Coronavirus - 20th January 2021

Summary for Wednesday, 20th January

• Teachers and police officers could be given a Covid jab as a priority in the second phase of the UK's vaccination programme
  
• The committee that recommends who has the vaccine will consider prioritising those with "exposure risks"
  
• The UK's inflation rate surged to 0.6% in December from 0.3% in November, new figures say
  
• That's despite Covid curbs that forced non-essential shops to shut in the run up to Christmas
  
• Chancellor Angela Merkel appeals to EU countries to agree common measures to curb infections, as she extends Germany's lockdown
  
• Some 1,610 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test were recorded in the UK on Tuesday - the biggest daily figure reported
  
• There have been more than 96 million cases of the virus worldwide and two million people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University data
  

Good morning and thanks for joining us.
Here are some of the coronavirus headlines from around the UK this morning.

• The UK's inflation rate surged to 0.6% in December from 0.3% in November, despite Covid curbs that forced non-essential shops to shut
  
• Whole groups of people - particularly freelancers and self-employed - are falling through the cracks of Covid-19 support schemes due to out-of-date tax systems, MPs have said
  
• The government has been urged by its former homelessness adviser, Dame Louise Casey, to extend universal credit increases worth £20 a week beyond the end of March amid the continuing pandemic
  
• In Wales, pupils are waiting to hear how their GCSE, AS and A-level results will be decided after planned classroom assessments were cancelled due to the latest lockdown
  
• And an investigation has begun after a group of politicians drank alcohol on Welsh parliament premises just days after a ban on pubs came into effect
  
• There has been a sharp drop in the number of patients admitted to hospitals in England with heart attacks or heart failure in recent months, with the pandemic thought to be causing people to stay away
  

Latest around Europe

• German leaders have extended lockdown until 14 February at the earliest and surgical or higher protection masks will now be required in shops and public transport. Chancellor Angela Merkel has appealed to EU countries to agree common measures to stop the spread - or risk border controls coming in. “We can't have [infections] just coming because other countries are taking another route," she said.
  
• The Dutch government is expected to announce the Netherlands’ first coronavirus curfew this lunchtime. The curfew is likely to start on Friday but the hours haven’t been confirmed – with reports of 20:00 or 20:30 being under consideration. Some mayors and political leaders are opposed to the plan.
  
• A Belgian woman who went on a ski holiday in Switzerland over Christmas is being linked to an outbreak that has prompted 5,000 residents in the towns of Edegem and Kontich to have to self-isolate. Belgian reports say her daughter, who wasn’t on the trip, caught Covid and went to school, resulting in two schools being closed. However, only two other schoolchildren in Edegem have tested positive, so the local mayor says most families can now come out of quarantine.
  
• French ski resorts will find out today if they can switch on their ski-lifts for the first time this season, but the news from Paris is not looking good. Infection rates are higher now than last month, with up to 23,608 cases reported on Tuesday. PM Jean Castex says there’s no chance of “putting economic issues ahead of health”.
  
• Slovenian opposition MPs have withdrawn a vote of no confidence in PM Janez Jansa because a number of MPs are in quarantine, so they can’t take part in the vote.
  

Summary of world events from The Guardian:
Here are the key developments from the last few hours.

• UK coronavirus strain detected in at least 60 countries:, says WHO. The UK coronavirus strain has been detected in at least 60 countries, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, 10 more than a week ago. With the global death toll now well past two million, and new variants of the virus causing deep concern, countries across the world are grappling with how to slow infections until vaccines become widely available.
  
• Sadiq Khan: London missed out on early share of vaccine. A simplistic formula used to distribute coronavirus vaccines that did not take into account the size of GP practices has meant fewer people receiving one in London, according to the mayor, Sadiq Khan.
  
• The new South African strain has now been reported in 23 countries and territories, the WHO also announced in its weekly update. Like the UK strain, it is believed to be more infectious.
  
