter Olympics, set to begin on 4 February, will be distributed to “targeted” groups of people and will not be sold to the general public, the organising committee said on Monday, in the latest setback to the Games inflicted by Covid-19.
Organisers had said in September that there would not be any international spectators at the Games, under Covid-19 prevention policies that have all but shut China’s borders to international travellers.
It cited the “severe and complex” Covid-19 situation and the need to protect the safety of Olympics personnel and spectators in Monday’s announcement.
Local spectators who receive tickets must observe strict Covid-19 prevention measures before, during and after attending Olympic events, the committee said.
It did not give further details, or further specify how tickets would be distributed.
China, which has largely managed to curb local Covid infections, is scrambling to prevent the spread of scattered outbreaks of the highly infections Omicron variant just as the busy lunar new year travel period begins.
The Olympics, to be held in the Chinese capital and neighbouring Hebei province, will take place in a “closed loop” that will keep athletes and other Games personnel separated from the general Chinese public. Most participants will arrive on special charter planes.
Last month, North America’s National Hockey League said its players would not participate in the Olympic tournament in Beijing due to Covid disruptions of the league schedule.
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Return to global pre-pandemic employment levels could take years - UN report
The Covid-19 crisis is continuing to hit jobs hard around the world, the United Nations has said, warning it could take years for employment levels to reach pre-pandemic levels.
AFP reports that in a new study, the UN’s International Labour Organization revised its previous forecast that the global employment market will make a nearly full recovery from the virus this year.
Blaming the impacts of Covid variants like Delta and Omicron and uncertainty around how the pandemic will evolve, it now projects a significant deficit in working hours in 2022 compared with before the virus emerged.
ILO chief Guy Ryder told reporters that the outlook “remains fragile”, adding:
Global labour markets are recovering from the crisis much more slowly than we previously expected.
We are already seeing potentially lasting damage to labour markets, along with concerning increases in poverty and inequality.
Monday’s report predicted that global working hours would be 2% below the numbers seen in 2019, leaving the world short of the equivalent of some 52 million jobs.
Last May, the ILO predicted the working hour shortage would be just half that this year.
At the same time, the global official unemployment rate remains significantly higher than before the pandemic hit.
This year, 5.9% of workers globally, or 207 million people, are expected to be officially registered as jobless, which is better than in 2021 and especially 2020, but still up from 186 million in 2019.
The ILO report said the global unemployment rate was projected to remain above the 5.4%-rate seen before the crisis “until at least 2023”.
And it cautioned that the overall impact on employment is significantly greater than what these figures would imply, since many people have left the labour force altogether.
In 2022, the global labour force participation rate is projected to remain 1.2 percentage points below the level three years ago, it said.
That corresponds to a deficit of 40 million workers worldwide, ILO said.
Ryder warned that the pandemic had already “weakened the economic, financial and social fabric in almost every country, regardless of development status”.
At the same time, the ILO pointed out that differences in vaccine access and in economic recovery measures meant the crisis was impacting groups of workers and countries in vastly different ways.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, the report said labour markets in higher-income countries appeared to be recovering faster, although some were now beginning to face problems related to labour shortages, Ryder said.
Numerous factors appear to be driving the so-called “Great Resignation” seen in some countries, Ryder said, adding that the crisis clearly “has led a significant number of people in the workforce to reconsider the employment that they have.”
Shifts in the way we work meanwhile seem to be deepening various forms of inequality, including exacerbating gender inequity, according to the report.
It has been clear from the start that the pandemic was disproportionately impacting women, who have taken on the lion’s share of the additional care work, and also more often work in hard-hit sectors, like services and travel.
But Ryder cautioned the impact could last well after the pandemic ends. He said:
There are concerns that the long-Covid effect on gender at work would be a negative one.
Changes like the move towards greater reliance on informal self-employment, the rise in remote work and shifting trends in temporary work, “all risk impairing the quality of working conditions”, the report said.
Ryder insisted that only a “broad-based labour market recovery” would allow the world to truly recover from the pandemic. He added:
To be sustainable, this recovery must be based on the principles of decent work - including health and safety, equity, social protection and social dialogue.
He cautioned:
Without concerted and effective international and domestic policies, it is likely that in many countries it will take years to repair this damage.
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Good morning from London. I’m Lucy Campbell, I’ll be bringing you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
Today so far …
- The number of Covid-19 cases across China reached the highest level since March 2020 on Monday, as the country reported a daily rise of 223 new infections.
- Several cities in China are now on a high Covid alert in preparation for the lunar new year holiday travel season when hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel around the country. Cities such as Luoyang in central China and Jieyang in the south now require residents to report details of their trips in advance.
