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Brazil had 33,040 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours and 551 fatalities, the first day in six the death toll has been below 1,000, the health ministry said on Sunday.
The South American country has now registered 8,488,099 cases since the pandemic began, and the official death toll has risen to 209,847, according to ministry data. It is the world’s third worst outbreak behind the United States and India.
Dealing with the deadly second wave of Covid has left the NHS in the most precarious position in its 72-year history, chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has warned, as ministers said they were aiming to get all adults in the UK vaccinated by September.
Stevens said the NHS was now giving 140 jabs a minute, as the race to vaccinate the public picks up, but warned of the stress the service was under.
Related: NHS in most precarious position in its history, says chief executive
Over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable people will begin receiving invitations for coronavirus jabs this week in a “significant milestone” for the vaccination programme, the UK government has announced.
More than 3.8 million people – including over-80s, care home residents and NHS and social care staff – have already received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but from Monday it will begin to be offered to the next two priority groups.
Ghana’s Covid-19 infection rates are skyrocketing and include strains of the virus not previously seen in the country, threatening to overwhelm the health system, President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Sunday.
Since 5 January, the number of active cases has risen to 1,924 from about 900, Akufo-Addo said in a speech. There are now 120 severe cases, up from 18 a week ago.
Schools in Malawi will be shut for at least 15 days while bars have been given an 8pm closing time under new coronavirus restrictions announced by President Lazarus Chakwera in a television address on Sunday.
After reporting no positive cases for almost two months, the country has seen a sudden resurgence in coronavirus cases since the middle of last month.
Workers in Melbourne are expected to return to city offices in large numbers on Monday, with research indicating most feel safe and ready to return after nine months of remote working.
Private workplaces in Victoria are able to return to 50% capacity from Monday, with public service offices permitted to ramp up to 25%.
France reported a further 141 deaths from coronavirus on Sunday, taking the cumulative toll since March to 70,283, the public health authority said. It also reported 16,642 new infections within the previous 24 hours.
The infection figures on Sundays are usually lower because fewer tests are taken. The number of daily cases has been hovering around 20,000 for the last week.
Eurostar has said it is facing an existential threat, as business leaders pleaded with the government to step in and save the “vital link” with Europe.
A 95% drop in passenger numbers has brought the cross-Channel train service to its knees, and the company reiterated on Sunday that while government loans had been extended to aviation, international high-speed rail had also been severely affected by the pandemic.
Related: Eurostar warns of 'risk to survival' without government help
Here’s a graphic showing the number of vaccine doses US states have administered, courtesy of ourworldindata.org
Portugal’s public health system is on the verge of collapsing as hospitals in the areas worst-affected by a worrying surge in coronavirus cases are quickly running out of intensive care beds to treat Covid-19 patients.
“Our health system is under a situation of extreme pressure,” Health Minister Marta Temido told reporters on Sunday afternoon after a visit to a struggling hospital. “There is a limit and we are very close to it.”
The UK variant of the coronavirus has killed three residents at a retirement home in northwestern Belgium and infected 111 people including 39 staff members, its director Jurgen Duyck told AFP on Sunday.
The cluster represents two-thirds of the residents of the De Groene Verte home in the western Flanders city of Houthulst near the border with France.
Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, has approved the emergency use of two coronavirus vaccines during a politically-charged televised meeting that Brazilians watched with bated-breath.
The vaccines produced by Oxford/AstraZeneca and China’s Sinovac will both now be permitted in South America’s biggest country, which has the world’s second highest Covid death toll with more than 209,000 deaths. The decision was taken on Sunday afternoon after three of Anvisa’s five directors voted for the move.
The ruling is a major victory for Brazil’s 212 million citizens - reeling from one of the worst epidemics in the world - but a stinging political defeat for the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has failed to acquire any doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and as a result vaccination with Sinovac’s CoronaVac is likely to begin on Sunday in São Paulo state. São Paulo is governed by one of the president’s biggest political rivals, João Doria, who has championed the Chinese vaccine.