• North Korean defector numbers plunge amid pandemic. The number of North Koreans defecting to the South plummeted last year after Pyongyang closed its border in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Seoul’s unification ministry said Wednesday.The figure has been on a steady decline for some time but slumped to just 229 last year, the ministry said, far below the 1,047 of 2019.
  
• Beijing steps up Covid measures. China’s capital Beijing said on Wednesday it will investigate all individuals who entered the city from abroad from 10 December and shut down a subway station after reporting the biggest daily jump in new cases in more than three weeks.
  
• China’s National Health Commission said on Wednesday that a total of 103 new cases were reported on 19 January, down from 118 a day earlier. Northeastern Jilin province reported 46 new cases, however, setting another record in daily cases, while Hebei province surrounding Beijing reported 19 new cases. Beijing reported seven new cases, matching the total reported on 28 December.
  
• Joe Biden memorialised the more than 400,000 Americans who have died from Covid-19 during a vigil in Washington DC late Tuesday afternoon, as many Americans took to social media in collective mourning.
  
• Mexico reported its highest daily death toll since the coronavirus pandemic began, with 1,584 deaths confirmed Tuesday. There was also a near-record one-day rise in new virus cases of 18,894. Mexico has seen almost 1.67 million confirmed coronavirus infections and almost 143,000 test-confirmed deaths related to Covid-19. With the country’s extremely low testing rate, official estimates suggest the real death toll is closer to 195,000.
  

Doris Hobday has lost her battle with Covid-19 and has passed away at age 96, her family have confirmed.

Known as one half of 'Britain's Oldest Twins', Doris, along with her sister Lil, became national treasures when they appeared on TV to proclaim that their secret to long life was "no sex and plenty of Guinness".
In early January, Doris and Lil announced that they had both contracted Covid-19, and that they were "in shock" as they had followed all the rules, kept their contacts low and remained inside.
They appealed to people to stick to the guidelines to remain safe, but kept their trademark humour, writing ""We have said in the past if him up there wants us... he's going to have to run fast!"


'Britain's Oldest Twins' left audiences in stitches with their quick wit and good humour as they made multiple TV appearances, including one where they announced the secret to their long life was "plenty of Guinness".

Now their family have made the heartbreaking announcement that Doris passed away on 5 January, writing she was "still running fast but unfortunately had some hurdles put in her way and she wasn’t strong enough to fight Covid."

"Shortly after our last post Doris and Lils health deteriorated very quickly," a family member wrote on Facebook, alongside a memorial video to Doris.

"We are devastated to announce that Doris didn’t make it...she passed away on Tuesday 5th January after a short stay in hospital."

They thanked the doctors and nurses involved in Doris's care at the end of her life, and for allowing her great-niece Kerry to remain with her in her last moments as the 96-year-old passed away.

On the same day, Doris's sister, Lil, was also rushed to hospital, and "had the fight of her life" for two weeks as she was received treatment "to keep her alive".

"Lil has fought so hard and I’m pleased to inform everyone that she was discharged from hospital on Monday," the statement reads.

Lil was only told of her sister's death "once she was strong enough to take the news", and is being comforted by family as she recuperates in her daughter Vivien's home.

 

Another 44 people die with Covid in Wales

A further 44 people are reported to have died in Wales with coronavirus, bringing the total to 4,346, the latest Public Health Wales figures show.
There were also 1,283 new Covid infections reported, taking the total number of cases to 183,882.

Future of politicians drinking at Welsh parliament questioned

Labour's Alun Davies was seen drinking with Conservatives Paul Davies, Darren Millar and Nick Ramsay

Questions should be raised over whether Senedd members who drank alcohol on Welsh Parliament premises during a lockdown pub alcohol ban can stand for re-election, an ex-standards official says.
Conservatives Paul Davies, Darren Millar and Nick Ramsay and Labour's Alun Davies were seen drinking together in early December four days after covid restrictions on alcohol came in.
Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told BBC Radio Wales: "The public hate hypocrisy, they hate being told to abide by the rules by all of the politicians and then suddenly they find examples of where it looks like the rules may have been broken, or the behaviour has been inappropriate given the the decision being taken to ban the sale of alcohol."
Read more here.

