Coronavirus - 8th February

Summary for Monday, 8th February

• Testing has identified 147 cases of the South Africa variant of the coronavirus in the UK, minister says
  
• Early trials suggest the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine offers "minimal protection" against mild disease from the variant
  
• But PM Boris Johnson says the vaccines in use in the UK are "effective in combating serious death and illness in all variants"
  
• South Africa has paused its roll-out of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
  
• Portugal advises against AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s unless there is no other option available
  
• Snow has forced some vaccine centres to close in Suffolk, Norfolk, Surrey and Essex
  
• Labour is challenging the UK government to "clean up" how it awards contracts for Covid work - saying it has been "rife with conflicts of interest"
  
• Healthwatch England says dentistry is in crisis - with waits for NHS treatment now as long as two years
  

Welcome to our live stream of coronavirus news.
Here are some of the stories we will be bringing you more detail on today.

• The public can have confidence in the UK's Covid vaccines, the vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi says
  
• This is despite early trials suggesting the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab offers "minimal protection" against the South Africa variant
  
• South Africa has put its roll-out of this vaccine on hold after this “disappointing” result
  
• Health minister Edward Argar told BBC Breakfast that 147 cases of the South Africa variant had been found in the UK
  
• And Zahawi says the vaccines being used in the UK appeared to work well against dominant variants
  
• More than 12 million people in the UK have now had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine
  
• Illegal immigrants in the UK will be offered the coronavirus vaccine "with no questions asked", a cabinet minister says
  
• Anyone coming forward will not be risking deportation regardless of their immigration status, Julian Smith says
  
• More heavy snow forecast for the east and south-east of England has caused some vaccination centres to close
  
• The school day could be lengthened to help children catch up on learning missed during the pandemic, an MP says
  
• Volunteers could help children with mental health and sporting activities, Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee told Radio 4
  
• Meanwhile, some NHS dental patients are being asked to pay for private appointments "if they want treatment", a watchdog has warned
  
• Healthwatch England was contacted by one patient who was offered a procedure for £1,700 which would have cost £60 on the NHS
  

Snow closes vaccination centres

Heavy snow has caused some vaccination centres to close, including several in Essex and Suffolk, as well as in Surrey.
More heavy snow is forecast for the east and south-east of England, with severe weather warnings in force.
The Met Office says it is "bitterly cold" due to Storm Darcy's strong easterly winds, with temperatures in parts of the UK around freezing.
An amber warning - meaning travel disruption and power cuts are likely - is in place until midday on Monday.
Further snowfall in some eastern parts of the country could bring up to 15cm of snow on Monday, with a few lighter flurries elsewhere , BBC Weather forecasters say.
The cold snap prompted the closure of Covid vaccination centres in Essex and Suffolk on Sunday.
We've got all the details on snow where you are here.

What’s the latest from Europe?

With a number of countries easing lockdown rules, here’s a reminder of the latest stories from Europe:

• Schools in Denmark have reopened for the youngest children, although it's unclear when older year groups will resume in-person teaching
  
• Similar rules have been announced in Slovakia, with pupils in year four and below returning from today. Students in the finals years of secondary school are also coming back to class
  
• Austria has allowed hairdressers, museums and zoos to reopen, although some restrictions have been announced to prevent the spread of the virus
  
• France has banned home-made masks in school from today in response to the rise of new coronavirus variants around the world. Children will now be required to use medical-grade masks
  
• The government in France is also expected to change its labour laws to allow employees to have lunch at their desks in the coming days to prevent the spread of the virus. Workers have been banned for several years from eating in their work space
  
• Medical authorities in Portugal have advised against using the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in over-65s, unless no alternative is available. The EU has approved the jab for adults of all ages, but Germany said last month that the vaccine should not be given to people aged over 65.
  

South Africa variant 'could already be widespread in UK'

It is "very possible" the South Africa variant could already be quite widespread in the UK, Dr Mike Tildesley, an infectious disease expert who advises the government, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
According to health minister Edward Argar 147 cases of the South Africa variant been identified in the UK, though he admitted those figures could be a couple of days out of date. He said the version of the virus first discovered in Kent was still the dominant strain.
Dr Tildesley said the "surge testing" taking place in certain areas in England "really needs to be effective" to halt the spread of the South Africa variant, but "sadly we may be in a similar situation to the Kent variant" which eventually spread across the whole country.
He says there are "significant implications" if it is the case that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective against the South Africa variant, as it may mean "more restrictions might be needed for longer".
Additional "surge" testing is taking place in small areas of England including parts of Surrey, Bristol, London, Kent, Hertfordshire, Walsall, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.
Positive cases will be analysed to see if they are caused by the South African variant with results coming back in around seven to 10 days, according to the director of public health in Worcestershire, Dr Kathryn Cobain.

