Coronavirus - 5th February 2021

• Levels of the virus are showing clear signs of coming down throughout most of the UK, ONS figures show
  
• The UK's reproduction or R number is estimated to be between 0.7 and 1
  
• All adults aged 50 and over should receive a coronavirus vaccine by May, Downing Street says
  
• Vaccines being used in the UK are extremely safe, with mild expected side-effects, the drugs regulator says
  
• Thousands of hotel rooms are being block-booked by the UK government to support new Covid quarantine rules for travellers returning from 33 countries from 15 February
  
• Labour says the move is "too little, too late" as it will come into force more than 50 days after the South African variant was found
  
• The UK government should avoid "setting dates" for when to lift lockdown and instead react to changing circumstances, a top scientist says
  

• Thousands of hotel rooms are being block-booked by the government hours after new coronavirus quarantine rules were announced for people arriving from 33 “red list” countries. People returning to the UK from hotspots for two concerning Covid variants will have to pay to stay in a hotel for 10 nights, from 15 February
  
• Local elections in England will go ahead as planned in May, government sources say, but with £70m for Covid safety measures – and voters will have to bring their own pen or pencil
  
• Up to 87 million pints of beer will be thrown away as a result of pub closures during Covid lockdowns around the UK, an industry body has calculated. The waste is equivalent to a “heart-breaking” £331m in sales
  
• And hundreds of teachers in London have been able to book Covid vaccine slots despite not being in the top priority groups, after they were forwarded WhatsApp messages intended for NHS workers
  

What's going on in Europe?

• The head of the European branch of the World Health Organization Hans Kluge has urged pharmaceutical companies and Europe to work together to “join efforts to drastically increase production capacity" after a slow start to vaccination campaigns across the EU. Drug deliveries across the EU have been hit by delays. Mr Kluge is also worried about the impact of Covid variants on vaccine efficacy.
  
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has admitted that the EU could have acted faster in procuring vaccines for the 27 member states in the bloc. She’s given a newspaper interview in which she says “we should have been thinking more about mass production and the challenges it poses”.
  
• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says it may start using the Russian Sputnik V vaccine next week after Hungary’s health authority gave it the go-ahead.
  
• The South Tyrol province in Northern Italy will go into a “hard lockdown” for three weeks from Monday because of a surge in cases. Shops will shut, schools will go online and there will be a ban on moving between towns.
  
• Case numbers are falling slowly in Germany and Health Minister Jens Spahn says coronavirus restrictions could be lifted before spring. "We can't stay in this hard lockdown all winter. We would not tolerate that well as a society.”
  
• French Prime Minister Jean Castex has warned people not to lower their guard but he’s said there’s no need to go into full lockdown at the moment. Cases have stabilised at around 20,000 a day. With winter holidays starting in much of France today, non-essential travel outside the EU is banned but there’s no restriction on travel within France. Find outhere how cross-country skiing is taking off as ski-lifts at French resorts are shut.
  

• Johnson & Johnson has applied in the US for emergency use authorisation for its single-dose vaccine. The drugmaker’s application to the Food and Drug Administration follows its 29 January report in which it said the vaccine had a 66% rate of preventing infections in its large global trial.
  
• British ministers have been accused of being too slow to act after it was disclosed new coronavirus quarantine hotels will not come into force until mid-February. From 15 February, travellers returning to the UK from “red list” countries will have to quarantine in a government-approved facility for 10 days. Labour said it was “beyond comprehension” that it was taking so long to get the scheme up and running.
  
• South Korea has passed 80,000 infections as the government weighs whether to tighten coronavirus restrictions ahead of next week’s lunar new year celebrations.
  
• The US has recorded more than 40,000 deaths from Covid in the past two weeks, with concerns growing that parties linked to this Sunday’s culmination of the football season – the Super Bowl – may lead to another spike in infections.
  
• Mexico is reported to be running out of vaccines, as the government vaccine registration website crashed for a third day in a row. Mexico has received only about 760,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and has only about 89,000 of those left, many of which are earmarked for second shots. It expects to get more Pfizer doses by mid-month, and as many as 400,000 Sputnik shots by the end of February, but they won’t be enough to vaccinate even the country’s 750,000 frontline health workers and represent a drop in the bucket for Mexico’s population of 126 million.
  
• China has reported the fewest new Covid cases in over a month, official data showed on Friday, suggesting that the latest wave of the disease is subsiding ahead of the key Lunar New Year holiday period set to begin next week.
  
• New Zealand said on Friday it will start receiving refugees again this month, nearly a year after it shut its borders to stop the spread of Covid-19. A group of 35 refugees will arrive in February, with about 210 refugees expected to enter the country by 30 June, Immigration New Zealand officials said.
  
• The number of Covid infections in Tokyo may have jumped ninefold since last summer, coronavirus antibody tests showed. Random testing in Japan’s capital in December showed that 0.91% of people had antibodies, compared with about 0.1% in a similar study in June, the health ministry said in a report on Friday.
  