Should UK have closed borders in March 2020?

In PMQs, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has asked the prime minister about an audio clip of the home secretary apparently saying she had argued for the closure of UK borders 10 months ago to help to curb Covid infections.
So what actually happened?

• February 2020 - the government had rules in place to make travellers from the Hubei province in China, parts of South Korea, Iran and Italy self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in the UK
  
• 13 March - this rule was removed and replaced with guidance advising all people in the UK, including arrivals, to self-isolate if they developed symptoms
  
• June - quarantine rules were introduced for all arrivals in the UK - including British citizens
  
• July - so-called "travel corridors" were introduced, removing the need to self-isolate when coming to the UK from certain countries
  
• Monday 18 January 2021- the government closed all travel corridors to "protect against the risk of as yet unidentified new strains" of coronavirus.
  

In an audio recording that has come to light today, the home secretary reportedly said: "On 'should we have closed our borders earlier', the answer is yes, I was an advocate of closing them last March."
Labour's shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, called it a "shocking admission" and said the government had "left our doors open to the virus and worrying mutations".

Johnson: 'We're on track to vaccinate most vulnerable'

Rob Butler, Tory MP for Aylesbury, says the national rollout of coronavirus vaccines has been a "tremendous success story" but that over 80s in his constituency have only been getting their first jabs in recent days. Some, he tells the prime minister, fear they have been forgotten or pushed to the back of the queue.
He wants to know if all those in the four most vulnerable groups will be vaccinated by mid-February.
Johnson replies: "We are on track to deliver our pledge, though it is very hard... because of constraints on supply."
He reiterates that the government is on track to vaccinate all four of those groups by the middle of February.

Further 92 deaths in Scotland

There have been a further 92 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says, as she begins her daily coronavirus briefing.
It brings the total of deaths by that measure in Scotland to 5,468, she says.
There were 1,656 positive cases recorded yesterday making 166,583 cases in Scotland in total. There are 2,003 people in hospital, up 14, with 156 in intensive care.
A total of 309,909 people have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

Newspaper review: 'Relax at our peril' and schools mass testing 'chaos'

With some MPs pushing for details on when the coronavirus lockdown may be eased, the Daily Express says Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the UK will "pay the price" if it lets its guard down too soon.
Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that another Covid strategy change may also be afoot.
It claims the government is to halt plans for the daily mass testing of school children and pupils.
You can see our full newspaper review here.

Ireland has hit a sombre milestone in its battle against Covid-19 as the highest-ever death toll was announced yesterday evening.

Announced at a public health press briefing yesterday, 19 January, the National Public Health Emergency Team revealed that a further 93 people had lost their lives to the virus.
Of those deaths, 3 occurred in December and 89 occurred in January; the date of one is currently under investigation. Those who died were aged between 45 and 99.
It is by far the most deaths announced in a single day since the coronavirus hit Irish shores last March; the previous peak was in April of last year, when 77 deaths were announced.
The number of new cases has dropped significantly since the peak of close to 10,000 after Christmas, but the 2,001 cases announced yesterday is still far too high, experts have warned.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, appeals for people to stick to the restrictions and save lives.
He said:
"While we are starting to see the early results of our collective efforts to minimise the transmission of the virus, we are very sadly reporting an additional 93 deaths today. We cannot afford to drop our guard against the very high levels of infection that remain in the community at present.

"COVID-19 ICU and hospitalisation numbers are of critical concern to us, representing a very significant pressure on our healthcare workers and on the provision of acute medical and surgical non-COVID care. We need everyone to stay at home, other than for essential reasons.
"The more that each individual follows this advice in their everyday lives, the more we can drive down the spread of COVID-19 and minimise the impact on vital healthcare services, patients and frontline workers."
There have now been 2,708 Coronavirus-related deaths, and 176,839 cases in the Republic following the denotification of five cases.
As of 2pm yesterday, 1,949 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 202 were in ICU at 11am. There were 100 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Zimbabwe foreign minister dies from Covid-19

Sibusiso Moyo

Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo has died after succumbing to Covid-19, the government says.
Born in 1960, the former army general gained international prominence in 2017, when he announced the military takeover that ousted long-serving President Robert Mugabe from power.
Zimbabwe has recorded a surge in Covid-19 cases since the festive season.
There have been 28,675 cases and 825 deaths since the virus was detected in the country last March.
Read more here.