School day could be lengthened to help children catch up

The school day could be lengthened to help children catch up on learning lost during the pandemic, an MP says.
Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, told BBC Radio 4 he preferred this idea to making the summer term longer.
"Even if you added two weeks to the summer term it would not make that much difference compared to the lost learning there’s been over the past year, particularly for disadvantaged children," he says.
"So another option might be to extend the school day either before or after school, not necessarily saying that teachers are expected to teach longer, but to invite civil society into schools to help children with academic catch-up but more importantly, perhaps, with mental health and sporting activities."

Illegal migrants 'won't risk deportation' if they sign up for vaccine

The government is urging people living in the UK unlawfully to register with a GP to get vaccinated.
Illegal immigrants won't be risking deportation by coming forward for a coronavirus jab, the government has said.
The vaccine is free, regardless of a person's immigration status.
But, the policy is not an amnesty for immigrants and no-one will be given leave to remain in the UK as a result of being vaccinated.
Former minister Julian Smith told the BBC's Westminster Hour: "I welcome everybody, whoever they are, getting a jab."
The last official estimate found about 430,000 people were in the country with no legal right to remain, but that figure dates back to 2005.
And the National Audit Office says independent research since then has put the number at over a million. We've got the full story here.

South Africa halts AstraZeneca vaccine over new strain

South Africa has put its roll-out of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on hold after a study showed "disappointing" results against its new Covid variant.
Scientists say the strain accounts for 90% of new Covid cases in South Africa.
The study, involving around 2,000 people, found the vaccine offered "minimal protection" against mild and moderate cases of the variant.
South Africa has received a million doses of the AstraZeneca jab and was due to start vaccinating people next week.
Speaking at an online news conference on Sunday, South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said his government would wait for further advice on how best to proceed with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in light of the findings. The trial was carried out by the University of the Witwatersrand but has not yet been peer reviewed.
In the meantime, he said, the government would offer vaccines produced by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer in the coming weeks.

'There is still hope that AstraZeneca jab can stop severe illness'

A scientist who led the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine trial in South Africa says there is still hope the jab can prevent severe illness.
Prof Shabir Madhi tells BBC Radio 4's Today Programme the study has not been able to investigate the vaccine's efficacy in preventing more serious infections, as participants had an average age of 31 and so did not represent the demographic most at risk of severe symptoms from the virus.
"What the study results really tell us is that in a relatively young age group demographic with very low prevalence of morbidities such as hypertension and diabetes, the vaccine does not protect against mild to moderate infection," he says.
But there was "still some hope" the jab may perform well against the South Africa variant when it comes to protecting against severe disease, he says.
He says he is "extrapolating" that from the efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which uses "similar technology" and has similar immune effects.

South Africa coronavirus variant: What's the risk?

Coronavirus has been changing in ways that might help it escape some of the body's immune system defences.
Scientists are working to update the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, as early research suggests it is less effective against the South Africa variant.
The existing one being used now should still protect against severe illness, however.
There is no evidence the South Africa variant causes more serious illness for the vast majority of people who become infected.
As with the original version, the risk is highest for people who are elderly or have significant underlying health conditions.
But there are concerns it can spread more readily and vaccines may not work quite as well against it.
Here's what we know so far about the risks of the South Africa variant.

NI residents face Covid fines for crossing border

A garda (Irish police officer) performing a random vehicle check near the Donegal/Londonderry border

People who live in Northern Ireland will face fines from today if they are caught crossing the Irish border without "a reasonable excuse".
The unprecedented step has been taken by the Irish government in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Anyone engaged in cross-border travel in breach of Ireland's Covid-19 restrictions will be fined €100 (£88).
Gardaí (Irish police) says the new rules were to be enforced from 07:00 local time today.
Northern Ireland residents who have to cross the border for essential work or essential purposes, such as seeking medical treatment, will be exempt from fines.
Public health guidance in NI says people "should not travel in or out of Northern Ireland except where it is essential to do so".

Malawi to carry on with AstraZeneca vaccine plan

Malawi will proceed with its plan to import the "efficient" AstraZeneca vaccine, President Lazarus Chakwera said on Sunday in an address to the nation.
The country expects to receive its first consignment of the vaccine at the end of February for roll-out in March. It will consist of 1.5 million doses.
The announcement came after a study suggested the AstraZeneca vaccine showed "disappointing" results against the South African variant of coronavirus.
The South African variant has been linked to a second wave of infections in Malawi, according to Fabrice Weissman of charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
But President Chakwera said a strategy of limiting new infections offered the best chance against the disease.
He said the vaccine has an efficacy rate of between 60% to 65% which was still "high enough to save lives", the Nation news website reports.
"The hardship of preventing new infections is better than the hardship of treating them," he said.
Malawi has so far confirmed 27,195 coronavirus cases and 856 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

How concerning is the S Africa variant vaccine trial news?