- Authorities are urging citizens not to order goods from overseas, claiming a recent Omicron infection detected in Beijing came from an international package sent from Canada. There is not a strong scientific basis to the claim, according to experts.
- The chief executive of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, has said that while the coronavirus will continue to circulate for many years to come, this current wave should be the last to have to lead to restrictions.
- Hundreds of people marched in Malta against new measures requiring a Covid certificate to enter entry most venues including restaurants, gyms and bars.
- France’s parliament has given final approval to the government’s latest measures to tackle Covid-19, including a vaccine pass contested by anti-vaccine protesters.
- Uzbekistan has reported 1,037 new daily Covid cases, the highest number on record.
- Kazakhstan reported a record 13,523 cases on Sunday, and the Kazakh government has announced middle and high school students in the country’s three largest cities would study remotely until the end of March.
- The chairman of Credit Suisse, António Horta-Osório, has resigned after the Swiss bank reportedly found that he had broken Covid-19 quarantine laws.
- Covid booster shots will be offered to children in England aged 12 to 15 who are most at risk from coronavirus, NHS England has said. People in England are also now able to end their coronavirus isolation after five full days in the latest change to self-isolation guidance.
- The EU should continue to suspend strict fiscal rules to help debt-mired countries such as Italy until the pandemic is over, the new chairman of the German parliament’s powerful EU affairs committee has said.
- Travellers to Hawaii may soon need to have supplemented their vaccinations with a booster does in order to visit the islands without having to quarantine.
- Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida has promised that fighting the coronavirus pandemic will be the government’s top priority in a speech to parliament. He called on people to help each other to overcome “the national crisis” of the pandemic, and reiterated his plans to keep the country’s stringent border controls in place. Japan will bring forward its Covid vaccination booster shots by as much as two months
Andrew Sparrow has our combined politics and Covid blog for the UK. Lucy Campbell will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day’s Covid news from around the world.
Updated
A quick snap from Reuters here that Uzbekistan has reported 1,037 new daily Covid cases, the highest number on record, after confirming the presence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus this month.
Neighbouring Kazakhstan reported a record 13,523 cases on Sunday, and this morning, the Kazakh government has said middle and high school students in the country’s three largest cities would study remotely until the end of March.
The EU should continue to suspend strict fiscal rules to help debt-mired countries such as Italy until the pandemic is over, the new chairman of the German parliament’s powerful EU affairs committee told Agence France-Presse today.
Anton Hofreiter, a senior Green party MP, said Rome in particular deserved leniency as it finds its feet again after the blows levelled by Covid-19.
That flexibility should also extend to countries making ambitious expenditures in climate protection, he added.
Asked how the EU should help struggling countries, Hofreiter replied: “By continuing to temporarily suspend the Stability Pact because we’re really in a very special crisis.”
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Lilit Marcus reports for CNN that travellers to Hawaii may soon need to have supplemented their vaccinations with a booster does in order to visit the islands without having to quarantine. She writes:
State Governor David Ige told reporters that his office is strongly considering changing its definition of “fully vaccinated” from two doses of an approved Covid vaccine to three.
That would mean that travellers who have not had booster shots will have to isolate for five days upon arrival in Hawaii at their own expense.
Currently, only American travellers can visit Hawaii with very few exceptions for international tourists. Tourism is regulated through the state’s Safe Travels program, where people can upload their vaccination records to the online portal ahead of their flight.
“We know that the community needs time to react to that, so we would have to provide at least two weeks for those who may not be up to date to go to have the opportunity to go and get vaccinated if they need to,” Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the state’s largest newspaper.
An update on Japan from Reuters, where the governors of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures have agreed to request further measures from the central government, including shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants, to help counter rising Covid-19 infections.
The highly infectious Omicron variant is driving a resurgence in coronavirus cases, which are hovering near record levels, after new infections exceeded 25,000 nationwide in the past two days.
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike told an online meeting of governors that the occupancy rate of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients was estimated to have reached 20% on Monday, a key threshold for requesting additional steps.
The measures being considered by the government will cover nine prefectures in addition to Tokyo, broadcaster FNN reported earlier.
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Andrew Sparrow has launched his combined Covid and politics live blog for the UK – leading with that push from Conservative MPs to shore up prime minister Boris Johnson’s position by insisting that Labour’s Keir Starmer owes an apology. You can find that here.
I’ll be continuing here with the latest international coronavirus developments.
In the UK, the Labour leader Keir Starmer is under some pressure over a picture of him drinking a beer in an office, which is being touted by Conservatives as evidence that everybody in politics was partying during lockdown, just like Downing Street was.
Keir Starmer tells @LBC the picture of the PM and his staff enjoying drinks in the garden of No10 is a "million miles away" from him drinking beer ahead of last May's local elections.