Doria will reportedly offer the first shot to a local intensive care nurse called Mônica Calazans on Sunday, making a high-profile pronouncement he hopes will cement his image as Brazil’s Covid saviour in the public imagination.
Italy’s health ministry has issued a correction on the number of cases reported on Sunday – the figure is 12,545, not 12,415 as previously reported. I’ll amend the previous post showing the incorrect figure now.
Emerging from Holy Family hospital in New Delhi, Ram Verma, a sanitation worker, breathed a deep sigh of relief. As one of the first in India to receive a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday – marking the start of the world’s largest vaccination programmes– he had been feeling a little jittery.
“I must admit I was nervous,” said Verma, who had received his Covaxin jab in a centre set up in the hospital car park. “A lot of us were. I thought I might faint or have side-effects. After all, it is something totally new. But I’m fine. There is nothing to worry about.”
The number of people in the UK to have been given a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine is 3,857,266 as of 16 January, according to government data published on Sunday – marking a rise of 298,087 from Saturday’s figures.
Some 140,559 first doses have been given in Northern Ireland, on top of the 3,365,492 in England, 126,375 in Wales and 224,840 in Scotland.
The WHO has outlined its key reasons for investigating the origins of the virus: to prevent the reintroduction of the virus into the population, to prevent similar pandemics in future and to help develop more efficient treatments and vaccines.
Why is it important for scientists to look for the origins of the virus? Learn more about the team which is looking for the origins of the #COVID19 virus ⬇️#ScienceIn5pic.twitter.com/aCBu7rhBKd
Public confidence in the NHS’s ability to manage the huge number of people left seriously ill by the coronavirus pandemic has fallen to its lowest level since the outbreak began, new polling shows.
Just six out of 10 people believe the health service is able to care properly for those with Covid-19, more than 37,000 of whom are now in hospital. That is the lowest percentage since pollsters Ipsos Mori began asking Britons about the subject in March.
Related: Public confidence NHS can cope with Covid at lowest ever level – poll
Greece’s health authorities have announced 237 new infections, taking the country’s total 148,607 confirmed cases.
Today’s figure is significantly lower than last Sunday’s, when 445 new cases were reported, and is the smallest daily increase since October.
Italy reported a further 12,545 coronavirus cases on Sunday, its health ministry said, while the country’s death toll rose by 377.
This compares to 18,625 and 361 fatalities last Sunday.
Israel’s prisons service has said they will begin vaccinating all incarcerated people against Covid-19, including Palestinians, following calls from right groups, Palestinian officials and Israel’s attorney general.
Israel has given at least one vaccine dose to more than two million of its citizens, a pace widely described as the world’s fastest per capita. But the country came under fire when public security minister Amir Ohana said Palestinian prisoners would be the last to get inoculated.
The United Arab Emirates has lowered the minimum age requirement to receive a Covid-19 vaccination to 16, from 18 previously, its ministry of health said.
The UAE, made of up seven emirates, is offering all residents and citizens free of charge a vaccine manufactured by Chinese state-backed pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm.
There have been a further 38,598 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data. This compares to 54,940 infections registered last Sunday and is the lowest number since 27 December.
A total of 3,395,959 people have tested positive.
Hello, I’ll be running the blog for the next few hours. As always, you can reach me by email or Twitter DM with any tips or suggestions for coverage. Thanks in advance!
The US infections disease expert Anthony Fauci has raised the prospect of American authorities having to make “modifications” to vaccines to take account of any impact from a variant of Covid-19 which was initially identified in south east England.
Fauci said in an interview with NBC News that British authorities had made it very clear that the variant was more contagious, adding: “They say that it isn’t more virulent.”
“But, you know, we’ve got to be careful because the more cases you get, even though on a one-to-one basis it’s not more virulent, meaning it doesn’t make you more sick or more likely to die, just by numbers alone the more cases you have, the more hospitalisations you’re going to have,” he added.
“And the more hospitalisations you have, the more deaths you’re going to have. The thing we really want to look at carefully is that does that mutation lessen the impact of the vaccine?”