Nick Triggle - Health Correspondent
Viruses mutate – so what is happening is not surprising.
The mutations seen in South Africa change the part of the virus that the vaccines target.
It means all the vaccines that have been produced so far are likely to be affected in some way.
Trials for Novavax and Janssen vaccines that were carried out in South Africa showed less effectiveness against this variant. Both are currently before the UK regulator.
Therefore the news about the Oxford-AstraZeneca does not come out of the blue.
The fact it now only has “minimal” effect according to reports is concerning – the other vaccines showed effectiveness in the region of 60% against the South African variant.
But we should be careful about rushing to judgement. The study was small so there is only limited confidence in the findings.
What is more, there is still hope the vaccine will prevent serious illness and hospitalisation.
What this once again illustrates is the pandemic is not going to end with one big bang. Vaccines are likely to have to change to keep pace with the virus.
Progress will be incremental. But vaccines are still the way out of this.

What is the government doing about the South Africa strain?

Reality Check
The health authorities in South Africa announced on 18 December that a new variant of Covid 19 had been identified and was driving a second wave of infections in the country.
The strain - called B.1.351 - carries one of the same mutations as the variant first seen in Kent, which makes it easier to spread.
On 23 December, the UK government announced that it had detected two cases of the South African strain here.
On 8 February, the government said this number had grown to 147 cases.
So what is the government doing about it?
We've put together this timeline to explain.

Snow closes vaccination centres and schools

The vaccination centre at Clacton Hospital in Essex closed on Sunday and remained shut on Monday

More details now on how heavy snow from Storm Darcy has caused vaccination centres and schools to close across the UK.
More heavy snow is forecast for the east and south-east of England, with severe weather warnings in force meaning travel disruption and power cuts are likely.


Essex's fire service and police are urging motorists only to travel if it is absolutely essential

In Essex, Clacton Hospital and Colchester's Jobserve Community Stadium closed on Sunday and remain shut.
Dozens of schools that were open for key worker and vulnerable children have also closed because of the snow, the county council posted on its website.


Suffolk Highways said it was "up against snowdrifts, stuck vehicles and impassable roads"

Five of Suffolk's Covid-19 vaccination centres remain shut, after closing early on Sunday due to heavy snow.
More than 200 schools are closed to all pupils and some roads have been closed.
Anyone with cancelled appointments can reschedule on the NHS national booking website

UK dentistry 'in a mess'

Watchdog Healthwatch England is warning it knows of NHS patients who have faced two-year waits for appointments, been told to go private "if they want any treatment" or have become so fed up with waiting they have removed their own teeth.
The body says the situation got worse when dentists were forced to shut for weeks last year because of the coronavirus pandemic and a backlog formed.
Since reopening dentists have not been able to see as many patients as before for reasons including the need to social distance, limit infection risk and organise increased levels of PPE.
Claire Westwood, from Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria, was referred to a local dentist as an emergency case after phoning a hospital when she had been in pain for several days.
The dentist prescribed antibiotics for a tooth infection but when she went back afterwards as she was still in pain, she was told she would need root canal treatment.
"The cost of this would be over £900 and I wouldn't be able to get it as an NHS patient due to the fact they're no longer accepting them and there would be a waiting list," Ms Westwood told Radio 4's Today programme.
"It's very worrying and frustrating that I don't know where to go forward from here. It will only get worse again if it's not treated soon and the only option to have it treated soon is to pay privately."
Sir Robert Francis QC, chairman of Healthwatch England, told Today dentistry was "in a mess".
"We've had a considerable increase in the number of people telling us they've been having great difficulty in accessing treatment and in particular accessing treatment which by all normal standards would be considered emergencies," he said.
"We do not think that currently dental care being provided on the NHS is either equal or inclusive. Part of the problem is of course the pandemic and we must recognise that - but we should be in a state where more than extraction is offered to treat dental pain where that's appropriate and that doesn't seem to be happening everywhere."
He said there was an incentive for dentists to prefer volume of patients with simple cases rather than dealing with complex cases, because of the payment structure for NHS dentistry.
"This is not a problem that's entirely provoked by the pandemic, it existed before, it's simply that the pandemic has exacerbated it for obvious reasons. Dentists are rather more restricted in what they can do but they still are able to treat patients."
You can read more here.

Out on patrol with police breaking up lockdown parties

The BBC has been out with officers from Police Scotland as they investigated reports of illegal lockdown parties.
Officers in Glasgow issued fixed penalty notices to 15 individuals found at a 30th birthday party, and a further six fines were given to a group of students found drinking in a flat.
One of the six told the BBC afterwards: "I'm very sorry for that.
"It's also really hard to go through lockdown being a student. That doesn't mean it's ok to do it.
"I'm not proud of what I've done."