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) January 17, 2022
Nick Ferrari asks three times if he'll apologise.
Keir Starmer declines.
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Here’s my colleague Peter Walker with his assessment of education secretary Nadhim Zahawi’s appearance on the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.
On R4, Nadhim Zahawi briefly tries to bring up the No 10 counter argument about Keir Starmer needing to apologise but allows Nick Robinson to immediately change the subject back again. Felt a bit like his heart wasn't in that part of the agreed lines to take.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) January 17, 2022
Interesting to see a coherent version of Operation Save Johnson as set out by one of cabinet's better communicators:
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) January 17, 2022
• Wait for Gray investigation (obvs)
• Didn't realise drinks party was a party
• "He's human, he made mistakes"
• He apologised
• Vaccine rollout/economy
Dr David Nabarro, a World Health Organization (WHO) special envoy for Covid-19, has told Sky News this morning that there was “light at the end of the tunnel” for the UK in tackling Covid-19.
PA Media quotes him saying: “Looking at it from a UK point of view, there does appear to be light at the end of the tunnel … I think that it’s going to be bumpy before we get to the end.
“So even though it’s possible to start imagining that the end of the pandemic is not far away, just everybody be ready for the possibility that there will be more variations and mutations coming along, or that there will be further challenges, other surges of even Omicron coming.”
He said children do not get very ill from Covid-19, and “we’re going to have children acting as vectors of the virus for some time to come”.
He said there was a need to still be “respectful of this virus”, adding: “Do what you can to stop transmitting it. Do what you can to protect others from being affected by it. It’s not the common cold.
“I know people would like it to be but it’s a virus that has still some really unpleasant features. Let’s do our best to protect people from it if we possibly can.”
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The chairman of Credit Suisse, António Horta-Osório, has resigned after the Swiss bank reportedly found that he had broken Covid-19 quarantine laws, including by attending the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
Horta-Osório, the former chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, said in a statement that his “personal actions” had made it more difficult for him to represent the bank. He had also admitted breaking Swiss quarantine rules.
Read more of Jasper Jolly’s report here: Credit Suisse boss António Horta-Osório resigns over Covid breaches
Chinese authorities urge people not to import goods over Omicron fears
Chinese authorities are urging citizens not to order goods from overseas, claiming a recent Omicron infection detected in Beijing came from an international package sent from Canada.
China is battling outbreaks across several provinces, including cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Most of the infections so far have been detected in Tianjin – where China’s first case of Omicron was detected on 9 December.
However, the discovery of a lone Omicron case in neighbouring Beijing over the weekend has sparked alarm. At a press conference on Monday, officials said tracing had determined the infection came not from another province, but from a package sent from Toronto, via the US and Hong Kong.
Liao Linzhu, deputy director of the city’s post administration, urged people “to not buy products from oversea areas”.
Authorities said the patient diagnosed with the Omicron variant on Saturday had “self-reported” that they had received a package on 11 January. The package had been sent four days earlier. Authorities have since quarantined the patient’s family, the courier, and more than 60 others as close contacts, and tested more than 16,000 people in the patient’s home district of Haidian.
“Omicron virus transmits fast, please pay attention, avoid buying stuff from overseas, make sure you wear gloves, don’t bring the package indoors. If you have to, clean the package outside with alcohol, and wash your hands,” said Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of Beijing’s CDC.
China has claimed to identify numerous cases of infection throughout the pandemic as being transmitted via imported products – often cold chain items – but there is not a strong scientific basis to it, according to experts.
However, Dr Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland, told the Guardian it was “a long bow to draw”, and urging people to clean packages and avoid receiving mail was “a wasted effort”.
He said the overwhelmingly likely source of the infection was another person, and blaming packaging seemed more political than scientific.
”We all know this virus can hang around in people who aren’t showing symptoms, especially early on in the disease,” he said. “If you’re looking for a reason for … a virus being introduced into a jurisdiction, the first thing you’d think of is humans coming in from overseas – where the virus is everywhere.
“It’s an airborne virus. It’s not about surfaces. Technically, it can happen, sure. There’s a non-zero risk, sure. But is it happening again and again? No,” he said.
“If you see and hear horses, don’t think zebras.”
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Labour’s Lucy Powell, shadow secretary for the DCMS, has been on the airwaves this morning as well. She told viewers on Sky News:
I think what we are seeing, what we have seen, in Downing Street, is revelation after revelation of social gatherings on an industrial scale, pre-organised. with invitations going out, with alcohol being ordered, trestle tables being put up and the like, with people seemingly raising concerns about whether that was appropriate or not right, through that initial lockdown and beyond. With then the prime minister and the government lying about it, denying it took place, unable to answer basic questions, over many, many weeks now. That’s why the prime minister has lost authority and has lost trust, and people just perceive him as being a liar about these things.
