Summary for Monday, 25th January
Here is what has been happening across the UK.
Russia reported 19,290 new daily cases, including 2,382 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,738,690.
The authorities also reported an additional 456 deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the total count to 69,918.
Ukraine has reopened schools, restaurants and gyms, after completing a three-week lockdown, Reuters reports.
The number of new cases of coronavirus infection in Ukraine has significantly decreased from up to 9,000 cases a day at the beginning of January to 2,516 new cases on 25 January, the fewest since early September.
Speaking at TV briefing, the health minister, Maksym Stepanov, said:
Moderna has cancelled its coronavirus vaccines supply to Poland scheduled for Tuesday, Reuters reports citing a government official. “Unfortunately tomorrow’s delivery of Moderna vaccines has been cancelled. We will be modifying the vaccination schedule if needed,” the Polish prime minister’s top aide Michal Dworczyk told a news conference. Poland has been receiving coronavirus vaccinations as part of the European Union’s procurement scheme. Warsaw has also ordered vaccines outside the EU agreement, local media reported.
Poland has vaccinated over 700,000 up to date, mostly medics and some elderly. The country planned to vaccinate 3 million people in the first quarter of 2021.
Malaysia’s death toll from coronavirus has increased to 689 after 11 new fatalities were reported. The Malaysian government also reported 3,048 new cases, bringing the country’s total number of infections to 186,849.
Malaysia reported its highest daily infections on Saturday.
The United Arab Emirates has reported a new daily record for increased infections of 3,591. The previous record was set on Sunday when there were 3,579 new cases.
Bulgaria is to make everyone coming into the country take Covid tests to stop the spread of the more contagious UK variant, the health minister Kostandin Angelov said on Monday.
Bulgarian health authorities say they have so far recorded eight cases of the new variant that was first identified in Britain.
“Today we will undertake actions to make PCR tests compulsory for all travellers that want to enter the country, including from the European Union,” Angelov told a government meeting.
The country has seen a significant drop in new infections in recent weeks and is planning to ease some restrictions and reopen secondary schools, shopping malls and gyms from 4 February.
- Tory MPs are asking the government to set out a "route map" for the reopening of schools in England
- Schools will be a priority but nobody would want restrictions lifted so quickly while the rate of infection is still very high, the prime minister says
- Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer is self-isolating after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive
- Prof Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, defends the UK's 12-week gap between first and second jabs
- Riot police in the Netherlands have clashed with protesters angry at new coronavirus restrictions
- Covid has exposed "tensions" between Westminster and the UK nations and regions, former PM Gordon Brown says
- A third national lockdown will probably soon be needed in France, the country's top medical adviser says
Monday morning Covid headlines
Good morning and thank you for joining us here.Here is what has been happening across the UK.
- Tory MPs are asking the government to set out a “route map” for English schools to reopen amid concerns about coronavirus closures on children’s education
- Former prime minister Gordon Brown has said Covid has exposed “tensions” between Whitehall and nations and regions as he warned the UK must reform its governance or risk becoming a “failed state”
- Fashion retailer Boohoo has bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m - but not its 118 stores or workforce after the High Street firm collapsed amid the pandemic
- A plan to deliver vaccination appointments to people aged 70-79 in blue envelopes in Scotland has been delayed, with the first tranche of letters arriving in white envelopes instead
- Demand at Northern Ireland’s regional vaccination centres has started to decline as health workers have received their first dose of a vaccine, the Department of Health has confirmed
Latest news from around Europe
Here's what's happening around Europe:- In the Netherlands, riot police have clashed with protesters angry at new coronavirus restrictions mainly in the city of Eindhoven after the government introduced its toughest measures - including a new evening curfew - since the start of the pandemic
- There's increasing talk of tighter restrictions in France with the country's top medical adviser saying on Sunday that a third national lockdown would probably soon be needed to curb coronavirus in the country
- Germany's health minister says the country has bought 200,000 doses of the experimental antibody treatment given to former US President Donald Trump when he was hospitalised for coronavirus in October. It would help to prevent some high-risk patients from developing severe complications, Jens Spahn told a German newspaper
- A number of EU countries have expressed frustration at production delays by two of the main vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca - with Italy saying such delay was unacceptable and warning it would take legal action against the two firms to secure agreed supplies
- Germany is now demanding negative test certificates (no more than 48 hours old) for thousands of cross-border workers coming from the Czech Republic - after the country was classed as a high-risk area - leading to criticism on the other side of the border for making the life of thousands of cross-border workers more difficult.
Summary of worldwide events
- Mexico’s president tested positive for coronavirus. Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has become the latest world leader to contract Covid-19. “I’m sorry to inform you that I’ve been infected,” the 67-year-old politician announced on Twitter on Sunday evening.
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping up efforts to track coronavirus mutations and keep vaccines and treatments effective against new variants until collective immunity is reached, the agency’s chief said on Sunday.