Vaccines stolen from Mexican hospital

As well as vaccines, oxygen tanks have been stolen in Mexico in recent weeks

The Mexican army is investigating the theft of Covid-19 vaccines from a hospital in Morelos state.
The military has been deployed nationwide to guard supplies from criminal gangs that can be extremely powerful in Mexico.
"This theft could have been a dishonest act of self-interest by a member of the hospital's vaccination team," it said in a statement. Mexico has promised to provide vaccines for free to its population of 129 million people.
Around 140,000 people have died from Covid-19 there - the fourth highest globally.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, armed men broke into a hospital in Sonora state to steal oxygen tanks, according to AP. Reports say the thieves pointed a gun at a hospital employee, demanded to know where the oxygen was kept, and took four empty canisters and three full ones.
In another case, a truck that had been reported stolen was stopped close to Mexico City carrying 44 oxygen tanks. Demand is high for the tanks as relatives try to treat sick family members at home, when hospitals are close to full.

What's happening in the UK today?

If you are just joining our coronavirus coverage, here are the lunchtime headlines from around the UK.

• "A lot of work" is taking place to move frontline workers up the vaccination priority list, Home Secretary Priti Patel has said
  
• Her comments come after reports surfaced that she had argued for the UK borders to be closed during the first wave of the pandemic in March
  
• The cost of living has risen as inflation leapt in December despite Covid curbs forcing non-essential shops to shut. Consumer Prices Index inflation jumped to 0.6%, from 0.3% in November
  
• Groups of people, particularly the self-employed and freelancers, have fallen through the cracks of government support due to out-of-date tax systems, MPs have said
  
• In Scotland, a phased return is likely for Scotland's schools when the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eventually eased, Deputy First Minister Jon Swinney has said
  
• And the futures of several Senedd members are being questioned after they were seen drinking alcohol on Welsh parliament premises during an alcohol ban
  

Work, or dog walk, only reason to swerve Netherlands curfew

Anna Holligan - BBC News Hague correspondent



The Netherlands is introducing a curfew from 20:30 until 04:30 each day, which is likely to be in place from this Friday, 22 January.
Anyone on the street between these times must have a valid work reason (plus carry a statement from their employer) or be walking a dog.
The Netherlands is also bringing in a flight ban, expected to be in place from 23 January, which will apply to high-risk countries - including the UK, South Africa and South American countries.
Anyone arriving in the Netherlands must show they have had a negative test, taken within 72 hours of arrival. Those from high-risk countries must also take a rapid test. A 10-day quarantine is also now obligatory.
The rules are being tightened in response to the new strain of the virus first identified in the UK.

Man fined after driving 64 miles to chip shop

A man who drove 64 miles for fish and chips was one of more than 60 people fined by a police force for breaching lockdown rules since Friday.
The motorist, who drove from Mildenhall in Suffolk to Scratby near Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast, was issued with a fixed penalty notice by Norfolk Police.
The force would not disclose the amount the Scratby driver had to pay, but fines in England and Northern Ireland start at £200.
Other breaches in the county included people who travelled from London to Norwich to visit a friend and a group of men fined in Norwich, who had been drinking together and were involved in a disturbance in the street

Teachers to decide grades in Wales, as Covid assessment plan scrapped

Teachers in Wales will decide GCSE, AS and A-level grades this summer after the end-of-year exams replacement had to be ditched.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said the worsening pandemic meant there was "no choice" but to scrap classroom assessments.
Read about the plans here.