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Dr Mike Tildesley, a familiar name on this live blog, has been on the airwaves in the UK this morning. He is from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), and he said that the latest Covid-19 case figures were “cautiously good news” which could indicate that the Omicron wave is “turning around”. PA Media quotes him telling BBC Breakfast:
We have had very, very high case numbers throughout late December and early January – we peaked about 200,000 at one point. We do now seem to be a little bit beyond that.
Hospital admissions are still relatively high albeit there is some evidence that maybe they’re plateauing or possibly going down in London, which is cautiously good news.
I would say we probably need about an extra week of data to really see the effect of children going back to school – we’re still only two weeks since children went back to school – but if we still see that over the next week or so, I’d be pretty confident that we are seeing this wave turning around.
A while ago I did say probably January is going to be a little bit rocky, if this wave starts to turn around and hopefully as we get towards the warmer weather we can start to see these restrictions removed and we can have more of a discussion about what living with Covid is going to be like and hopefully we won’t see a return to restrictions as we get further through the year.
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Pfizer chief: current wave of Covid should be last to require restrictions
A very quick snap from Reuters here, that on French TV station BFM TV, the chief executive of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, has said that while the coronavirus will continue to circulate for many years to come, this current wave should be the last to have to lead to restrictions.
Here’s more from Japan, where Associated Press is reporting on prime minister Fumio Kishida’s speech to parliament, where he has promised that fighting the coronavirus pandemic will be the government’s top priority.
They quote him saying: “I will devote my body and soul to win this fight against the coronavirus.”
He called on people to help each other to overcome “the national crisis” of the pandemic, and reiterated his plans to keep Japan’s stringent border controls in place, banning most foreign entrants until the end of February.
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Leaders in the US have struck a pessimistic tone about the Covid-19 pandemic in recent weeks amid rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, recently testified before Congress that “most people are going to get Covid”. Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to Joe Biden, has also said that Omicron “will ultimately find just about everybody” in terms of exposure, though vaccines make an important difference in who develops the illness.
But Covid-19 is still a very serious disease with unknown outcomes, even for the less severe Omicron variant. Melody Schreiber has spoken for us to experts in the US on whether getting Covid is inevitable. You can read here report here.
On Sky News, the education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has given a rather sombre interview about the situation facing prime minister Boris Johnson over No 10 partying during lockdown. He told viewers:
This is both for me personal – you will remember I lost my uncle to Covid and we couldn’t visit him in the hospital, he couldn’t have a proper burial phone because of the restrictions. And of course, it is very public ,because I’m secretary of state for education and part of the team that delivered the vaccines of course. And I think the prime minister understands the level of hurt in the country.
All I can say to is, I completely understand how people feel angry about this.
However, the main takeaway was pretty much exactly the same as we’ve heard the last few days – that Boris Johnson has “apologised” and that we should wait for Sue Gray’s investigation to run its course.
He refused to be drawn on whether the prime minister had misled the House of Commons, or whether Johnson should submit himself to a vote of confidence from his MPs.
One quote to come back to at a later date perhaps – Zahawi said “I think he’s absolutely right when he says it’s not true” about the prime minister denying reports that he was challenged twice over an email being a party invite.
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Josh Halliday reports for us that after nearly two years of pandemic, 5,000 inpatients and 1,000 deaths, the staff of one of the largest hospitals in north-west England are frustrated and exhausted:
After nearly two years on the Covid frontline, there is one image that haunts Prof Mohammed Munavvar. It is of a visit to Preston cemetery, where a friend had been laid to rest.
There he saw a pristine row of gravestones, each planted in the last year. They were all his patients. He knew every single name: “That was terrible, really. It was very traumatic. Even now I think about that image.”
Munavvar is a senior respiratory consultant at the Royal Preston hospital in Lancashire. He and his colleagues have treated nearly 5,000 coronavirus patients since 14 March 2020. The vast majority have survived but many have not. The hospital recorded its 904th coronavirus death overnight last week.
While ministers talk of encouraging signs that the Omicron wave may be receding in parts of England, staff at the Royal Preston are struggling to keep their heads above water.
The hospital has seen a near fourfold increase in Covid patients since Christmas Day, rising to 103 when the Guardian visited last week. It is one of the largest hospitals in a region with the highest infection levels in the UK and two neighbouring NHS trusts have declared critical incidents. Despite a recent slowdown in admissions, the “horrendous” levels of staff absence means the pressure is ratcheting up.