Portugal advises against AstraZeneca for over-65s

Portugal has become the latest country to advise against using the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for people aged over 65.
However, the country's health ministry says vaccination of a person of aged 65 years or more should not be delayed if the AstraZeneca vaccine is the only one available.
It is the latest recommendation from an EU member state approving the jab with such restrictions, citing insufficient data on its efficacy for older people.
The EU drugs regulator has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for all adults, but it is up to each member to set its own roll-out policy.
The first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in Portugal on Sunday, numbering 42,300 doses.
Germany, France, Austria and Norway have said they will onlyadminister the shot to under-65s, with Poland limiting it to under-60s, and Spain and Italy to under-55s.

Greek PM under fire for group lunch

Kostas Kallergis - BBC News, Europe Producer


The Greek leader was among a crowd at an MP's house

Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been heavily criticised across the political spectrum for a lunch he had on Saturday with dozens of people, despite the government's Covid restrictions.
He was visiting the isle of Ikaria, on a tour of three remote islands in the eastern Aegean, to check on the progress of vaccinations.
A video filmed by a local showed about 30 people heading to the house of MP Christodoulos Stefanadis in the port of Evdilos. The person who filmed it is heard wondering “Can all these people fit in Stefanadis’ house?”
The video sparked angry tweets by Greeks who saw Covid restrictions tightened that same day. The nationwide curfew was extended to 6pm at weekends.
It's the second such incident involving the liberal-conservative prime minister. In December, photos surfaced of him and his wife taking selfies with supporters while mountain-biking in a forest near Athens.
Mr Mitsotakis was seen surrounded by several passers-by who were not wearing masks, while one of them lent his motorbike to the PM’s wife for a ride. While he apologised for the incident, he said he was disappointed that such a carefree private moment had been exaggerated.

South Korean capital to test cats and dogs

Cats and dogs will be tested for Covid-19 if they display symptoms, the city government of South Korea’s capital says.
The testing programme in Seoul comes several weeks after the country reported its first Covid-19 case involving a pet - a kitten in the south-eastern city of Jinju.
Only cats and dogs exhibiting symptoms, such as fever, coughing and breathing difficulties, will be given a test.
If a pet tests positive, they will be required to isolate at their owner’s home for 14 days.
"Please keep your dogs at least two metres away from people and other pets when walking them, and strictly follow antivirus measures," Park Yoo-mi, a disease control official at the city government, said.
A number of animals around the world, including tigers, gorillas and mink, have tested positive for the coronavirus during the pandemic.
But infectious disease experts say there is no evidence animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes Covid-19.
At the moment, there are no known cases of pets passing the coronavirus to humans. The probability of this is considered low.

Austria reopens with warnings that lockdown could return

Bethany Bell - BBC News, Vienna
Austria has eased its coronavirus lockdown measures, despite stubbornly high infection rates and the appearance of more infectious strains of the virus.
Schools have reopened, with pupils receiving regular antigen tests. Non-essential shops, museums and zoos have also opened again, with limits on the numbers of customers.
Hairdressers and beauticians are now open for business, but people will have to show negative Covid tests before they can get their hair cut. FFP2 masks are mandatory in shops and confined public spaces. Restaurants and hotels remain closed.
There’s some concern about the move to ease restrictions, particularly with the emergence of some cases of the South African variant in the province of Tyrol.
Announcing the easing of restrictions last week, Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the safest course of action would be to stay in lockdown. But he said children needed to go back to school, and unemployment needed to be curbed.
He said the lockdown will be reimposed if numbers of new infections get too high.

What's happening in the UK?

Here's some of the news we've been discussing today:

• Ministers have sought to reassure the public over the effectiveness of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, amid concerns about its results against the South Africa coronavirus variant
  
• South Africa has put its roll-out of this vaccine on hold after this “disappointing” result
  
• Health minister Edward Argar told BBC Breakfast 147 cases of the South Africa variant have been found in the UK
  
• And vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi says the vaccines being used in the UK appear to work well against dominant variants
  
• Illegal immigrants in the UK will be offered the coronavirus vaccine "with no questions asked", a cabinet minister says
  
• Anyone coming forward will not be risking deportation regardless of their immigration status, Julian Smith says
  
• More heavy snow forecast for the east and south-east of England causes some vaccination centres to close
  
• Meanwhile, some NHS dental patients are being asked to pay for private appointments "if they want treatment", a watchdog warns
  
• Healthwatch England was contacted by one patient who was offered a procedure for £1,700 that would have cost £60 on the NHS.
  

Wales' health minister 'sorry' as Covid deaths pass 5,000

Wales' health minister has apologised "for every single life that has been lost" in the coronavirus pandemic.
The official Covid death toll in Wales has now passed 5,000.
“I’m deeply sorry for every single life that’s been lost, every family that’s been affected," Vaughan Gething tells the Welsh Government press conference.
He says those that have died are not "just numbers".
"These are people who are loved and valued and leave others behind."