Trump again refers to 'China virus' as he leaves office

Donald Trump has been making his final remarks after leaving the White House for the last time today.
Speaking at Joint Base Andrews he turned, unsurprisingly, to the coronavirus pandemic that has dominated his final 12 months in office.
He again called coronavirus the "China virus", as he has controversially done since the pandemic started.
In the past he's claimed, without evidence, that it originated from a Chinese laboratory.
"It's a horrible thing that was put onto the world," he told supporters. "We all know where it came from but it's a horrible thing, be very very careful."
He sent "great love" to all those who have suffered.
Referring to the vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, he said: "We did something that is really considered a medical miracle, and that is the vaccine. We had it developed in nine months, not nine years."
Trump said it was a "great achievement" and that numbers were going to "skyrocket downwards".

Plans paused for daily virus tests in English schools

The rollout of rapid daily coronavirus testing of close contacts in schools should be paused, Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace say.
They say more research is needed on how it would work, given the new, more transmissible, coronavirus variant.
Routine testing to pick up asymptomatic cases in staff and pupils is still a key part of the government's plans.
Schools in England tested all secondary school-age children of key workers when they first went back this term.
But most schools still remain closed, other than for those whose parents are key workers and for vulnerable pupils.
How testing of pupils will be organised once schools reopen is still not clear.
Read more here.

What's happening with exams across the UK?

Here's a bit more on what's happening with exam grades in Wales.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said having a grade determined by a student's school or college, based on the work they'd covered, would be "simple and clear" for all.
It was decided in November that summer exams would have to be cancelled.
There was going to be a new system based on a mixture of assessments, including classroom assessments, but this was then scrapped too, with schools being closed possibly up until the February half term.
The approach is similar to the centre-assessed grades given to students last summer.
And what about the rest of the UK?

• In England, A-levels, AS levels and GCSE exams have been cancelled and teachers' estimated grades will be used instead
  
• Scotland's Higher and Advanced Higher exams have been ditched for 2021, with final grades to be based on teacher assessment. The National 5 exams have also been cancelled
  
• In Northern Ireland, no GCSE, AS and A-level examinations will go ahead this year. Arrangements about what will replace the exams are due to be finalised before the end of January
  

England schools' exams plan could be 'worse disaster' than 2020

Damian Grammaticas - BBC political correspondent
More news on GCSEs and A-levels now - the government is being warned it's "heading for a worse disaster than last year" if it sticks with its current proposal for the way assessments will replace end-of-year exams for schoolchildren in England.
Instead of doing exams this summer, students will be awarded grades based on teacher assessments "to maximise fairness".
But England's social mobility commissioner, Sammy Wright, says the plan "leaves young people at risk of catastrophic unfairness".
Wright says in a letter it was "broadly sensible" to call off exams due to Covid, but warned the plan envisages children will be assessed to see if they have reached a set level of learning, and teachers are being asked to "ignore lost learning" any child suffers.
He warns disadvantaged students who have had less digital access and have therefore lost out on more learning "will not be on a level playing field" with their peers .
He adds there's currently no proposal for a method to indicate how far students had fallen behind in the past year, or to adjust the final grades to reflect that.

 

UK records new daily high of 1,820 Covid deaths

A further 1,820 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test - the biggest figure reported in a single day since the pandemic began.
It means the total number of deaths by that measure is now 93,290.
Yesterday's figure of 1,610 deaths was the previous highest daily total.
Another 38,905 positive Covid cases have also been reported in the past 24 hours.

Daughter's warning after parents die within days of each other

John and Susan Docherty died within nine days of each other
A woman whose parents died with Covid-19 within days of each other is urging people to take the virus seriously.
Katie Tong's mum Susan Docherty 62, and her husband John, 65, died in November 2020.
Mrs Docherty had suffered with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and retired taxi driver Mr Docherty had asthma.
Both moved to Shrewsbury from Scotland 17 years ago.
Mrs Tong was allowed to be in hospital with her mother for her final hours, but had to say goodbye to her father via a video call on 22 November.
"I am heartbroken because he died without his family and loved ones around him," she says.
"I have lost two people I loved dearly due to Covid-19. Covid-19 killed them.
"Please take this seriously. I've lost my mum and dad, but this could happen to anyone." Read the full story here.