Read more of Josh Halliday’s report here: ‘Christmas was awful’ – on the Omicron frontline at the Royal Preston hospital
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If you are interested in how the self-isolation period works in England now, the government has published the new stay-at-home guidance on its website. You can find them here. This is a sample:
The self-isolation advice for people with coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed. It is now possible to end self-isolation after 5 full days if you have 2 negative LFD tests taken on consecutive days. The first LFD test should not be taken before the fifth day after your symptoms started (or the day your test was taken if you did not have symptoms). The self-isolation period remains 10 full days for those without negative results from 2 LFD tests taken a day apart.
It hasn’t been receiving universally great reviews for its clarity.
This guidance is absolutely impenetrable. Can only assume whoever wrote it was drunk. https://t.co/htTSKPpqBw
— Alan White (@aljwhite) January 16, 2022
Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London. With all of the kerfuffle over Westminster parties and the future of prime minister Boris Johnson, you could be forgiven for having lost track of actually what is happening with the coronavirus numbers in the UK. Here’s a snapshot.
There were 70,924 new Covid cases recorded in the UK yesterday. Over the last seven days there have been 754,054 new coronavirus cases. Cases have decreased by 38% week-on-week.
There have been 1,834 deaths within 28 days of positive test recorded in the last week, with 88 recorded yesterday. Deaths have increased by 41.6% week-on-week.
Hospital admissions have decreased by 1.4% week-on-week. At the latest count on the UK government’s own dashboard, there were 19,539 people in hospital in total, of whom 777 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.
The education secretary – and former vaccines minister – Nadhim Zahawi is doing the media round for the government today. I’ll bring you the key quotes as they come in.
At risk children aged 12 to 15 to be offered boosters in England
Covid booster shots will be offered to children in England aged 12 to 15 who are most at risk from coronavirus, NHS England has said.
From Monday, clinically at-risk children in this age group or those who live with someone who has a weakened immune system are entitled to their booster three months after their two primary doses, and those who are severely immunosuppressed are eligible for a booster after a third primary dose.
Meanwhile, all 16- and 17-year-olds in England can get their boosters from Monday.
About 40,000 teenagers will be eligible for their top-up dose as the national booking service opens in the latest phase of the vaccine programme.
Previously, boosters were only recommended for clinically vulnerable 16- and 17-year-olds who are most at risk from Covid-19.
Updated
Covid isolation period in England cut to five days
People in England are now able to end their coronavirus isolation after five full days in the latest change to self-isolation guidance, PA Media reports.
The changes will take effect from Monday so long as a negative test is confirmed on days five and six.
Ministers had been under pressure to reduce the isolation period – which was previously seven days – to help address staff shortages across the economy and public services by allowing people to return to work earlier.
The government said research showed that between 20% and 30% of people are still infectious by day six, but the percentage of those released while infectious falls to around 7% if people have two consecutive negative tests and then leave isolation from day six.
Health secretary Sajid Javid said:
Following a robust review of the evidence, we have reduced the minimum self-isolation period to five full days in England.
This is a balanced and proportionate approach to restore extra freedoms and reduce the pressure on essential public services over the winter.
It is crucial people only stop self-isolating after two negative tests to ensure you are not infectious.”
The Department of Health said the default self-isolation period remains 10 days, and that people can only end it early if they receive two negative results on consecutive days – the earliest being days five and six.
Updated
Japan to bring forward booster shots
Japan will bring forward its Covid vaccination booster shots by as much as two months, prime minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday.
From March, booster shots for the elderly will be administered six months after the second shots, rather than the originally planned eight months, and the interval will be shortened by a month or two for other adults, Kishida said in a policy speech to parliament.
“The Kishida administration puts the highest priority on its coronavirus response,” the prime minister said in the speech marking the start of a regular session of parliament.
Updated
It’s Samantha Lock here with you on the blog as we run through all the latest coronavirus developments this Monday.
Here’s a brief synopsis of what’s making global Covid headlines today.
People in England are now able to end their coronavirus isolation after five full days in the latest change to self-isolation guidance.
The changes will take effect from Monday so long as a negative test is provided on days five and six.
The department of health said the default self-isolation period will remain at 10 days, and that people can only end it early if they receive two negative results on consecutive days – the earliest being days five and six.
On the other side of the world in China, the number of Covid-19 cases across the county reached the highest since March 2020 on Monday, as the country reported a daily rise of 223 new infections.
Several cities are now on a high Covid alert in preparation for the lunar new year holiday travel season when hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel around the country.
Cities such as Luoyang in central China and Jieyang in the south now require residents to report details of their trips in advance.
Here’s everything else you might have missed:
- Ministers are seeing “encouraging” signs that plan B Covid restrictions in England could be lifted in 10 days’ time, the chair of the Conservative party, Oliver Dowden, has said.
- People in the UK may no longer be legally required to self-isolate after catching Covid, according to unsourced reports in the Telegraph.