Scotland 'on course' to hit million jabs this week, FM says

Scotland is on course to hit the one million vaccine milestone this week, the First Minister says.
Nicola Sturgeon tells the Scottish Government's daily coronavirus briefing 866,823 people have received their first dose of a vaccine, an increase of 27,557 on Sunday.
About 80,000 people received a first dose of the vaccine over this weekend, more than double the figure of the previous weekend, she says.
A total of 99.6% of residents in older care homes have received a first jab, which is "a scale of uptake which none of us really believed would be possible", Sturgeon says.
The First Minister adds more than 95% of those aged 80 or older living in the community have had their first dose of a vaccine and almost 67% of people aged 75-79 and 29% of people aged 70-75 have received a first jab.
Highlighting more than 290,000 people have received a first dose in the past seven days, Sturgeon says Scotland's vaccination programme "undoubtedly picked up pace considerably over the course of the last week"

Super Bowl crowd includes 30,000 cardboard cutouts

While the stadium looked filled, it was due to 30,000 cardboard cutouts

Over in the US, the Super Bowl has shown the world what the new normal looks like for sporting events.
Coronavirus protocols placed limits on the number of spectators allowed to watch last night’s championship game in person.
At first glance, the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, appears worryingly full, considering we're in the middle of a pandemic.
But there were only about 25,000 people in the 65,000-capacity stadium, which included 7,500 vaccinated health workers.
The numbers were made up by some 30,000 cardboard cutouts, including celebrity faces such as Ozzy Osbourne and Billie Eilish.
The cutouts offered a peculiar backdrop to Tampa Bay Buccaneers’s comfortable 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The support was, well, flimsier than usual.


Fans watched the game alongside carboard cutouts

'Do not travel' warning as snow shuts vaccination centres

Cars were abandoned in Suffolk earlier

We've got more now on the heavy snow and ice bringing disruption to parts of the UK, with coronavirus vaccination centres and schools shutting in some areas.
A severe amber snow warning is in place for Nottinghamshire, Sheffield and into Lincolnshire, with yellow warnings for much of England and Scotland.
Police are warning people not to travel, with long delays expected.
In London and south-east England, about 5cm-10cm (2in-4in) of snow is set to fall on Monday.
There could also be as much as 15cm in parts of the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber, particularly over the Lincolnshire Wolds, with a few lighter flurries elsewhere in the UK, BBC Weather forecasters say.
The conditions have led to some vaccination centres being closed, including several in Essex and Suffolk, as well as in Surrey and Norfolk.
And a number of schools have been closed across the south-east of England and Lincolnshire.
We've got more details here.

Police planning for post-lockdown Dorset beach influx

Thousands of people flocked to Bournemouth Beach in June after lockdown restrictions were eased

It may feel a world away right now as some of us are sitting out lockdown surrounded by heavy snow but police are making plans to stop beaches overcrowding in the summer.
Dorset's police and crime panel has heard the authorities were "caught out" when the first lockdown was eased last year.
The summer saw gridlocked roads and anti-social behaviour around beaches and coastal attractions.
Dorset Police has warned extra funding will be needed to deal with any similar influx at Easter and in the summer this year.
A heatwave, combined with the easing of lockdown restrictions that allowed people to travel, brought thousands of visitors to the coast in 2020, culminating with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council declaring a major incident on 25 June.
Here's what we know about the plans.

GPs 'shouldn't be involved in vaccine passports'

There was a bit of discussion about vaccine passports at the weekend, with the government's Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi ruling them out.
But in interviews with the BBC and Sky, Zahawi also suggested if other countries required some sort of proof, then patients could ask their GPs as they will have a record.
But a senior doctor is now telling the BBC that's not a good idea.
Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the GP Committee at the BMA, tells BBC Radio 4’s World at One it’s untenable for GPs to administer vaccine passports - but he also says people should have access to their own vaccination records.
“We need to enable people who have been vaccinated to have access to the information about that. What we don’t want is millions of people contacting their GPs for a letter outlining that.
“It’s so much easier if we can empower patients to do this themselves. It’s possible through apps – the NHS app can be configured to enable patients to see elements of their record including their vaccination status and that should be sufficient.
"What we need a national or an international recognised system. But we need to avoid the need for large numbers of requests from letters from GPs because that simply isn’t tenable.”

Top tennis player blames hotel quarantine for shock defeat

Angelique Kerber said she had lost her rhythm during her period of isolation

Champion tennis player Angelique Kerber says being forced into hotel quarantine for two weeks affected her performance in her first-round defeat at the Australian Open.
The German 23rd seed was one of 72 players to spend 14 days in hard quarantine before the tournament - confined to a hotel room and unable to train outside.
The move angered some players, who suggested they weren’t told about the quarantine rules.
In a major upset, Kerber was beaten 6-0 6-4 by American Bernarda Pera, ranked 66th in the world.
Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion, suggested the quarantine had led to a dip in form.
"You feel it, especially if you play a real match where it counts and you play against an opponent who doesn't stay in the hard lockdown," she said on Monday.
The former world number one said she would have reconsidered travelling to Australia if she had known what lay ahead.
Kerber, however, said Australian authorities were "doing a really good job" with managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

