Category Archives: Coronavirus

Coronavirus live news: Novavax says vaccine is effective against UK variant; Paris hospitals to suspend jabs next week

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French health authority says only enough doses left for second shots from 2 February; Brazil’s president rows back after criticism over patchy rollout

Turkey will receive the remaining portion of a second consignment of 10 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech by Friday morning, health minister Fahrettin Koca said, Reuters reports.

Turkey received 6.5 million doses of the second consignment on Monday, following an initial consignment of 3 million doses nearly a month ago. It has so far vaccinated nearly 1.7 million people, mostly health workers and elderly people, according to health ministry data.

The first portion of the 10 million dose second consignment of inactive vaccine had arrived at the weekend. As of this morning (Friday), the second portion will have arrived in our country. Vaccines consignments will continue in accordance with the procurement programme,” Koca said on Twitter.

The UK’s prime minister has given his reaction to the Novavax vaccine trial.

Good news that the @Novavax vaccine has proved effective in UK trials. Thank you to all the volunteers who made these results possible.

Our medicines regulator will now assess the vaccine, which will be made in Teesside. If approved, we have 60m doses on order.

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Why Brazilians are having to take the Covid crisis into their own hands – podcast

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Tom Phillips, the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, looks at the surge of infections in the Brazilian state of Amazonas that has left many hospitals without the most basic supplies and has prompted yet more protests against Bolsonaro

Rachel Humphreys talks to the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, about the Covid crisis in Brazil. A surge in infections linked to a new and seemingly more contagious variant has overwhelmed hospitals in Amazonas state, leaving many without the most basic supplies. Circumstances were so bleak that oxygen tankers were rushed over the border from Venezuela, the economically collapsed nation next door, with its leader, Nicolás Maduro, decrying what he called “Jair Bolsonaro’s public health disaster”.

Tom tells Rachel about the way the public have reacted to Bolsonaro and his government’s handling of this latest wave of infections. Inoculation began last Sunday, weeks after other Latin American countries such as Chile and Mexico. But Brazil, which has 212 million citizens, has so far secured only 6m doses of China’s CoronaVac shot and 2m of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.

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Thai police arrest 89 foreigners for Covid breach at Koh Phangan party

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Citizens from US, Britain, Switzerland and Denmark face charges for attending event police say was illegal under emergency laws

Police have raided a party at a bar on a popular resort island in southern Thailand and arrested 89 foreigners for violating coronavirus regulations.

The Tuesday night raid on the Three Sixty Bar on Koh Phangan also netted 22 Thais, including one identified as the bar’s owner and another who sold drinks there, said police Col Suparerk Pankosol, superintendent of the provincial immigration office.

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All countries should pursue a Covid-19 elimination strategy: here are 16 reasons why | Michael Baker and Martin McKee

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Countries trying to eliminate the virus have been far more successful and economically better off than those that have tried to suppress it

The past year of Covid-19 has taught us that it is the behaviour of governments, more than the behaviour of the virus or individuals, that shapes countries’ experience of the crisis. Talking about pandemic waves has given the virus far too much agency: until quite recently the apparent waves of infection were driven by government action and inaction. It is only now with the emergence of more infectious variants that it might be appropriate to talk about a true second wave.

As governments draw up their battle plans for year two, we might expect them to base their strategies on the wealth of data about what works best. And the evidence to date suggests that countries pursuing elimination of Covid-19 are performing much better than those trying to suppress the virus. Aiming for zero-Covid is producing more positive results than trying to “live with the virus”.

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White House: ‘great concern’ over Covid origin ‘misinformation’ from China

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Joe Biden’s administration demands ‘robust and clear’ investigation as WHO team visits Wuhan

The US wants a “robust and clear” international probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, has said.

Speaking to reporters, she said it was “imperative we get to the bottom” of how the virus appeared and spread. She highlighted “great concern” over “misinformation” from “some sources in China”.

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Japan faces Olympian task with slow start to Covid vaccinations

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With a vaccine-hesitant public and jabs yet to begin, there are fears immunisations are off the pace

Japan was among the first countries to report cases of Covid-19 after the world was alerted to the virus in December 2019. But just over a year later, it is the last major economy to deploy a vaccine – a measure widely acknowledged as the best hope for a return to something resembling normal life.

The first round of jabs is not expected to begin in Japan until the end of February, months after the US and UK – which have recorded far higher death tolls and caseloads – began their vaccination programmes.

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How quarantine rules work and what UK government is planning

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Analysis: Arrivals from high-risk countries will have to pay to isolate in a hotel under Boris Johnson’s proposals

With new hotel quarantine measures for international arrivals from high-risk countries due to be introduced to curb the spread of Covid-19, focus falls on how they will work.