- UK Labour leader Keir Starmer says Boris Johnson broke the law by attending at least one of the parties.
- Starmer himself rejected accusations that he had broken Covid restrictions when he was photographed eating and drinking with others in late April 2021, saying “there was no party, no breach of the rules. There is absolutely no comparison with the prime minister.”
- A total of 70,924 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the government reported on Sunday.
- Hundreds of people marched in Malta against new measures requiring a Covid certificate to enter entry most venues including restaurants, gyms and bars.
-
Amnesty International has urged Italy to change its strict anti Covid-19 restrictions to avoid discriminating against unvaccinated people.
-
Italian police arrested a nurse in Palermo for allegedly pretending to give Covid vaccines to anti-vaxxer activists so they could benefit from official health certificates to travel and access bars, restaurants and public transport in the country.
- France’s parliament has given final approval to the government’s latest measures to tackle Covid-19, including a vaccine pass contested by anti-vaccine protesters.
- Thousands of people have demonstrated in Amsterdam city centre in opposition to Covid-19 measures and the vaccination programme.
- Novak Djokovic left Australia hours after the federal court rejected a challenge to the decision of the Australian immigration minister, Alex Hawke, to cancel the visa on the basis Djokovic’s presence in Australia might risk “civil unrest” as he is a “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”.
- Serbia’s president said Djokovic was “harassed … but not humiliated” and the prime minister called his treatment “scandalous”.
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New Zealand has begun its vaccine rollout for children aged five to 11.
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Japan’s government has started discussions to apply a quasi-state of emergency on the capital, Tokyo, and its surrounding areas within the week, broadcaster FNN reports.
- Hong Kong’s flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, has been singled out as the government looks to shift blame over the spread of Omicron to at least 50 people in the last week.
- India’s Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is reportedly working on an Omicron-specific Covid-19 vaccine while an mRNA vaccine candidate nears completion, sources say.
Updated
The Guardian’s Audio Long Read is out with a new episode attempting to unravel what Covid taught us about racism – and what we need to do now.
We were told coronavirus didn’t discriminate, but it didn’t need to – society had already done that for us, explains Gary Younge.
Listen to the podcast here.
India’s Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is reportedly working on an Omicron-specific Covid-19 vaccine while an mRNA vaccine candidate nears completion, sources say.
The company is among a few pharmaceutical firms worldwide, including Moderna and Pfizer, to use mRNA technology in its coronavirus vaccine. These vaccines do not use a live virus to generate an immune response but prompt the human body to make a protein that triggers one.
Phase 3 clinical trials are currently underway and near completion as the company also develops an Omicron-specific vaccine using the same technology, sources told the Times of India.
The vaccine has already started manufacture and could be rolled out once it receives regulatory approval. If given emergency-use approval, it would be the country’s first mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, similar to ones developed by Pfizer and Moderna.
The Omicron-targeted vaccine will be tested for human use soon, the publication added, citing sources familiar with the matter.
A person with direct knowledge of the matter who did not want to be named as the information was private, also told Reuters that the product might need a small trial in India before it could be rolled out as a booster or standalone vaccine.
Updated
Taking a quick break from Covid figures for a moment, legal experts say the deportation of Novak Djokovic has exposed Australia’s visa cancellation regime as “dysfunctional and dangerous”, arguing his expulsion is a “terrible precedent” that could lead to “political and populist” deportations.
The Djokovic case has drawn public attention to the so-called “God powers” held by Australian immigration ministers, granting them extraordinarily broad powers to summarily cancel visas.
Migration law experts say the Djokovic case – his visa was cancelled because the government believed he was a “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment” – demonstrates the laws could be used to exclude a person who has previously expressed political views the government did not agree with.
Read the full story here.
Continuing across Asia, India’s daily Covid infections rose by 258,089 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Monday.
Another 385 deaths were also reported, bringing the national death toll to 486,451, the ministry added.
There have been 37.38 million infections recorded across India since the beginning of the pandemic.
While we’re in the Asia region, Thailand has reported another 6,929 coronavirus cases and 13 deaths.
Travelling to the other side of the world now, South Korea is reporting a daily rise of 3,859 confirmed coronavirus cases and 23 deaths, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The latest figures bring the cumulative total of infections to 696,032 and 6,333 coronavirus-related deaths.
Critical cases account for 32.3% of those in intensive care.
Germany is reporting a daily rise of 34,145 confirmed coronavirus cases and 30 deaths, according to recently released figures from the Robert Koch Institute.
The numbers bring the cumulative total of infections to 8,000,122 and 115,649 coronavirus-related deaths.