No new local cases despite lockdowns in China

Kerry Allen - BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst
China has recorded no new domestic cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours - striking for a country that has recently seen multiple outbreaks.
Five regions in north-east China currently have lockdown measures in place because of recent cases.
In some of these regions, like Heilongjiang, hundreds are still being treated in hospital for the virus.
The coronavirus was first detected in China in late 2019, but the country has managed to combat localised outbreaks with city-wide testing drives and strict quarantining procedures.
Huge quarantine bases with more than 1,000 rooms have been rapidly built in multiple regions to isolate people and prevent the virus spreading.
Transmission is thought to be limited at the moment, because many people are off work and school for the annual Spring Festival holiday.
However, China is anticipating further outbreaks.
The government has been trying to discourage people from travelling this year, but an estimated 40 million people are still travelling on average every day.

 

A further 333 people have died with coronavirus in the UK

A further 333 people have died with coronavirus in the UK, according to the government's daily figures.
This brings the total number of people to have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test to 112,798.
The number of coronavirus cases recorded in the UK has risen by 14,104 in the last 24 hours,the figures show.
There have been 12,294,006 people vaccinated with their first dose and 512,581 with a second.

EU could trigger NI controls again

Michael Gove has said it remains a "concern" that the European Union reserves the right to potentially use Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol again.
The EU reversed its decision to trigger an emergency provision in the Brexit deal to control Covid vaccine exports from the EU.
The move could have seen checks at the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to prevent shipments entering the UK.
Gove told the Commons European Scrutiny Committee that the EU's move to trigger Article 16 late last month was "a moment when trust was eroded, when damage was done, and where movement is required in order to ensure that we have an appropriate reset".
He says article 16 exists in order to protect the people of Northern Ireland.
"It is not in order to make sure that the EU's own vaccine procurement programme can be salvaged in whatever way by taking this sort of action - that is completely inappropriate," he says.
"It is still of concern that as things stand, the EU reserve the right potentially to return to Article 16 in this area."

Variants put US in 'eye of the hurricane', expert says

The increasing spread of new coronavirus variants has plunged the US back into the “eye of the hurricane”, a disease expert says.
New coronavirus infections have started to decrease in the US, dropping to around 100,000 confirmed cases a day last week.
But with highly transmissible strains of the virus now circulating in the US, one expert has cautioned against complacency.
“I've been on Zoom calls for the last two weeks about how we're going to manage this," Dr Peter Hotez, a professor of virology at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN. "The big wall is about to hit us again and these are the new variants."
So far, the US has reported 699 cases of new coronavirus variants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 690 are the strain first detected in the UK.
"This could be really, very dire for our country as we head into the spring," Hotez said of the variants. "Now, we're in a race. We're in a race to see how quickly we can vaccinate the American people."

Downing Street briefing: What have we learnt?

Health secretary Matt Hancock has just been giving a Downing Street coronavirus briefing.It was mostly about vaccines and variants, here’s what we learnt:

• There are 29,326 people in hospital with coronavirus – this is more than during the April and November peaks
  
• It’s two months to the day since Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to get a licensed Covid vaccine and since then, more than 12.2m people have had their first jab – that’s almost 1 in 4 adults in the UK
  
• Over-70s who have not yet got an appointment to be vaccinated should contact the national booking service
  
• Derby company SureScreen will make 20 million rapid tests to give asymptomatic people a result in 30 minutes
  
• The UK Government has partnered with German company Curevac to develop vaccines against new COVID-19 variants
  
• Prof Jonathan Van Tam says there is no reason to think the South African variant will catch up or overtake the dominant Kent variant
  
• That strain is the immediate threat in the UK and the vaccinations protect against that so everyone should get the jab, he says
  
• It's likely variants would be tackled with a booster vaccination in the Autumn, he says
  
• Matt Hancock would not be drawn on whether people could mix in groups of six outdoors next month.
  
• He says: "We are not going to get into this at all, it's too early to speculate".
  

Summary

The Guardian
Here’s a summary of the day so far:

• The US has passed 27m cases of coronavirus, as Joe Biden warned that it would be “very difficult” for the country to achieve heard immunity by the end of the summer.
  
• A World Health Organization panel is due to meet to discuss the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, the use of which has been suspended in South Africa over concern over its efficacy in over-65s.
  
• A majority of Japanese remain opposed to holding the Olympics this summer amid the coronavirus pandemic but the ratio lowered significantly from recent polls, a Yomiuri newspaper poll showed on Monday. A combined 61% want the Games to be postponed or cancelled altogether, however that’s around 20% points lower than recent opinion polls.
  
• South Korea reported the lowest daily number of new coronavirus cases since late November as the government slightly eased social distancing restrictions in the face of growing criticism from businesses impacted by the rules.
  