- Residents in Tonghua, a city of about 2 million in northeastern Jilin province which has been locked down since 18 January, complained on social media that the lockdown had left them short of food and medicines, triggering an apology from local officials.
- Turkey received 6.5 million further doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech on Monday, CNN Turk and other media reported, allowing its nationwide rollout to continue. An initial consignment of 3 million doses previously arrived in Turkey and it has so far vaccinated 1.245 million people, mostly health workers and elderly people, according to health ministry data.
- China reported a climb in new Coronavirus cases driven by a spike in infections among previously symptomless patients in northeastern Jilin province, official data showed on Monday. The total number of confirmed cases in the mainland rose to 124 on Jan. 24 from 80 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said in a statement, amid the worst wave of new infections China has seen since March 2020.
- The Hong Kong government lifted a lockdown in an area of Kowloon district in the early hours of Monday after testing about 7,000 people for coronavirus to curb an outbreak in the densely populated area.
- New Zealand authorities have said a new case of Covid-19 that emerged outside quarantine appeared to be the South African variant. Health officials said on Monday that they believed the infected woman, aged 56, contracted the virus from an infected person on the same floor of the Pullman hotel in Auckland where they were both quarantining.
- Travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand suspended for 72 hours. Amid concern the single case of community transmission in New Zealand is of the South African variant, Australia’s federal health minister, Greg Hunt, has announced the Australian government will suspend the travel bubble with New Zealand for 72 hours.
- Pfizer Covid vaccine approved for Australia rollout. In Australia, the Pfizer vaccine has met strict standards for safety, quality and efficacy, a statement from the prime minister’s office said on Monday, and the vaccine has been approved for rollout in Australia for people age 16 years and older.
- US president Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate Covid travel restrictions on non-US travellers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the order, also confirmed Sunday that South Africa would be added to the restricted list because of concerns about a variant of the virus that has spread beyond that nation.
- Israel ‘closes skies’ to air travel to prevent virus spread. Israel on Sunday announced a week-long ban on most incoming and outgoing flights in a bid to slow the spread of new coronavirus variants. The measure will begin at midnight from Monday into Tuesday and remain in effect until Sunday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
- World nears 100m cases. The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed 99 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, as the total moves rapidly towards a shocking 100 million people infected with Covid-19 in just over a year. The current total is 99,105,389 infections. At least 2,127,206 people have died. On average, around 650,000 coronavirus cases have been reported daily in the last week.
- Netherlands anti-curfew protests spark clashes with police, looting. Protests against a curfew to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the Netherlands degenerated into clashes with police and looting in cities across the country Sunday, authorities and reports said.
Russia reported 19,290 new daily cases, including 2,382 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,738,690.
The authorities also reported an additional 456 deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the total count to 69,918.
Ukraine has reopened schools, restaurants and gyms, after completing a three-week lockdown, Reuters reports.
The number of new cases of coronavirus infection in Ukraine has significantly decreased from up to 9,000 cases a day at the beginning of January to 2,516 new cases on 25 January, the fewest since early September.
Speaking at TV briefing, the health minister, Maksym Stepanov, said:
He said Ukraine, which has registered around 1.2 million cases of coronavirus with 21,924 deaths, would retain some restrictions, mainly related to the work of the service sector, restaurants and transport.:Left Quotes: Such statistics, which indicate the stabilisation of the situation, the improvement of the situation could be obtained only thanks to you, Ukrainians.
We believe that this [lockdown] has significantly improved the situation now and in the future.
Moderna has cancelled its coronavirus vaccines supply to Poland scheduled for Tuesday, Reuters reports citing a government official. “Unfortunately tomorrow’s delivery of Moderna vaccines has been cancelled. We will be modifying the vaccination schedule if needed,” the Polish prime minister’s top aide Michal Dworczyk told a news conference. Poland has been receiving coronavirus vaccinations as part of the European Union’s procurement scheme. Warsaw has also ordered vaccines outside the EU agreement, local media reported.
Poland has vaccinated over 700,000 up to date, mostly medics and some elderly. The country planned to vaccinate 3 million people in the first quarter of 2021.
Malaysia’s death toll from coronavirus has increased to 689 after 11 new fatalities were reported. The Malaysian government also reported 3,048 new cases, bringing the country’s total number of infections to 186,849.
Malaysia reported its highest daily infections on Saturday.
The United Arab Emirates has reported a new daily record for increased infections of 3,591. The previous record was set on Sunday when there were 3,579 new cases.
Bulgaria is to make everyone coming into the country take Covid tests to stop the spread of the more contagious UK variant, the health minister Kostandin Angelov said on Monday.
Bulgarian health authorities say they have so far recorded eight cases of the new variant that was first identified in Britain.
“Today we will undertake actions to make PCR tests compulsory for all travellers that want to enter the country, including from the European Union,” Angelov told a government meeting.
The country has seen a significant drop in new infections in recent weeks and is planning to ease some restrictions and reopen secondary schools, shopping malls and gyms from 4 February.