• The French prime minister Jean Castex said that the coronavirus situation in France remained fragile but that for the moment ruled out a new national lockdown. Castex said the rate of infection had not significantly increased over the past two weeks, even if the pressure on French hospitals remained strong, and the country must stick with the current restrictions.
  
• China will donate 100,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Congo Republic and forgive $13m in public debt, its ambassador to the country said. The ambassador, Ma Fulin, announced the measures after a meeting with Congo’s president, Denis Sassou Nguesso. He did not say which Chinese-developed vaccine would be provided, but the doses are enough to vaccinate 50,000 of Congo’s 5.1 million people. Ma said the Chinese government would also forgive all public Congolese debt that came due before the end of 2020, an estimated $13m.
  

No hotels have signed up to quarantine plan yet - minister

• Which UK arrivals have to quarantine in a hotel?
  
• 'Luck of the draw': What it's like in hotel quarantine
  
• Airports 'have no idea' how quarantine will work
  

Hotel quarantine 'enhancing strict border regime'

Hoteliers 'don't know how quarantine rules will work'

Hotel quarantine: 'Expect the worst' - advice from Australia

We're back after technical difficulties

• Coronavirus infection levels are showing clear signs of coming down throughout most of the UK, more evidence suggests. After at least a month of lockdown, figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest positive tests are falling in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
  
• Covid vaccines being given to millions of people in the UK are extremely safe, with mild expected side-effects, says the country's drugs regulator
  
• . It assessed safety reports from nearly seven million doses given up to 24 January - mostly with the Pfizer jab
  
• The UK government should avoid "setting dates" for when to lift lockdown and instead react to changing circumstances, a scientist has warned. Prof Graham Medley, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said leaders should not be "driven by a calendar"
  
• No contracts have yet been awarded to hotels to take part in England's new quarantine scheme, No 10 has said. From 15 February, all those arriving from 33 Covid variant hotspots will have to stay in a hotel for 10 nights
  
• May's local and mayoral elections in England are going ahead - but voters will be asked to bring their own pens to help combat coronavirus
  
• Up to 87 million pints of beer will be thrown away as a result of UK lockdown pub closures. The British Beer and Pub Association called the waste - equivalent to £331m in sales - "heartbreaking"
  

Parish councillors find (reluctant) fame after chaotic Zoom meeting

£34k in fines issued after 'selfish' halls party

Virus cases show clear signs of fall in most of UK

Bring-your-own-biro elections to go ahead

UK records a further 1,014 deaths

Welsh pupils aged three to seven to return to school

'I quit my job to home-school my son'

• How to be the school of Mum and Dad (again)
  
• Head's heartfelt letter on home-schooling strain
  
• The trials and tribulations of home-schooling
  

Who will have to quarantine in a hotel?

Temporary mortuary reopens in Birmingham

New Zealand to resume taking refugees, a year after border closures

Tokyo infections may have jumped nine fold since last summer, antibody tests suggest

Pfizer withdraws vaccine application in India

Russia reports 16,688 new coronavirus cases

New 'British' variant accounts for just under 6% of German cases - official

Israel to ease strict lockdown but keep borders closed

“The government has accepted a proposal from the prime minister and the health minister to ease lockdown measures from 7am on Sunday,” their offices said in a joint statement.
Under the easing, Israelis will no longer be restricted to within 1km of their homes and services such as hairdresser’s and beauty salons will be allowed to operate, and nature reserves and national parks reopened.
Despite what has been termed the world’s fastest vaccination campaign per capita, Israel has still been registering a daily average of 6,500 new Covid-19 cases, down from around 7,000 last week, official figures show.
A strict nationwide lockdown in force since 27 December has been extended four times to combat the infection rate, but January was the deadliest month with more than 1,000 Covid fatalities. According to latest figures from the health ministry, Israel has registered a total of more than 675,000 cases of Covid-19, including 5,019 deaths.
Hotels remain shuttered and restaurants will be allowed to cater only for takeaways, while Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, where international flights have been suspended since 24 January, and borders are to remain closed.

Number in hospital high but falling

Rule-breaking britons facing jail in Singapore

Images of the Boxing Day festivities on the vessel went viral on social media, sparking fury from Singaporeans and prompting authorities to launch an investigation. At that time, gatherings outside the home were limited to only five people under curbs to prevent the spread of the virus.
Anyone found to have breached the rules may be fined up to Sg$10,000 (US$7,500) or jailed for up to six months, or both. Singapore maritime authorities last month suspended the licence of the vessel chartered for the party for 30 days, after their investigations found the number of passengers onboard breached Covid-19 rules.
The city-state - which has had a mild outbreak, reporting around 60,000 coronavirus cases and 29 deaths - has taken a tough stand against violations of virus restrictions.