Australian retailers charging “beyond outrageous” prices for rapid antigen tests are being referred to the federal police for investigation, as supply issues continue to hamper Australia’s testing regime.
The chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims, said on Monday the consumer watchdog had received many reports of price gouging, which is now illegal under new laws that prevent profit margins of more than 20% on tests.
With reports of retailers charging more than $30 for a single hard-to-find rapid testing kit, Sims said the regulator was preparing to take action on the “beyond outrageous” price markups.
Read the full story here.
Chinese cities on high alert ahead of Lunar New Year
Several Chinese cities have gone into high Covid alert as the Lunar New Year holiday travel season began on Monday.
Travellers are now required to report their trips days before their arrival, as the Omicron variant reached more areas including Beijing, Reuters reports.
Authorities have warned the Omicron variant adds to the increased risk of Covid-19 transmission as hundreds of millions of people travel around China for the Lunar New Year holiday starting at the end of the month.
Cities such as Luoyang in central China and Jieyang in the south said on Sunday travellers need to report to communities, employers or hotels their trips three days ahead of arrival.
The southwestern city of Yulin said on Saturday those who want to enter should fill in a digital form including their health credentials and trip details one day in advance.
Over the weekend, the capital Beijing and the southern technology hub each detected one domestically transmitted Omicron case. So far, at least five provinces and municipalities reported local Omicron infections, while 14 provincial areas found the variant among travellers arriving from overseas.
Many local governments have already advised residents not to leave town unnecessarily during the holiday, while dozens of international and domestic flights have been suspended.
Hong Kong’s flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, has been singled out as the government looks to shift blame over the spread of Omicron to at least 50 people in the last week
Two crew members were accused of breaching their home quarantine, going shopping or meeting friends, and spreading the highly transmissible variant in the city. As numbers rose, infection flow charts were published marking cases with the airline’s brand while the government launched inquiries and threatened legal action. Pro-Beijing figures and state media called for punishment.
The airline had just come off a government ban on flying key international routes, a punishment for carrying Covid-positive passengers. Around the same time the ban was imposed in late December, quarantine rules were tightened after a pilot tested positive, and then again just days later after three crew also did, and then again after the latest incidents.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, described the airline as “a very big noncompliance case” and accused it of sending some crew back to the territory on empty cargo flights to access shorter quarantine periods.
“This has to be put under full investigation, and we will take legal action once we have the full evidence of what wrong they went into,” Lam said.
Read the full story here.
Updated
Japan’s government has started discussions to apply a quasi-state of emergency on the capital Tokyo and its surrounding areas within the week, broadcaster FNN reports.
Three districts in the Tokyo metropolitan area are planning to request the national government to take priority measures such as preventing the spread of the disease by the end of tomorrow, according to FNN.
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike said on Thursday the capital would implement such measures if usage of critical care hospital beds climbed to 20%.
The bed usage rate in Tokyo as of yesterday was 19.3%, according to the broadcaster.
Updated
A recent report from Oxfam has revealed the 10 richest men in the world saw their global wealth double to $1.5tn (£1.01tn) since the start of the pandemic following a surge in share and property prices that has widened the gap between rich and poor.
Urging governments to impose a one-off 99% wealth tax on Covid-19 windfall gains, the charity said World Bank figures showed 163 million more people had been driven below the poverty line while the super-rich were benefiting from the stimulus provided by governments around the world to mitigate the impact of the virus.
Oxfam projects that by 2030, 3.3 billion people will be living on less than $5.50 per day.
The charity said the incomes of 99% of the world’s population had reduced from March 2020 to October 2021, when Elon Musk, the founder of the electric car company Tesla, and the other nine richest billionaires had been collectively growing wealthier by $1.3bn a day.
Read the full story here.
China has reported a daily rise of 223 new confirmed Covid-19 cases for Sunday, up from 119 a day earlier, its health authority said on Monday.
Of the new infections, 163 were locally transmitted, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, up from 65 a day earlier.
The new locally transmitted cases were in Tianjin, Henan, Guangdong, Shaanxi and Guangxi, the NHC said.
The country reported 28 new asymptomatic cases for 16 January, which it classifies separately from confirmed cases, down from 52 infections a day earlier.
There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll at 4,636 and the cumulative total confirmed coronavirus cases at 105,087.
Returning briefly to the Djokovic saga.
After 11 tumultuous days, world tennis No 1 Novak Djokovic was deported last night (AEST) after the full bench of the federal court upheld the government’s decision to cancel his visa on the grounds of health and good order.
As he returns to Serbia, the world tennis No 1’s home country reacted furiously to his deportation from Australia.
Serbia’s president said Djokovic was “harassed … but not humiliated” and the prime minister called his treatment “scandalous”.