Guatemalan soldiers have been clashing today with a caravan of as many as 9,000 Honduran migrants at a point not far from where they entered the country seeking to reach the US border.
Most had entered the country on Friday without showing the negative coronavirus test that Guatemala requires.
Faced with a rapid resurgence of Covid-19 overwhelming the country’s hospitals and driven by a more infectious variant of the virus, South Africa has delayed reopening its schools.
The variant is having far-reaching consequences for Africa’s most developed nation as several countries trying to prevent its spread have stopped or reduced flights with South Africa, AP reports.
A further 631 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 60,921.
Patients were aged between 29 and 103 years old, according to a new statement from the National Health Service (NHS).
Joe Bidens promise that US healthcare workers will administer 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in his presidency’s first 100 days is “absolutely doable,” according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci told Meet the Press on NBC News : What the president-elect is going to do is where need be, to invoke the DPA [Defence Production Act] to get the kinds of things they need.”
Police in the northern English city of Manchester say a minority of people still believe they are “above the law” as they broke up a number of house parties over the weekend.
Officers have issued 110 fixed-penalty notices for Covid-19 regulation breaches since 3pm on Friday, bringing the total issued in the Greater Manchester region to 2,600 since August.
Water cannon and mounted police have been used to break up a demonstration in Amsterdam against lockdown measures and the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Thousands of people gathered in Museumplein a public space in the museum’s quarter of Amsterdam.
Police have been breaking up anti-lockdown demonstrations in Amsterdam. Images and video are coming through on Twitter.
There was this from Manya Koetse, a Dutch journalist covering China:
Chaos in Amsterdam right now at #Museumplein, in front of Van Gogh Museum, as people protest against the covid19 measures in the Netherlands and its leadership. pic.twitter.com/csSSRWs60f
De driehoek kondigt per direct een noodbevel af. Dit betekent dat het voor niemand is toegestaan om op het Museumplein te verblijven.
Ga naar huis en houd daarbij 1,5 meter afstand.
France is considering demanding Covid-19 tests for passengers from Ireland including truck drivers operating on a logistics route that has become key since Britain’s exit from the European Union, Ireland’s transport minister has said.
“They have indicated that they are looking for... anyone coming into France from Ireland would have to have” a PCR test, Irish Transport Minister Eamon Ryan told RTE radio, referring to a type of Covid-19 test that can take several days.
An Australian Open tennis player has been warned for breaching strict isolation rules by “opening his door” to talk to his friends, as players complain about “insane” quarantine requirements ahead of the tournament.
Four people have now tested positive for Covid-19 on charter planes bringing players in for the competition, which has forced 47 players into strict isolation where they cannot train for 14 days. However, tournament director Craig Tiley has confirmed the year’s first Grand Slam will go ahead from 8 February despite anger from players forced into hard quarantine.
The Michelin Guide will tomorrow reveal its annual pick of France’s top restaurants despite criticism over its decision to hold the awards while establishments remain closed in the Covid-19 pandemic.
But three-star chefs can rest easy after Michelin said none will be demoted as the health crisis rages, the AFP news agency reports.
Mais les restaurants en 2020 ont été fermés plus de la moitié de l'année ! Les résultats reposent sur quoi ?
A leading British epidemiologist has criticised the UK government’s “pretty lax” approach to quarantining foreign arrivals and contacts of coronavirus cases, as ministers pledged to “beef up” checks.
Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said that if there is a quarantine policy it should be made “as effective as you possibly can”.
That’s it from me, Caroline Davies. Thank you for your time. Handing back now to my colleague Ben Quinn.
Lebanon finalised a deal with Pfizer on Sunday for 2.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine amid surge in infections that has overwhelmed the country’s health care system, Associated Press reports.
The doses are to arrive in Lebanon starting early February, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The government’s statement said the Pfizer vaccines will be complemented with another 2.7 million doses from the U.N.-led program to provide for countries in need. It gave no date for when those doses are expected to arrive but said the agreement was signed in October.
People in Wales have been urged to stick to coronavirus lockdown rules as the “significant task” of vaccinating adults continues.
