Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
He had feared it as he saw the reckless crush of hundreds of people taking part in large wedding parties over the past months, feared it as he saw the maskless faces of shoppers at the market, feared it as he witnessed thousands come together for political rallies in the ongoing elections in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where he is the president of the state medical council.
Asked about Joe Biden’s speech tomorrow on the path forward in Afghanistan, Jen Psaki declined to provide specific details on the plan that the president will propose.
But the White House press secretary did say this: “The president has been consistent in his view that there is not a military solution to Afghanistan, that we have been there for far too long.”
White House Covid-19 task force coordinator Jeff Zeints said a “pause” in Johnson & Johnson vaccine administration would not affect national vaccine distribution, despite that some officials expected to rely on the one-shot vaccine in rural and isolated communities.
“We have enough to continue the current pace of about 3 million shots per day, 200 million shots by [Joe Biden’s] 100th day in office,” Zeints said in the White House briefing room.
He later added: “We have enough supply of Moderna and Pfizer… to head toward the Fourth of July we’ve talked about as a country.”
Six cases of blood clots and low platelet counts in women between 18 and 48 caused the CDC and FDA to recommend states pause administration of the vaccine while potential links between the vaccine and very rare syndrome are investigated. More than 6 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses have been administered in the US.
Officials have said there are similarities between the syndrome being investigated and those associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe and Australia. The AstraZeneca vaccine is not available in the US. Both vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca share a vaccine technology called an “viral vector”. If a link was established, the syndrome would still be exceedingly rare, affecting less than one in one million people vaccinated.
Health authorities said it was also important to pause the administration and announce it to the public because of the treatment needed for patients who may be suffering from such clots. Standard treatment for blood clots uses heparin, a blood thinner. In this syndrome, officials said heparin could be “dangerous” and make the syndrome worse.
“When individuals, particularly younger women, come into a physician with a thrombotic phenomenon, we want to alert physicians to take a history of a recent vaccination,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical advisor. “That would be important.”
The White House had “no involvement” in the announcement about a “pause” in administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the US. Zeints said the administration is “ruled by science,” and would wait for health officials’ investigation.
As to whether the very rare potential side effect could increase vaccine hesitancy, particularly in rural areas where the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was expected to be deployed, Zeints and Fauci said the pause represents how seriously the FDA takes patient safety.
“Hesitancy amongst a group of people is a challenge,” said Zeints. “The FDA acting the way they did today shows they are indeed the gold standard, and I think that should reassure the American public they are very diligent.”
Flu-like side effects in the days immediately following vaccine administration are common established side effects, and would typically resolve within a few days. In all six cases, the blood clotting events occurred between six and 13 days after any of the patients received a vaccine.
Symptoms of the clotting syndrome include severe headache, shortness of breath, abdominal and leg pain. People experiencing such symptoms roughly one to three weeks after receiving the vaccine should seek medical attention. People who received the vaccine more than one month ago are at “very low” risk for complications.
South Africa has temporarily suspended the rollout of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, its health minister said on Tuesday, after US federal health agencies recommended pausing its use because of rare cases of blood clots.
Health minister Zweli Mkhize told reporters:
I had urgent consultations with our scientists, who advised that we cannot take the decision by the FDA lightly. Based on their advice, we have determined to voluntarily suspend our rollout until the causal relationship between the development of clots and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is sufficiently interrogated.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday it was reviewing cases of rare blood clots in women who had taken Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after US federal health authorities recommended pausing the use of the shot.
In a statement to Reuters, the EMA said it was “currently not clear whether there is a causal association between vaccination” and the conditions.
Local restrictions should be imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus variants when clusters emerge to avoid local or national lockdowns, scientists have said after the UK’s biggest surge testing operation got under way.
In south London, dozens of cases of the South Africa variant of Covid-19 have been detected, chiefly in the boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth, leading to what the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said is the “largest surge testing operation to date”.
The call in the US for a pause in the use of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine is another blow to hopes of vaccinating the whole world as fast as possible.
Health agencies recommended that US states pause use of the jab while investigations take place into six cases of women who have experienced rare blood clotting events combined with low platelets in the days following vaccination.
Marie Scully was alarmed and puzzled. “It didn’t make sense,” she said. The consultant haematologist at University College London hospital (UCLH) had seen patients with blood clots in the brain and low platelets before and, although it was unusual, she always knew why. But there was no reason for the condition of the young woman in her 30s she was treating in early March.
“Now when you have blood clots in the brain like that there’s always a cause, and it was difficult to pinpoint the cause,” said Prof Scully. “It didn’t fit our normal diagnostic boxes, let’s say. She was a young woman with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, and she had a low platelet count.”
Nicola Sturgeon has accelerated the relaxation of restrictions on travel and outdoor meetings as she said Covid was “in retreat” in Scotland.
Announcing the changes, which will allow Scots to meet up with family and friends across the country outside in larger groups, the first minister said that from this Friday:
More than 200 Sudanese doctors, nurses and medical workers have died from Covid-19, according to sources close to the health ministry – more than three times the official figure.
Like other countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan has struggled to obtain vaccines and distribute them to frontline medical staff. Many of the doctors who have died were senior consultants in their 50s and 60s or older, and so were in high-risk categories.