Here, we look at what the rules are now and what’s being done by the UK government to toughen border controls.

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Boris Johnson ‘hopeful’ schools will reopen on 8 March – video

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Boris Johnson has said that 8 March is the earliest schools could reopen, but warned the date depended on ‘lots of things going right’. A firm decision will be taken in the week of 22 February after reviewing infection and vaccination data, the prime minister said

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Backlash grows for ‘selfish millionaire’ who got vaccine meant for Indigenous people

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Canadian casino executive Rodney Baker and his wife were initially fined C$2,300 for breaking public health rules

A millionaire Canadian couple who traveled to a remote community to receive a coronavirus vaccine intended for vulnerable and elderly Indigenous people are facing growing calls for a tougher punishment after they were initially fined C$2,300 (US$1,800) for breaking public health rules.

Casino executive Rodney Baker and his wife Ekaterina Baker, an actor, travelled by chartered plane to Beaver Creek, a community of 100 in Canada’s Yukon territory, where a mobile team was administering the Moderna vaccine to locals, including elderly members of the White River First Nation.

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Britain and EU clash over claims to UK-produced Covid vaccine

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EU health commissioner dismisses AstraZeneca argument it is contractually obliged to supply UK first

Britain is on a collision course with the European Union over vaccine shortages after Brussels refused to accept that people in the UK have first claim on Oxford/AstraZeneca doses produced in local plants.

The EU’s health commissioner outright dismissed on Wednesday an argument made by Pascal Soriot, the Anglo-Swedish company’s chief executive, that he was contractually obliged to supply the UK first.

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Coronavirus live news: Madrid suspends vaccinations after running out of doses; Cyprus eases lockdown

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Madrid health authorities announce two-week pause after supply issues; Cyprus welcomes fall in number of new infections

The British home secretary Priti Patel has outlined new rules for tighter border controls amid unprecendented pressure on the UK health service and over 100,000 Covid-19 deaths.

Patel said too many people are coming in and out of the country every day, but told MPs on Wednesday more details will be set out by the health department next week.

Firstly, the police have stepped up checks and are carrying out more physical checks at addresses to ensure that people are complying with the self-isolation rules.

Second, we will continue to refuse entry to non-UK residents from red-list countries which are already subject to the UK travel ban.

The European Union health commissioner has said that AstraZeneca has committed to providing the bloc with doses from four plants, including two in Britain, Reuters reports.

Stella Kyriakides told a news conference that the company had legal obligations to comply with the contract.

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Why the EU and AstraZeneca are stuck in a Covid vaccines row

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Explainer: AstraZeneca’s Pascal Soriot gives insight into ‘glitches’ that constrained production

The chief executive of AstraZeneca has dismissed suggestions that the UK is being unfairly prioritised for Covid-19 vaccine doses, in a wide-ranging interview revealing “glitches” that have constrained production.

Pascal Soriot offered the deepest insight yet into a scientific process that has been dragged into the political sphere, as leaders in Brussels and several EU capitals voiced anger that Europe will not get the vaccine as quickly as hoped.

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Biden turns attention to climate crisis with new executive orders today – live updates

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President, who has already cancelled Keystone XL pipeline, will address nation on the environment

While we’re waiting for a Covid-19 briefing, it’s worth remembering just how many people have gone through a year of pandemic without health insurance: likely at least 28.9 million.

The number of people who lacked health insurance rose through the Trump presidency, and grew by experts millions were added to the ranks of uninsured as the pandemic drove unprecedented job losses. A plurality of Americans rely on private health insurance through an employer.

WASHINGTON (AP) Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Joe Biden plans to reopen the HealthCare.gov insurance markets for a special sign-up opportunity geared to people needing coverage in the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden is expected to sign an executive order Thursday, said two people familiar with the plan, whose details were still being finalized. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the pending order ahead of a formal announcement.

Hello – this is Jessica Glenza taking over from Martin Belam. Among the most high profile events happening in Washington DC today is the first Covid-19 briefing, which the Biden administration promised will be a regular feature of his administration.

At 11am ET, we’re expecting Biden’s first Covid-19 briefing. Here’s a closer look at what is expected:

(AP) - For nearly a year it was the Trump show. Now President Joe Biden is calling up the nation’s top scientists and public health experts to regularly brief the American public about the pandemic that has claimed more than 425,000 US lives.

Beginning Wednesday, administration experts will host briefings three times a week on the state of the outbreak, efforts to control it and the race to deliver vaccines and therapeutics to end it.