Dr Eleri Davies, incident director for the coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said people should adopt the “same mindset” for the current lockdown as they did in March 2020.
In the UK, half of all over-80s have been vaccinated against coronavirus, health secretary Matt Hancock has Tweeted.
I'm delighted that over half of all over-80s have been vaccinated.
Each jab brings us one step closer to normal.
Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.
Joe Biden will sign a series of executive orders in his first days in office, attempting to roll back damage done at home and abroad by Donald Trump, whom the Democrat will replace as president on Wednesday.
Biden, 78, has already outlined plans to send an immigration bill and a Covid stimulus and relief package to a newly Democratic-controlled Congress. On Friday he said he would shake up the delivery of vaccines against Covid-19, mired in chaos under Trump.
Related: Joe Biden executive orders will reverse Trump on climate, Iran, Covid and more
Restrictions are “possible” next winter if other countries don’t reach sufficient vaccination levels, a UK leading scientist has warned. Imperial College’s Prof Azra Ghani told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday:
It is possible. We are very much hoping that the vaccine will enable us really to go back to as normal a life as possible but we have to remember that the virus is still circulating globally and even if the UK is fully vaccinated, it is likely that we will get importations continue and that’s why it is also incredibly important that we support wider efforts to ensure vaccination is available to all countries.”
We have started to see a small decline in cases in some areas and that certainly is positive news that the current restrictions that are in place are having the effect that we hoped.”
Both will have had some effect in slowing the growth in cases. The most important thing that we’re seeing now is actually a decline in case numbers and that’s what we really need to accelerate as far as possible because it is of course saving people’s lives and avoiding unnecessary illness for all of these individuals who have been infected.”
We have obviously exceeded levels of around two million a week that we were initially aiming for and the hope is that the most vulnerable will be protected in the near term. We have to remember that once we get towards springtime, we also have to give those second doses out so essentially the numbers will need to double to ensure that people become fully protected.”
Today is a crunch day for Brazil with its health regulator set to decide whether to approve the emergency use of two vaccines that could help control one of the world’s most deadly coronavirus outbreaks.
Anvisa’s five directors will vote on whether to permit the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and Sinovac’s CoronaVac shot at an extraordinary session starting at 10am local time(1pm GMT). The meeting, which could last up to five hours, will be broadcast live on social media in an indication of its massive political importance.
The decision comes at a critical moment. More than 209,000 Brazilians have died because of Covid-19, the second highest number after the US, and Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro is facing growing public anger over his response and failure to begin any kind of vaccination campaign. Latin American neighbours such as Mexico, Chile and Argentina have all started administering shots but Brazil has failed to do so, despite boasting a world-renowned immunisation program.
In the UK, the Labour opposition has urged government ministers to make May’s elections in England more Covid-secure, after the emergence of a Cabinet Office document which warned the pandemic could severely hamper the process and put millions off voting.
The paper raises the possibility that even if coronavirus infection levels are relatively low, it could be difficult to attract enough election staff, and that safety fears may “disenfranchise large proportions of [the] community”.
Related: May elections in England must be more Covid-safe, says Labour
Covid-19 has killed at least 2,022,740 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by the AFP news agency on Sunday.
At least 94,450,660 cases of coronavirus have been registered. Of these, at least 57,561,300 are now considered recovered.
Hi. Caroline Davies here, taking over the blog for a short while. You can get in touch on caroline.davies@theguardian.com
The UAE reported a record number of Covid-19 cases for the sixth day in a row as health officials confirmed 3,453 infections on Sunday, the National reported.
It brought the total number of infections in the emirates to 253,261. UAE has embarked on a major vaccination drive, with the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine approved for nationwide use on December 9.
Local authority employees in Cape Town claim they have been denied the right to self-isolate after experiencing Covid-19 related symptoms, according to a report in the Weekend Argus.
An Independent Municipal Trade Union representative told the Cape Town newspaper that the employees reported for duty but experienced Covid-19 symptoms.