• Panama has sought to acquire more than 8m coronavirus vaccine doses to inoculate about 80% of the Central American nation’s residents, health minister Luis Sucre said on Sunday.
  
• China reported 14 new mainland Covid-19 cases on 7 February, official data showed on Monday, up slightly from a day earlier. All new cases originated from overseas.
  

France bans homemade masks in schools

Kim Willsher - The Guardian
From today, all staff and pupils at French schools are to wear only category 1 face masks under a tightening of health rules at education establishments, which have remained open. This means no more home-made masks, which are less effective against the spread of new Covid-19 variants. Windows in classrooms are to be opened for several minutes every hour, and the distance rules have been increased to 2 metres in school canteens.

On Sunday, the health authorities sent out an urgent note suggesting the new variants posed an immediate and serious risk and calling for tighter measures.
These include the requirement for a second test in the case of a positive Covid-19 PCR or antigen test to establish if the person has one of the highly contagious variants with results within 36 hours. People found to have the South African or Brazilian variant will be required to isolate for 10 – as opposed to seven – days. The rule will also apply to anyone with whom they have been in contact.
If a school pupil tests positive for the Brazilian or South African variant, their class will be automatically closed and all pupils in it along with all teachers tested.

Dissent mounting in Tanzania

Tanzania has spent more than six months trying to convince the world it has been cured of the coronavirus through prayer while refusing to take measures to curb its spread, AFP reports.
However, dissent is mounting, along with deaths attributed to “pneumonia”, with even a politician in semi-autonomous Zanzibar admitting he has the virus.
“Covid-19 is killing people and we see a lot of cases but we cannot talk about the disease,” said a doctor in a public hospital in Tanzania’s biggest city, Dar es Salaam, who like many asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.
The Tanzanian president, John Magufuli, has continually played down the seriousness of the virus even as neighbouring countries shut borders and implemented curfews and lockdowns.
The country last gave case figures in April 2020, at the same time as Magufuli revealed he had secretly had a variety of items tested for the virus – of which papaya, a quail and a goat apparently tested positive.
He alleged “sabotage” at the national laboratory, even though the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said Tanzania’s tests had been proven to be reliable.

Vietnam reports a further 49 Covid-19 cases

Vietnam reported 49 more Covid-19 cases on Monday, most in the economic hub Ho Chi Minh City, Reuters reports.
This raised total infections to 2,050, including 1,160 locally transmitted infections and the rest imported, the ministry of health said. It has recorded 35 Covid deaths.

Covid case rates drop to pre-Christmas levels for all UK nations

Covid-19 case rates for the four nations of the UK have dropped to their lowest level since before Christmas, with some regions of England recording rates last seen in early December, fresh analysis by PA Media indicates.
In London, the seven-day rate of new cases for the whole of the capital stands at 233.4 per 100,000 people – down from 356.4 one week earlier. The rate has fallen to its lowest since 8 December.
The figure for south-east England is at its lowest since 7 December, with 187.4 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to 3 February, down from 274.0 a week earlier.
While a handful of local areas across the UK have recorded a week-on-week rise in the latest figures, most of the increases are small.
The national rate for Wales is at its lowest since early October, as it recorded 122.4 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 3 February.
Elsewhere, Scotland recorded 122.6 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to 3 February – down week-on-week from 144.4, and the lowest since 20 December.
Northern Ireland’s rate stood at 177.7 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to 3 February.
This is down from 222.0 one week earlier, and is the lowest rate since 15 December.
The figures, which have been calculated by PA Media from health agency data, suggest the lockdowns in place across the UK are continuing to have an impact in driving down the number of new reported cases of coronavirus.

Argentina detects first cases of Brazilian Covid variants

Sharon Peacock - The Guardian
Argentina has detected the first cases of two Brazilian Covid-19 variants in travellers from the neighbouring nation, the government said on Monday.
“The Amazonas P1 variant was recently detected in two samples, and the Rio de Janeiro P2 variant in two other travellers. All of them from Brazil,” Argentina’s minister of health Ginés González García said in a tweet.
Argentina, which is ramping up its vaccination programme with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, has recorded nearly 2m confirmed Covid cases, with a total of 49,171 deaths, Reuters reports.
Read more here

Cases of South African variant detected north of Paris, one school closed

The local authority for the city of Eaubonne, north of Paris, said on Monday that cases of the South African variant of the new coronavirus had been detected and that it was starting a track-and-trace campaign in light of this.
An official at the College Jules Ferry in Eaubonne told Reuters the school had been ordered to close temporarily after coronavirus cases were found on premises.
See earlier posts on France’s tighter Covid measures.

Russia reports 44,435 coronavirus-related deaths in December alone

Russia’s state statistics service said on Monday there had been 323,802 more deaths in 2020 than in 2019 because of the pandemic, an increase of 17.9%.
It added that it had recorded 44,435 deaths caused by or related to Covid-19 in December alone, Reuters reports.