Serbian prime minister, Ana Brnabić, told reporters in Belgrade:
I think the court decision is scandalous … I find it unbelievable that we have two completely contradictory court decisions within the span of just a few days.
I am disappointed … I think it demonstrated how the rule of law is functioning – or better to say not functioning – in some other countries. In any case, I can hardly wait to see Novak Djokovic in our own country, in Serbia.”
The decision by Australia’s immigration minister to cancel Djokovic’s visa was based upon his presence risking ‘civil unrest’ by stoking anti-vaccination sentiment and removes any chance of the tennis player winning a 21st grand slam at the Australian Open.
New Zealand begins vaccinating children aged 5-11
New Zealand will begin vaccinating children aged 5-11 from today, 17 January.
Over 120,000 doses of the child Pfizer vaccine have been delivered and is available at 500 sites throughout the country, including walk-ins, drive-throughs, pharmacies, and general practices.
A programme of Māori-designed initiatives will ensure all whānau can access vaccination and celebrate tamariki with special events and activities in their neighbourhoods, the ministry of health said in a statement.
Auckland’s Covid-19 vaccination programme clinical director Dr Anthony Jordan said communities in Tamaki Makaurau are well prepared.
Getting vaccinated now is a great way to help protect tamariki before they go back to school.
The evidence shows that while children may have milder symptoms, some will still get very sick and end up in hospital if they do get Covid-19. Getting vaccinated also helps to prevent them from passing it on to more vulnerable members of the whānau, like babies and elderly family members.”
However, the first day of the vaccine rollout has reportedly been marred with massive traffic problems and children waiting in cars for up to an hour, according to the New Zealand Herald.
New Zealand recently reduced the interval between the second dose and a booster dose from six months to four months.
“We are urging everyone to receive their booster dose as soon as four months has passed following their second dose. Even if it’s been less than four months since your second dose, you can still book ahead to ensure you get the date and time you prefer, once you’re eligible,” Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield said.
Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you on the blog today as we unpack all the latest Covid developments from across the world.
I’ll be reporting to you from Sydney and my colleagues from London will take over a little later in the day.
Let’s jump in with the news that New Zealand has begun its vaccine roll-out for children aged 5-11.
Over 120,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been delivered and is available at 500 sites throughout the country, including walk-ins, drive-throughs, pharmacies, and general practices.
Those aged 18 years and older who have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine are also now eligible to book a booster dose.
On the other side of the world in France, the French parliament has approved a range of measures including a vaccine passport. The new law, which will come into force in the coming days, will require people to have a certificate of vaccination to enter public places like restaurants, cafes, cinemas and long-distance trains.
This comes after President Emmanuel Macron, said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting the Covid vaccine.
France is in the grips of its fifth Covid wave with daily new cases regularly hitting record levels over 300,000 though the number of serious cases putting people in ICU wards is much lower than the first wave in March-April 2020.
Here is a quick round-up of the latest developments:
Europe:
- Ministers are seeing “encouraging” signs that plan B Covid restrictions in England could be lifted in 10 days’ time, the chair of the Conservative party, Oliver Dowden, has said.
- People in the UK may no longer be legally required to self-isolate after catching Covid, according to unsourced reports in the Telegraph.
- UK Labour leader Keir Starmer says Boris Johnson broke the law by attending at least one of the parties.
- Starmer himself rejected accusations that he had broken Covid restrictions when he was photographed eating and drinking with others in late April 2021, saying “there was no party, no breach of the rules. There is absolutely no comparison with the prime minister.”
- A total of 70,924 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the government reported on Sunday.
- Hundreds of people marched in Malta against new measures requiring a Covid certificate to enter entry most venues including restaurants, gyms and bars.
-
Amnesty International has urged Italy to change its strict anti Covid-19 restrictions to avoid discriminating against unvaccinated people.
-
Italian police arrested a nurse in Palermo for allegedly pretending to give Covid vaccines to anti-vaxxer activists so they could benefit from official health certificates to travel and access bars, restaurants and public transport in the country.
- France’s parliament has given final approval to the government’s latest measures to tackle Covid-19, including a vaccine pass contested by anti-vaccine protesters.
- Thousands of people have demonstrated in Amsterdam city centre in opposition to Covid-19 measures and the vaccination programme.
Australia/NZ:
- Novak Djokovic left Australia hours after the federal court rejected a challenge to the decision of the Australian immigration minister, Alex Hawke, to cancel the visa on the basis Djokovic’s presence in Australia might risk “civil unrest” as he is a “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”.
Africa:
- The billionth Covid-19 vaccine as part of the global Covax scheme was delivered in Rwanda on Saturday night.
Middle East:
- A three-week-old baby died from Covid-19 in Qatar, the health ministry said on Sunday.
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