The Canadian government has urged Pfizer-BioNTech to get the country’s Covid-19 vaccine delivery schedule back on track as quickly as possible as cases of the virus went past the 700,000 mark this weekend, the Globe and Mail report.
Canada reached that mark less than two weeks after recording 600,000 cases of the virus on 3 January. Seven provinces recorded 6,479 cases on Saturday, pushing Canada’s national tally over 702,000.
I understand and share the concerns of Canadians regarding the temporary delivery delay of Pfizer doses. Canada's shipment of Pfizer vaccines for the week of January 18 remains largely unaffected. (1/3)
There were no tests at arrivals on Saturday morning at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 – though that changes on Monday as stricter measures finally come into force.
Instead, little dribbles of bleary-eyed passengers from places as far afield as Mumbai, Frankfurt and Kigali slipped quietly through the somnambulant arrivals lounge and out into the soggy grey vista of England in January.
Oman is to close its land borders for one week from Monday to curb the spread of Covid-19, state news agency ONA said today.
The measure will come into effect from 6pm local time (1400 GMT) on Monday and can be extended for longer than the initial one week closure, ONA said, citing a decision by the Gulf state’s coronavirus emergency committee.
#عاجل
اللجنة العليا المكلّفة ببحث آلية التعامل مع التطورات الناتجة عن انتشار فيروس #كوروناكوفيد19 تقرر إغلاق المنافذ البرّية لـ #السلطنةلمدة أسبوع قابلة للتمديد بدءا من الساعة السادسة من مساء يوم غدٍ الإثنين. pic.twitter.com/7cnZ1TeGVM
Milan fashion week is virtual this year, but the fashion giant Fendi has a six-minute menswear showstopper focusing on lockdown comfort.
The first outfit in Fendi’s latest luxury menswear line-up was showcased on Saturday in a music video-style film streamed from a digital-only Milan fashion week.
Vaccines can be “fixed” in a short period of time to cope with new variants of Covid-19, a professor of molecular biology at the University of Siena has told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Synthetic vaccines of the type being used Italy and elsewhere can be re-modeled within two month, said Rino Rappuoli, who is co-ordinating a monoclonal antibody treatment to heal Covid-19 patients and prevent infection.
Play charities are calling for councils to keep playgrounds open during lockdown in England, as many are closed due to fears that they encourage people to “congregate and socialise”.
In a letter from Play England to all local authorities in England, several experts who work with children say that playgrounds should stay open “to reduce the catastrophic impact of Covid and lockdown on children’s physical and mental health and wellbeing”.
Three out of four ambulance staff in England are at “breaking point”, suffering low morale and calling for better protective equipment, a new study suggests.
The GMB union said almost two out of three of 2,000 of its members surveyed said they believed their PPE should be upgraded.
Reaction has been coming today from Russian sources after Brazil’s health regulator said it was seeking further data on Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine before considering its approval for emergency use.
Documents supporting drugmaker Uniao Quimica’s application for emergency use of the vaccine have been returned to the company because they did not meet its minimum criteria, the watchdog said on Saturday.
While people over 75 living at home will be able to get vaccinated from Monday in France, there are concerns in the field that there are not enough doctors, Le Monde reports today.
Jacques Battistoni, president of MG France, a trade union for general practitioners, said: “We expect tensions and a difficult start to the week.”
Despite a “stabilising” of infections in some parts of England, there is still an increase in infections among people over the age of 60 elsewhere, the chief executive of Britain’s National Health Service has said.
Simon Stevens also said in an interview on BBC 1 that despite “promising signs” of a steadying of infection rates they were still far too high and were on the up in some places.
Ireland is facing its longest lockdown yet, with more months of restrictions as the country’s health service struggles to cope with thousands of Covid-19 cases, the Sunday Independent reports.
The Irish government is only expected to allow schools and the construction sector to reopen before March, reports the Dublin-based newspaper, and even this is dependent on the number of new cases and the situation in hospitals.
Every adult in the UK will be offered a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by September, Britain’s Foreign Minister has pledged.
Dominic Raab said it would be “great” if the rollout could be faster but that the Government was working to the early autumn target.