Why is South Africa yet to rollout vaccines?

Reality Check
South Africa has had more than a third of all the Covid-19 cases in Africa and numbers are surging with the emergence of a new variant of the virus.
But unlike some other badly hit countries in the world, South Africa, which has a population of 59.6 million, is yet to start its vaccination programme.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa has so far secured twenty million doses, due to be delivered in the first half of 2021, but there's no detailed timeline for a programme.
The country expects to acquire doses from several sources.
There's been concern that many poorer countries are being left behind in the global competition to secure vaccine supplies - but as the continent's richest nation, critics suggest South Africa should not be in this position.
Read more here.

Third lockdown for France may be imminent

The spread of coronavirus in France could accelerate sharply in the coming months due to the emergence of a more contagious variant, two Paris hospital executives said on Wednesday, raising fears of a third lockdown in the country.
Karine Lacombe, head of infectious diseases at Paris’s Saint Antoine hospital, and Martin Hirsch, the director general of the Paris hospitals system, both warned of the extra strain this could put on healthcare infrastructure.
The two previous lockdowns enforced by the government last year were aimed at preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed by patients with Covid-19.
“We know this variant spreads much more quickly and, above all, it is more infectious. So, yes, we think that it will change the dynamic of the pandemic in the weeks to come,” Lacombe told BFM TV.
The spread of this variant, first detected in England, has prompted the UK, Germany and Ireland to reimpose strict lockdowns. France has stopped short such a measure for now – opting instead for a national 6pm curfew – but members of the government have warned it is not off the table.
“All the models reckon that some time between mid-February, early February, so in about 15 days or three weeks time and by mid-March, we will have an increase that could risk, if we cannot do otherwise, resembling what the English, the Irish and the Germans have been witnessing recently,” Hirsh said on France Info radio.
Tuesday’s figures show the seven-day moving average of new infections, which averages out daily data reporting irregularities, increased to 18,820, the highest since 23 November. The number of patients in intensive care units for the disease has now gone up for 10 consecutive days, to 2,839, a sequence unseen since early November, when France had just entered its second lockdown.
“We fear it will be extremely tough, especially in March. On a local level … when the number of admissions in ICU units will ramp up, we probably will need more restrictive measures than the curfew,” Lacombe said. “We must remain alert and act as soon as we spot a deterioration of the indicators.”

Portugal's economy minister tests positive for Covid-19

The Portuguese economy minister, Pedro Siza Vieira, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is in self-isolation, his office reported late on Tuesday, the third cabinet member to be diagnosed with the virus in a week.
He had already been in quarantine at home since Saturday as a precautionary measure after the fnance minister, João Leão, tested positive following a meeting with top EU officials.
Siza Vieira and the prime minister, Antonio Costa, were also at that meeting.
Siza Vieira was the third minister to be diagnosed with the coronavirus in the past week, following Leão and the labour minister Ana Mendes Godinho.
Portugal, currently reporting the highest average of new cases per capita worldwide according to the ourworldindata.org website supported by Oxford University, has had 566,958 confirmed coronavirus cases and 9,246 deaths so far and went back into lockdown on Friday.