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Sturgeon questions whether Johnson’s trip to Scotland ‘essential’

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First minister also says UK government’s hotel quarantine plans ‘do not go far enough’

Nicola Sturgeon has questioned whether Boris Johnson’s planned trip from London to Scotland on Thursday is “genuinely essential”, suggesting his visit makes it harder to convince the public to stick to travel restrictions.

At her daily briefing, when she also warned that the UK government’s hotel quarantine plan for travellers “does not go far enough”, Scotland’s first minister said that while she was sure the prime minister and his advisers would take care to make sure no laws were broken, “we all have to make judgments on what we genuinely think is essential”.

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Keep Covid rescue programmes or risk triggering stock market crash, warns IMF

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International Monetary Fund says there are concerns about share price bubble

Governments and central banks must maintain their pandemic rescue programmes or risk triggering a stock market crash, the International Monetary Fund has said.

Warning that there were legitimate concerns about a share price bubble, the Washington-based organisation said that without continued low interest rates and government subsidies it was possible a “correction” in stock markets would occur.

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‘Things are getting worse’: Tunisia protests rage on as latest victim named

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Police brutality and unemployment worsened by the pandemic continues to drive young protesters onto streets to demand reform

The latest victim of Tunisia’s current unrest has been named as Haykel Rachdi, from Sbeitla in Kasserine, near the Algerian border. He died of his injuries on Monday night after reportedly being struck on the head by a police teargas canister.

Protests were continuing on Wednesday, with police pushing back hundreds of mainly young demonstrators outside the country’s parliament in the capital, Tunis. One group had marched there from the working-class district of Hay Ettadhamen, in the north of the city. The protesters chanted refrains from the revolution of the winter of 2010–11 and anti-police slogans, while inside, politicians continued to debate whether to accept or reject a proposed new government, the fifth since 2019’s inconclusive elections.

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Families of Wuhan Covid dead say chat group deleted by authorities

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Zhang Hai among those to tell of crackdown before WHO team begins investigation into pandemic’s origins

Relatives of Wuhan’s coronavirus dead have said Chinese authorities deleted their social media group and told them to keep quiet while a World Health Organization team was in the city preparing to begin an investigation into the pandemic’s origins.

Scores of people had banded together online in a shared quest for accountability from the Wuhan officials they blame for mishandling the Covid-19 outbreak that tore through the city a year ago, and caused more than 4,000 officially recorded deaths there.

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Germany expected to tighten borders to control spread of Covid variants

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Interior minister says danger posed by recent mutations ‘requires drastic measures’

The German government is expected to announce tighter border controls after warnings from leading virologists that the move is vital to control the spread in the country of more contagious variants of Covid-19.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor, is widely reported to have told a meeting of her CDU party colleagues that air travel in particular needed to be restricted “to the extent that you simply can’t get anywhere any more”.

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Here are five ways the government could have avoided 100,000 Covid deaths | Devi Sridhar

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The UK needs to learn from the lessons of the past year and come up with a concrete plan to avert a disastrous third wave

Yesterday Britain passed a grim milestone. A further 1,631 deaths from Covid-19 were recorded, taking the official tally above 100,000, though data from the Office for National Statistics suggests the total number will now be nearer 120,000. In a briefing, Boris Johnson has said his government did everything it could to minimise the loss of life, but these deaths were far from inevitable. While the number of UK deaths has entered the hundreds of thousands, New Zealand has recorded only 25 deaths from Covid-19 so far. Taiwan has recorded seven, Australia 909, Finland 655, Norway 550 and Singapore 29. These countries have largely returned to normal daily life.

In the first year of the pandemic, the UK faced three big challenges. Our national government had no long-term strategy for suppressing the virus beyond a continual cycle of lockdowns. Even now we still don’t know what the government’s plans for the next six months are. In the early days of the pandemic, the UK treated Covid-19 like a bad flu. The government halted testing, and the initial plan seemed to be allow the virus to run unchecked through the population (the “herd immunity” approach). Finally, ministers have pitted the economy against public health, instead of realising that the health of the economy depends upon a healthy population.

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EU’s vaccine supply issues mean light at end of tunnel that much further away

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Analysis: Frustration around restrictions in Netherlands could be voiced in other countries

In recent nights, rioters have poured on to the streets of 10 Dutch cities in what has been the closest Europe has come to open revolt against the coronavirus restrictions imposed across the continent.

The violence, the worst in four decades, might be put down to the liberty-loving culture of the country or an outbreak of straightforward criminality but, perhaps not coincidentally, the Netherlands is also the very last EU member state to start vaccinating the public and offer some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

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