Coronavirus outbreaks have spread through US immigration detention centres, with at least 8,000 reported cases.
The impact has been devastating for people like Alvaro Hernandes, who saw his wife and recently born twin daughters for the last time through a video call on 5 January before he was deported from immigration detention in Kansas to Guatemala, after living in the US for 12 years.
Britain’s move to restrict travel corridors was taken so that it would not find its vaccine programme “was in peril” as a result of new variants of Covid-19 emerging in South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere, Britain’s Foreign Minister Dominic Raab also said in an interview with the Andrew Marr show on BBC 1.
Asked about reports that the UK is among countries facing delays in delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, Britain’s foreign minister has said that he is “not aware there has been a delay beyond the flexibility” built into the vaccine programme.
The US pharmaceutical firm is increasing production at its plant in Puurs, Belgium, in an effort to produce more doses than originally planned for 2021, temporarily reducing deliveries to all European countries.
Moderna will deliver 7.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Switzerland in batches in the months ahead, putting the country among the world leaders in inoculating its population, the head of Moderna’s European business said.
“We are working at full speed to steadily expand our production capacities. If everything goes as planned, just under half the population could be treated with our vaccine by the summer,” Dan Staner told the SonntagsBlick newspaper in an interview.
On reports that every adult in Britain will get offered a vaccination by the end of June, Britain’s foreign minister said the plan was to get that done by September.
“If we can do it faster, then great” he told Sky News.
Raab declined to confirm suggestions that a cabinet deal has been done to approve a three-point plan to begin lifting lockdown restrictions in England as soon as early March.
Asked about the report in the Sunday Times, Raab said the government hoped to be in a position to make those decisions in early Sspring, but he didn’t believe lockdown restrictions would be lifted in a “big bang.”
The UK’s foreign minister has said the government is considering “all measures” after he was asked to confirm a report today that plans are to be made for the creation of quarantine hotels for those arriving in Britain.
Dominic Raab said the UK government was responding to the new variants emerging from South Africa and Brazil, as well as preparing for others.
Russia has reported 23,586 new coronavirus cases today, including 4,012 in Moscow, which plans to reopen public schools on Monday after an extended New Year break.
Russia’s coronavirus crisis centre confirmed 481 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the national Covid-19 death toll to 65,566.
Austria will extend its Covid-19 lockdown until 8 February the country’s APA news agency reported, citing sources familiar with negotiations between the federal and regional governments on Saturday.
The curbs on public life were supposed to end on 24 January, but health officials have warned that infection rates remain too high to start easing restrictions at this stage.
Along with believing that takeaway coffee shops, cafes and children’s nurseries should be shut in England, a majority of voters now say lockdown rules should be tightened on outside exercise with a ban on people walking or exercising with anyone from a different household.
The findings are in line with a growing view among voters that the government is not responding fast or strongly enough to the virus.
Good morning from London where this is Ben Quinn picking up the live blog now to continue brining you global coverage as well as news here in UK.
Amid figure that continue to be grim, the British government is also insisting t that there are positive developments with the health minister, Matt Hancock, saying that the UK is “nearly on the home straight.”
I’ll be handing over to my colleague, Ben Quinn, shortly. Here is a short summary of the latest developments.
In the first of a new series, leading Cambridge professor David Spiegelhalter measures Covid-19’s impact.
How many people have died because of the pandemic? How does this vary across countries? These are two of the most common questions I get asked and yet they are remarkably difficult to answer.
We could start by looking at the number of Covid deaths listed on a website and compare countries by Covid deaths per million population. But this assumes the way countries record a death as “Covid” is consistent and ignores any deaths caused by lockdown measures and disruption to health services. It’s fairer to look at what has happened to the total number of deaths.
Related: Statistics explained: how to make sense of ‘excess’ deaths | David Spiegelhalter
Thousands of workers feel pressured to return to their jobs when they still risk spreading coronavirus, and employers who breach Covid guidelines are avoiding serious punishment, according to evidence of major weaknesses in England’s lockdown measures.