Further strict lockdown measures in Germany

Kate Connolly - The Guardian
The threat of the B117 coronavirus mutation first discovered in Britain taking hold in Germany was a key factor behind the government decision to increase the length and scale of lockdown measures, Angela Merkel has said.
Following marathon talks between the government and leaders of the 16 Länder yesterday afternoon, the German chancellor said it was imperative to take measures to prevent the spread of mutations that experts say are far more infectious than the previous strain.
She warned that Germany faced “British conditions” if it failed to stop the spread of the B117 mutation in particular, which is known to have been in the country for several weeks.
“If we get British conditions,” she said “we would not be talking about whether schools should open or not, but about ambulances and overcrowded hospitals … but if all the rules are kept, we have a fair chance”, she said in response to a question as to when lockdown conditions might be relaxed.
Despite a light fall in registered coronavirus cases – the figure stood at 16,000 on Wednesday, while 1148 deaths had been registered in the previous 24 hours – a current lockdown in place since before Christmas is to be extended.
Schools and nurseries as well as non-essential shops and hairdressers will remain closed until at least 14 February.
Employers will be obliged to allow their employees to work from home wherever possible, to reduce the number of people on public transport and in work places. Medical masks will be obligatory on public transport, in shops as well as places of worship.
Merkel said that the decision to maintain homeschooling had been the most difficult decision she and the other leaders had made, following 11 hours of consultation, including with eight prominent experts.
“We wrestled for a long time to decide what is necessary regarding children and schools,” Merkel said. “We all know that it is incredibly restrictive for the children and parents affected by this. But there are indications which must be taken very seriously that the mutation B117 spreads more intensely amongst children and young people than was the case with the previous virus and we need to take these indications seriously.”
Merkel has repeatedly said the seven-day incidence rate needs to be brought below 50 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants. Nationwide it currently stands at 124 per 100,000, but with huge regional differences.

The Netherlands to ban flights from non-Schengen countries

The Netherlands will ban flights from non-Schengen countries, including Britain and South Africa, from Saturday to curb infections of the new, more infectious coronavirus variants, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Wednesday (see earlier posts).
The flight ban, which the prime minister Mark Rutte said also will apply to all South American countries, will begin on Saturday.
“This is a very tough measure, but we are at a crossroads,” Rutte said in a televised news conference. “The British variant doesn’t leave us with an alternative.”

Portugal reports record number of coronavirus-linked deaths

Portugal’s number of daily coronavirus cases rose from 10,455 to 14,647 on as hospitals struggle to cope with a surge in infections and deaths, Reuters reports.
The country also hit a record of 219 new deaths one more than Tuesday’s total, the health authority DGS said.
Around 45% of new cases, which brought the total of infections to 581,605, were concentrated in the Lisbon region, where hospitals are quickly running out of beds for coronavirus patients.
Currently 681 coronavirus patients are in intensive care units, above the 672 maximum allocation of ICU beds out of a total of just over 1,000, health authorities said.

Spain logs record number of new Covid infections

Sam Jones - The Guarduan
Spain logged another record number of new infections on Wednesday afternoon, recording 41,576 new cases in the preceding 24 hours and bringing the country’s total caseload to 2,412,318. It also recorded 464 deaths.
The new record came five days after the previous single-day high of 40,197 new cases.
The number of cases per 100,000 people also rose from 714 on Tuesday to 736 on Wednesday.
To date, the central government has distributed 1,346,100 doses of the vaccine to the country’s 17 self-governing regions, of which 1,025,937 have been administered, meaning that around 2% of the country’s 47 million people have been vaccinated.
On Wednesday, the regional health minister in Murcia, southeastern Spain, resigned after it emerged that he, his wife, and around 400 staff in the health department had been vaccinated despite the current round of vaccinations being intended for the staff and residents of care homes, and for frontline health workers.

Boris Johnson warns of more deaths to come

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned "there will be more to come", when asked about the record number of Covid-19 deaths recorded today.
He said: "These figures are appalling, and of course we think of the suffering that each one of those deaths represents to their families and to their friends.
"I've got to tell you... there will be more to come because what we're seeing is the result of the wave of the new variant that we saw just before Christmas on December 18, or thereabouts."
He said it had been "a very big peak of infection" which has "spread very quickly", not just where it started in London and the South East but now across the UK.
Mr Johnson added: "It's true that it looks as though the rates of infection in the country overall may now be peaking or flattening but they're not flattening very fast and it's clear that we must keep a grip on this.
"We must maintain discipline, formation, keep observing the lockdown."