Yemen to receive first batch of vaccine doses by March

Six years of war in Yemen have created what the United Nations describes as the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis; and what little remains of its health system relies on foreign aid.
“The government of Yemen has applied to the COVAX initiative to cover the initial needs of 23% of the population of Yemen, about 14 million doses,” Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF’s representative in Yemen said. “A first allocation of 2.3 million doses has been confirmed and should be available by end-February, beginning of March, depending on the suppliers’ availability of vaccines.”
Yemen will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX as this can be used in the existing cold chain infrastructure, Duamelle said.
Yemen’s government has reported 2,122 coronavirus cases, including 615 deaths. Houthi authorities, who control most large urban centres, have not provided figures since May when they said there were four cases and one death. However, it is believed the official figures are underestimates.

Burundi is latest African country to express no need for Covid vaccine

Covid-infected MPs in Ghana continued to attend parliament

Italy reports 377 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday

Belgium easing some Covid restrictions

The consultation committee is very aware of the fact that personal care plays an important role in how we feel and how we feel is a very important element in helping us through the very difficult months to come,” he told a news conference. We have to be particularly careful with the situation. That is why the consultation committee has chosen a very cautious approach.

Capt Sir Tom Moore's family plan 'quiet' send-off

Czech Republic considers going own way on vaccines

How has the UK reacted to the South African variant?

Corby has highest rate of cases in England

Lifting restrictions fully by September 'would cause significant further disease'

Evening summary

• Belgium is to allow hairdressers to reopen the weekend after next in a slight easing of Covid restrictions as serious infections decrease. Camping and cabin sites can reopen from Monday, also with hairdressers and zoos from 13 February and beauty parlours from 1 March.
  
• Israel announced that it would ease lockdown measures but keep its international airport and land borders closed following a slight fall in the spread of coronavirus cases
  
• The US shall deploy 1,100 troops to help get Americans get Covid jabs at state vaccination centres after a request for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
  
• South Africa, hardest hit by Covid across Africa, has secured enough Covid vaccines for at least 26 million people and knows where it will source the other doses it needs, the health minister has said ([url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/feb/05/coronavirus-live-news-us-records-40000-deaths-in-two-weeks-mexico-runs-out-of-vaccine?page=with:block-601d58888f0862592e4b1f21#block-
  
• World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on companies to share manufacturing facilities to help ramp up the production of Covid-19 vaccines.
  
• Italy has fully vaccinated most people in Europe, an official claimed. “Meanwhile, the number of Italians that are fully vaccinated will top 1 million today,” he said. “We have about one million people who have received both the first and second dose, ahead of Germany with 756,000.”
  
• Burundi became at least the second African country to say it does not need Covid-19 vaccines
  
• Ghanaian MPs who had contracted Covid continued to attend parliament, according to the speaker, Alban Bagbin
  
• Britain’s Oxford University said its researchers behind the joint AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine had found it to be effective against the UK virus variant now dominant across the country
  
• The Czech government faces the threat of parliament tying its hands in efforts to combat the pandemic, after a key parliamentary ally of the largest party said it would not support extending emergency executive powers after its calls to reopen schools and ski resorts were ignored
  
• A police officer in Florida, US, has been fired after colleague complained that he mocked her concerns about Covid, hugged her against her wishes and misled investigators who probed the allegations against him
  

Evening round-up

• All adults aged 50 and over should have been offered a coronavirus vaccine by May, Downing Street has said. Previously, ministers had said it was their "ambition" to vaccinate the first nine priority groups - which includes everyone aged 50 and above - by spring
  
• Coronavirus infection level are showing clear signs of coming down throughout most of the UK, more evidence indicates. Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests cases are falling in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
  
• A further 1,014 people have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test in the UK, Friday's figures show
  
• Another 19,114 cases were reported, plus another 480,560 first vaccine jabs
  
• No contracts have yet been awarded to hotels to take part in England's new quarantine scheme, No 10 has said. From 15 February, UK residents arriving from 33 Covid variant hotspots will have to stay in a hotel for 10 nights
  
• The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine gives people good protection against the new coronavirus variant which is now dominant in the UK, its developers say. They found similar efficacy against the B117 "Kent" variant to the original virus, based on swabs from volunteers
  
• Covid vaccines being given to millions of people in the UK are extremely safe, with mild expected side-effects, says the country's drugs regulator. It assessed safety reports from nearly seven million doses given up to 24 January - mostly with the Pfizer jab
  
• The leaders of France and Germany have defended the EU's vaccine policy, after a slow start to their programme
  
• The Czech Republic may follow Hungary by using vaccines not yet approved in the EU, its prime minister said during a trip to Budapest. Hungary has given emergency approval to Chinese and Russian vaccines, despite them not being approved at EU level
  

That's it from us for today

The live BBC page writers today were Alice Evans, Cherry Wilson and Alex Therrien.
The editors were Vanessa Barford and Owen Amos.