One in 10 of those doing insecure work, such as zero-hours contracts and agency or gig economy jobs, said they had been to work within 10 days of a positive Covid test, according to research seen by the Observer. For workers overall the proportion is around one in 25.
Related: Staff 'pressured to go back to work' in breach of UK Covid rules
Thailand reported 374 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking its total infections to 12,054.
No death was reported, while 10 of the new cases were imported from abroad, Thailand’s Covid-19 taskforce said at a briefing. Thailand has recorded 70 coronavirus-related deaths since a year ago.
In the UK university lecturers will not resume “unsafe” face-to-face teaching this academic year, and any attempt by the government or vice-chancellors to reopen campuses in February will fail, the country’s largest academic union has warned.
The University and College Union will ballot its members to strike against the resumption of in-person teaching, should any university attempt to organise the return of its staff to campuses over the next six months while staff feel it is unsafe.
Related: Lecturers warn they will strike if forced to resume 'unsafe' teaching
Tokyo reported 1,592 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, its government said.
Japan expanded a state of emergency in the capital area to seven more prefectures on Wednesday to stem a surge in Covid-19 infections.
Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said on Saturday it sent back documents submitted by pharmaceutical company Uniao Quimica seeking approval for emergency use of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine because they did not meet the minimum criteria required.
In a statement on the Health Ministry website, Anvisa said the firm’s request failed to provide adequate assurances on its Phase III clinical trials and issues related to the manufacture of the vaccine.
At a cat sanctuary set in picturesque hills near Paphos, on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, volunteers are grappling with a surge in abandonments they blame on the coronavirus pandemic.
“There has been an increase of about 30% of previously owned, loved (and) looked-after cats that have been left behind” as people depart the island, lamented Dawn Foote, 48, who runs the Tala Cats rescue centre.
Tennis stars and support staff currently quarantining in Adelaide will be subject to South Australia’s strict coronavirus measures should any test positive ahead of an event later this month, premier Steven Marshall says.
A host of the world’s leading players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, flew into Adelaide last week ahead of a one-day exhibition tournament at Memorial Drive on 29 January.
The Australian federal government expects hundreds of Australians stranded overseas will be brought home on the 20 flights it is chartering in coming months. Seats will be given as a priority where possible to people who are in special need.
There are some 37,000 Australians registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade who want to return home.
In a sign of how quickly things change, Singapore – which was opening up to some tourists and signing travel bubble arrangements not so long ago – is hardening its border entry rules for arrivals.
One year on from Australia’s first case, there have been almost 30,000 cases in Australia and just over 900 deaths.
Vaccines are being rolled out globally, with vulnerable Australians to receive their first dose in February.
Coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch, according to the government.
The Daqiaodao Food Co, in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government statement said. There was no indication anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream.
A correction: earlier we reported that Victoria’s quarantine commissioner Emma Cassar said two people – including a player – had been given fines for breaching isolation.
Cassar actually said the players had “breached” their quarantine, and that this could result in a fine, or a warning, by Victoria police. That is up to the discretion of Victoria police.
The WA department of health has today reported one new case of Covid-19 in Western Australia, bringing the state’s total to 887.
The confirmed case is a female in her 30s who returned to Perth from overseas and is in hotel quarantine.
Interesting question from a journalist who’s noting that the rate of infection among the Australian Open arrivals – who are welcomed in Victoria – is lower than the rate of infection in New South Wales, where a number of Victorian residents are stuck behind border closures.
Cassar deadbats the question, saying it’s a matter for the health department but that there is space in hotel quarantine.
Cassar said there is “zero tolerance” for people breaching quarantine. She said there hadn’t been an attempted escape, just some “testing procedures and challenging behaviours”.
She gives examples (one of whom was a player and one was not): one man who opened his door to try and speak to a training friend down the hallway instead of calling on the phone. Another man shouted some Uber Eats to someone else on his floor “and was praising himself for his great efforts, and opened his door to do so”.
Quarantine Victoria’s Emma Cassar is addressing the media about the Australian Open.