Austria warns against travel to Tirol after Bavaria threatens border closure

Reuters reports:

Austria is warning against non-essential travel to its Alpine province of Tyrol because of an outbreak of the so-called South African variant of the coronavirus there, the government said on Monday.
The province, a winter sports hotspot, has so far been unable to explain how the variant arrived in the Ziller Valley, long a popular tourist area.
Austrian ski lifts have been allowed to open since 24 December but hotels are closed for all but business travel and restaurants can only serve take-away meals.
Tyrol’s provincial government has been in talks with the national government over how to deal with the outbreak.
So far, 293 cases of the South African variant have been confirmed in Tyrol and the current number of active cases is estimated to be at least 140, a government statement said.
“The government is warning against travel to Tyrol in order to prevent the South African variant from spreading, and the government asks all citizens to restrict journeys to Tyrol to those that are absolutely necessary,” the statement quoted chancellor Sebastian Kurz as saying.

Read more here.

Mexico's president returns after catching coronavirus

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador returned to his daily morning news conferences on Monday, following a two-week absence after catching coronavirus, but vowed not to wear a mask or require Mexicans to use them.
“There is no authoritarianism in Mexico … everything is voluntary, liberty is the most important thing,” López Obrador said, adding: “It is each person’s own decision.”
López Obrador revealed he received experimental treatments, which he described only as an “antiviral” medication and an anti-inflammatory drug, the Associated Press reports.
He also revealed that he twice tested negative in late January in rapid tests that are widely used in Mexico, before a more thorough test – apparently PCR – came back positive the same day.


Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador smiles during his morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City on Tuesday. Photograph: José Méndez/EPA

Portugal reports its fewest Covid-19 deaths in three weeks

Portugal has reported its fewest Covid-19 deaths in three weeks, which, according to the Associated Press is spurring hopes that its latest wave of pandemic could be over.
Soaring death and infection rates made Portugal the world’s worst affected country last month. The latest data on Monday showed it was still recording the highest daily death rates and was the fourth-highest in new cases, about four weeks after it entered a nationwide lockdown that officials say could last until mid-March.
According to AP:

Portugal officially recorded just over 2,500 new infections, taking the country’s total to almost 768,000, the health ministry said Monday. New cases have been trending downward since Jan. 24, when they reached a high point of more than 16,400. The number of new cases published on Mondays tends to be lower than the true number due to fewer tests over the weekend.
The ministry reported 196 more daily COVID-19 deaths, the lowest since Jan. 18. In all, the country has seen 14,158 confirmed deaths.
Still, Portugal’s hospitals remain under severe strain and likely will be that way for several weeks, health experts say.
Hospitalizations rose to 6,344 but were still lower than the Feb. 1 peak of 6,869. The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care was 877, below the Feb. 5 high of 904.

US congressman dies after Covid diagnosis

Ron Wright is the first sitting member of Congress to die with Covid-19

US Republican congressman Ron Wright has died aged 67 after testing positive for Covid-19 - the first sitting member of Congress to die with the disease.
The Texas lawmaker "passed away peacefully" with his wife Susan by his side on Sunday, his office said in a statement.
The couple had both been infected with the virus and were receiving treatment at Baylor Hospital in Dallas.
Mr Wright, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and had also been battling cancer in recent years, announced he had contracted the virus on 21 January.
Announcing his death on Monday, his office said: "Despite years of painful, sometimes debilitating treatment for cancer, Ron never lacked the desire to get up and go to work, to motivate those around him, or to offer fatherly advice."
The US is by far the world's worst-hit nation, with more than 463,000 coronavirus-related deaths and over 27 million cases since the start of the pandemic.

• Read more on this story here
  

What's happened in coronavirus news today?

It's been another busy day for coronavirus news. Here are our top headlines:

• There have been concerns raised about a small study that suggested the Oxford jab gave "minimal protection" against mild disease from the South Africa variant. Boris Johnson responded, saying he is "very confident" in the UK's vaccines. At the No 10 briefing, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam also urged against the "scary" headlines
  
• Meanwhile, South Africa has put its rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on hold after the study
  
• The NHS in England has changed its messaging for people over 70 who are still waiting for a jab. It says over-70s should now contact the NHS if they haven't been vaccinated, rather than waiting to be contacted
  
• There's a new government czar focusing on "education catch up" - to help pupils catch up on the teaching time they've missed, Sir Kevan Collins has said extra hours of learning as well as sport, music and drama will be needed
  
• The use of ten million surgical gowns, bought by the UK government, has been suspended for frontline NHS staff because of how the items were packaged
  
• And a US congressman, Ron Wright, has died after testing positive for Covid-19 last month.
  

That's it from us

Thanks for following our live coverage today. We'll be back tomorrow.

Our editors today were Martha Buckley and James Clarke, and our writers were: Francesca Gillett, Jennifer Meierhans, Joshua Nevett, Alice Evans, Ella Wills and Doug Faulkner.