France may follow Germany in making clinical masks mandatory

Medical-grade face masks rather than cloth coverings could become mandatory in a number of European countries to help contain the rapid spread of highly contagious Covid variants first identified in the UK and South Africa.
Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states agreed on Tuesday that either single-use surgical FFP1 masks or more protective FFP2 filtering facepiece respirators should be worn in the workplace, on public transport and in shops.
The French government is considering whether to adopt formal advice from its health advisory committee to make so-called clinical masks mandatory, because even multi-layer fabric masks do not offer enough protection against the new strains.
Merkel said the threat of the B117 coronavirus variant first discovered in Britain was a key factor behind the German government’s decision to extend and tighten lockdown measures, saying the country faced “British conditions” if it failed to stop its spread. Schools and nurseries as well as non-essential shops and hairdressers will remain closed in Germany until at least 14 February.
Read more here

Djokovic 'not being difficult' over quarantine demands - he says

Top-ranked Djokovic arrived in Australia last week ahead of the major

We've been following the plight of 72 Australian Open tennis players confined to Melbourne hotel rooms after arriving on a plane that was also carrying covid infected passengers.
World number one Novak Djokovic had made some demands for these players which were turned down by the government and today he insists he was not being "selfish, difficult and ungrateful".
Djokovic is part of a group of top players enjoying better conditions while quarantining in Adelaide, but the 33-year-old said he had felt obliged to use his "hard-earned" privileges to make suggestions to tournament director Craig Tiley on how to improve conditions for players in Melbourne.
In a long social media post, Djokovic wrote: "I've earned my privileges the hard way and for that reason it is very difficult for me to be a mere onlooker knowing how much every help, gesture and good word mattered to me when I was small and insignificant in the world pecking order."
There have been complaints about mice at one quarantine hotel.

Brazil flying vaccines into Amazon rainforest

Indigenous communities in the Brazilian city of Manaus have started receiving vaccinations

In recent days, we're been reporting stories of desperate oxygen shortages and over-run hospitals in Manaus in Brazil's Amazonas state.
In the latest news from the city, some residents are queuing for up to 12 hours to buy their own oxygen tanks because of reports of high death rates in hospitals. "Everyone here has a family member being treated at home. They prefer that to leaving them to die in the hospitals," one resident told AFP news agency.
Brazil has been hit badly by Covid-19, with more than 211,000 deaths so far (the second highest in the world) and political discord over how to manage the crisis.
But on Tuesday there was some good news for the county's badly-affected indigenous communities.
Around 1,000 doses of the Chinese coronavirus vaccine are being flown deep into the Amazon rainforest along with military personnel to reach remote groups who are sometimes days away from medical clinics.
Infections across the entire Americas region are currently extremely high, warns the World Health Organization's regional director.
Carissa Ettiene said the rise in cases in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and the United States was a worrying sign that the region was failing to control the pandemic - last week the region registered more than half the world's new infections.
Dr Ettiene suggested that new variants detected in Britain, South Africa and Brazil could be responsible.

What's been happening today?

The World Turned Upside Down by Mark Wallinger in central London

Thanks for joining us today for our coronavirus coverage.
If you need a recap, these have been some of the key headlines today:

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned there will be more deaths to come
  
• It follows the news 1,820 deaths had been reported in the UK in the past 24 hours, surpassing the previous high, yesterday
  
• A recording emerged of Home Secretary Priti Patel saying she had been in favour of the UK borders closing last March
  
• Meanwhile, the home secretary says ministers are working to ensure police and other front-line workers are moved up the priority list for the Covid vaccine
  
• Teachers are set to decide GCSE, AS and A-level grades in Wales after a system replacing end-of-year exams was axed
  
• The Ministry of Justice could open courts in England and Wales for longer to help clear the backlog of cases built up during the pandemic
  
• Protesters who broke a coronavirus curfew to continue riots for a fifth night have been warned by Tunisia's prime minister to stop their violence
  
• Israel has extended its nationwide lockdown until the end of the month, amid a spike in cases
  
• Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to EU countries to agree common measures to curb infections, as she extended Germany's lockdown
  

Our updates today were brought to you by Alice Evans, Claire Heald, Doug Faulkner, Georgina Rannard, Jen Meierhans, Lauren Turner, Paul Kirby and Sarah Fowler.

Join us again tomorrow.