“It’s unfortunate for me to let you know we have our fourth new case ... over two flights,” she’s announced.
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian is urging Victoria to reopen its border with the state.
On Sunday Berejiklian said Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews had not made contact about the state’s hard border and reiterated her misgivings about the controversial move.
Australian Open tennis players who have been forced into stricter quarantine have said they were misled about the rules for the tournament, were promised they would be allowed to train, and are risking injury ahead of the competition.
On Saturday 47 players and 143 travellers were confined to their rooms for 14 days after one flight attendant and two passengers who were not players tested positive for Covid-19 across two charter planes coming into Melbourne.
But we are not asking the Victorian residents to play a professionnal sport afterward. The risks of injury after a two weeks break is huge. Maybe I'm too focused on my side of the story, but that's also why we are here for
People complaining we are entitled. I have no issues to stay 14 days in the room watching netflix. Believe me this is a dream come true, holiday even. What we cant do is COMPETE after we have stayed 14 days on a couch. This is the issue,not the quarantine rule.
Related: Australian Open players in stricter Covid isolation say they risk injury if not allowed to train
In the United States scattered shortages of Covid-19 vaccines persisted on Saturday under pressure from growing demand, as previously inoculated Americans returned for their required second shots and millions of newly eligible people scrambled to get their first.
The supply gaps, coming as the vaccination effort enters its second month, prompted some healthcare systems to suspend appointments for first-time vaccine seekers, and one New York healthcare system to cancel existing ones.
Mainland China has reported 109 new cases for the 24 hours to midnight, including 96 local transmissions. The numbers, while still high, are a drop on this week’s consecutive increases – mostly out of the worrying outbreaks in Hebei and Heilongjiang provinces.
“We have to be careful … not to hug much, but sometimes it’s difficult.”
Premier League managers have responded to the idea of physically distanced goal celebrations after the chairman of a government committee said footballers were “brainless” for continuing to hug on the field.
Australia is investigating reports Norwegian authorities are concerned about the safety of the Pfizer vaccine after a number of elderly people died after being inoculated.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency has reported 29 people had suffered side effects from having the vaccine – 13 died.
India kicked off one of the world’s largest coronavirus vaccination drives Saturday, aiming to inoculate 300 million people by July with Covishield - developed by AstraZeneca and made by India’s Serum Institute - or the homegrown Covaxin.
India, home to 1.3 billion people, has the world’s second-largest number of recorded cases behind the United States.
Mexico reported 20,523 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,219 more fatalities on Saturday, according to the health ministry, bringing its total to 1,630,258 infections and 140,241 deaths.
Greg Hunt, the Australian health minister, is nudging state governments to ease internal border restrictions as he declared the removal of the last Covid-19 hotspot in Australia.
Hunt said in Melbourne on Sunday the federal government’s priority remained on helping Australians stranded overseas to return home, but also “ensuring that Australians who are within our own borders are able to reunite with their families as soon as possible”.
Indonesian authorities began the biggest vaccination drive in Jakarta on Thursday, aiming to reach 7.9 million people – more than 75% of the population.
The first stage aims to vaccinate 60,000 of the city’s 131,000 health workers and a small number of public officials.
In Australia, New South Wales has recorded six new cases of community transmission in the 24 hours until 8pm on Saturday.
All six are close contacts of a person from western Sydney who tested positive yesterday.
In the United States Joe Biden’s team has flagged a raft of executive orders to be issued by the new president immediately he’s in office, including several relating to the US Covid-19 epidemic.
The Australian health minister, Greg Hunt, has backed the decision to proceed with the Australian Open in Melbourne, saying the Victorian state government has “taken appropriate steps” to ensure the safety of tennis tournament.
His comments follow the news that 47 players and 143 travellers have been confined to their rooms after a coach and a flight attendant on the charter flight from Los Angeles and one person on a flight from Abu Dhabi tested positive for Covid-19.
Hello, this is our continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. You can catch up on the previous blog here.
I’m over in Twitter @heldavidson, please feel free to send me thoughts and news tips.
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