Millions of healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa continue to risk their lives to fight Covid-19 as authorities across the continent struggle to obtain and distribute vaccines to frontline medical staff.
Though hundreds of millions of people in western nations are now protected from the virus, doctors, nurses and others on the frontline of the fight against Covid in Africa will have to wait months, or even years, for a vaccine.
Wow, it’s been a busy few hours! With that, I’m going to hand you over to Michael McGowan to take you through the rest of the afternoon.
Christine Holgate gave some evidence about executive bonuses. It is a little confusing and we’ll come back to it, because even the senators seem a little confused about what is being said. And it’s important we get it right, so I’ll head back over the transcript to see what she was saying there.
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has the question call now. She says she has been very moved by Holgate, and what she went through. She asks whether she thinks the questioning on the 22 October estimates hearing was fair.
Holgate:
In all honesty, I didn’t consider whether it was fair or not fair. I absolutely respect and Senator Carr, forgive me but you’ve asked me many tough questions over my time with you (“that’s my job,” Carr says)...and I was about to say ‘that’s your job’.
A regime that might, in more normal times, resemble a boot camp has been happily embraced by 189 Dutch tourists who traded lockdown in the Netherlands for eight days of voluntary confinement at a Greek beach resort.
In an experiment devised by travel industry experts determined not to lose another season to Covid-19, the tourists arrived on the Aegean island of Rhodes on Monday as part of a test run to see if safe holidays can be arranged during the pandemic.
Evidence is growing of a link between the Covid-19 vaccine and a deadly thrombosis – and theories are emerging as to why
Since rare but severe clotting was seen in some people following vaccination with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, researchers worldwide have been grappling to understand why the clotting syndrome, known as “thrombosis with thrombocytopenia” (clotting with a low platelet count), occurs.
Most cases of these clots occurred in veins in the brain (a condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST), though some occurred in other veins, including those to the abdomen (splanchnic vein thrombosis). It has a high death rate.
All over-50s and high-risk groups in the UK have been offered a coronavirus vaccine a few days before the mid-April deadline set by the government – meaning the second phase of the rollout to younger cohorts can now begin.
Despite fears of a supply slowdown and possible knock in confidence after a change in advice on who could get the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, Boris Johnson hailed the passing of “another hugely significant milestone”.
Video of star-studded event apparently held by Bottega Veneta after Berghain fashion launch shows crowded party and no masks
Berlin police are investigating a possible breach of social distancing rules at an illegal star-studded party said to have been held by luxury fashion label Bottega Veneta, after leaked footage apparently of the event inside private members club Soho House caused outrage in a city whose cherished nightlife has been on hold for ordinary clubbers for over a year.
A presentation of the Italian fashion house’s latest collection at Berlin’s famous and exclusive Berghain nightclub last Friday was reportedly attended by a host of celebrity guests including Nigerian singer Burna Boy.
Nesrine Malik’s columns | Ex-leaders compared | Love for Guardian letters | A mother’s place
Your columnist Nesrine Malik writes (11 April) that the pandemic has made her reflect wistfully on the bargain she made when she left Sudan to find success far from home. Nesrine’s columns, expressing subtle thoughts with admirable lucidity, have been something I’ve looked forward to reading all during lockdown. Perhaps we in her adopted country are not the audience she most longs for, but her eloquence has surely touched many readers. Susan Tomes Edinburgh
• It’s been suggested that there’s little to distinguish between the main parties. But what former leaders do with their time may be instructive: David Cameron’s delayed self-justification for his use of networks to lobby for a company (Report, 12 April) should be weighed against Gordon Brown’s call for the G7 to develop a vaccination plan for the poorest countries (Opinion, 12 April). Les Bright Exeter
The global coronavirus pandemic is still growing exponentially, the World Health Organization said on Monday, as it reported 4.4m cases in the last week, the seventh straight week of rising numbers.
The latest global figures represent a 9% increase in infections on last week and a 5% rise in deaths.
Spain will initially prioritise people aged between 70 and 79 for coronavirus vaccines produced by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit, which are due to start arriving this week.
Reuters reports:
Spain will take a first delivery of 300,000 doses of the single-shot vaccine on Wednesday morning, Carolina Darias told reporters at Gran Canaria airport after a visit to the Spanish Canary Islands.
Johnson & Johnson began delivering its vaccine to EU countries on Monday after some delays due to production issues, European Union officials and the company said.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa believes Africa must expand its medical manufacturing capacity and forge partnerships to boost expertise and investment to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and future health emergencies.
Reuters reports:
The continent has struggled to acquire vaccines to fight Covid-19 and imports the vast majority of its medicines and medical equipment, leaving it at the mercy of overseas supplies.
The lifting of lockdown restrictions to allow people in England to use pub beer gardens and dine in the outdoor areas of restaurants is being met by snowfall, as a spring cold snap hits.
The inclement weather will come as a blow to thousands of businesses that were hoping to welcome back customers on Monday after months of restrictions.
Israel became the first country in the world to test vaccine passports when it announced the 'green pass' scheme in February. The passes allow people who have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to return to restaurants, theatres and sport events. With many countries planning to reopen after their vaccination campaigns, the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, Oliver Holmes, examines the lessons that could be learned from Israel's rollout