Coronavirus - 22nd September 2021

Summary for Wednesday, 22nd September 2021

• Covishield has been added to the UK's list of recognised vaccines, recipients of which are able to enter the country without isolating from next month
  
• But its still unclear whether Indian travellers or those from African countries, including Kenya, which use also Covishield, will avoid the need to isolate
  
• They are not listed among the countries whose citizens will be recognised as vaccinated by the UK even if they have had two doses
  
• However, the United Arab Emirates has been added to this list this morning, so travellers from there will not have to isolate in the UK
  
• Global cases fell significantly to 3.6 million last week from 4 million the week before, WHO reports
  
• Brazil's health minister has tested positive for Covid-19, after attending the UN General Assembly in New York
  
• Pret A Manger aims to hire 3,000 staff by the end of 2022 after cutting the same number of jobs last year
  

Good morning

Thank you for joining us for updates on coronavirus in the UK and around the world.
Here are some of the stories the UK is waking up to:

• India's foreign minister has called for the UK to end quarantine rules for people fully vaccinated with Covishield
  
• The India-made vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca, is identical to doses given to millions in the UK
  
• But from next month, people double-jabbed with Covishield will still have to isolate for 10 days after arriving in the UK
  
• The families of Indian health workers who died with coronavirus have told the BBC they are still waiting for compensation
  
• Pret A Manger is aiming to hire 3,000 staff by the end of 2022 after cutting the same number of jobs last year.
  

Here are the other key recent developments:

• Brazil’s health minister tested positive for Covid in New York after president Jair Bolsonaro spoke at the UN general assembly on Tuesday. Brazil’s government said in a statement that Marcelo Quiroga was in good health and would remain in isolation in the US. He got his first shot of coronavirus vaccine in January.
  
• India’s foreign minister on Tuesday urged Britain to remove a rule requiring Indians visiting there to quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated.
  
• Cambridge University in England has reported that 96% of 12,000 students said that they had received a Covid-19 vaccination, or intended to get one, before arriving in the city for the new academic year.
  
• About 20% of workers in Nigeria have lost their jobs as a result of Covid-19.
  
• US president Joe Biden is betting on millions more rapid, at-home tests to help curb the latest deadly wave of the Covid-19 pandemic
  
• The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, described the world as getting an “F in ethics” over global vaccine distribution as he spoke at the UN general assembly on Tuesday. He said the inequitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines is an “obscenity”.
  
• The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned that uneven vaccine distribution globally is affecting economic recovery from the pandemic.
  
• The mass take-up of the UK’s NHS app in order to use the Covid Pass feature has led to a surge in people registering their organ donation preference.
  
• Long Covid patients told a UK parliamentary committee that they are “struggling’” to get help on the NHS.
  
• The EU is expected to accept the NHS Covid pass as proof of vaccination across the union within days.
  

UK adds Covishield to recognised vaccine list

The UK government has added India's Covishield vaccine to its list of approved jabs. People who have had two doses of these can enter the country without having to self-isolate for 10 days from next month.
The same applies to other formulations of the main approved Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen vaccines
"Formulations of the four listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines," the government says.

India health workers' families fight for compensation

The families of Indian health workers who died with coronavirus have told the BBC they are still waiting for compensation.
In March 2020, India's federal government promised 5m rupees ($68,000; £50,000) to the family of every health worker who died fighting Covid.
But a BBC investigation, based in part on Right to Information requests, shows that a lack of data, bureaucratic hurdles and a discriminatory policy have left many of these families traumatised.
Shanti Devi, a government community health worker in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, died from Covid in May.
Her daughter, Malti Gangwar, says in the days following her death, the family received several calls from the health department offering condolences.
Her late mother's colleagues even urged her to apply for the same job.
"There was talk about insurance money and they all seemed very co-operative. They asked me to fill in a form to apply for the job, which I did. But I don't know what happened after that," she says.
Four months on, the Gangwars are still waiting. Neither the compensation nor the job have materialised yet.

India asks UK to end jab 'discrimination'

India's foreign minister is urging the UK to ditch its quarantine rules for people fully vaccinated with Covishield.
When the UK scraps its amber travel list from 4 October, people arriving from abroad who are fully-vaccinated with an approved jab will no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days.
But Covishield is not on the list of approved vaccines - despite being developed by AstraZeneca and identical to the doses given to millions of Britons.
The rules, which come into effect next month, have caused anger, with many Indians branding the decision as discriminatory, according to Reuters.
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar urged "early resolution of quarantine issue in mutual interest" in a tweet after a meeting with his British counterpart Liz Truss in New York, where both are attending the United Nations General Assembly.
The British High Commission in New Delhi says the United Kingdom is "working with India to resolve the issue."

UK clarifies Covishield vaccine rules

As we have just reported, the UK government says it will recognise India's Covishield vaccine in its new foreign travel rules set to start on 4 October.
The Indian-made version of the Astra Zeneca vaccine was not on the UK's list of approved jabs, which triggered a firestorm of protests in India.
It had meant that Indians with two doses of Covishield would have been considered "not vaccinated" and would have had to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival in the UK.
This was despite the jabs being identical to five million doses the UK received from India in July.
With more than 721 million doses administered so far, Covishield is India's most widely used vaccine.
The clarification from the UK government came after India's foreign minister, S Jaishankar, took up the matter "strongly" with his UK counterpart Liz Truss, according to India's foreign secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
BUT ...
it's not clear whether people living in India, where the jab is made, will be able to travel to the UK without having to self-isolate for 10 days.
Currently India is not listed as a country where people are recognised as fully vaccinated if they've had both doses of an approved jab.
The UK goverment guidance says it recognises "Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
And today the govrnment clarified that "formulations of the four listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines".

Almost 40m now fully vaccinated in Russia

Nearly 40 million people in Russia - which has a population of about 146 million - have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, Russia's Tass news agency reports.
Moscow says it aims for 80% of the eligible population to receive two doses by November.
Russia has reported 19,706 additional cases of Covid-19 in the latest 24-hour period and a further 817 coronavirus-related deaths.
The country has recorded more than 7.2 million cases since the start of the pandemic and a total of 196,235 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Scottish government 'working urgently' to free up NHS beds

Scotland's Health Secretary Humza Yousaf says he is "working urgently" to free up hospital beds.
The Scottish government is enlisting the help of the Army, fire service, British Red Cross and taxi firms to ease pressure on ambulances.
Yousaf tells BBC Scotland that efforts are also under way to move more people into social care.
He says there are about 1,500 patients who are facing a delay in being discharged from hospital despite it being clinically safe for them to leave - with some of those not having a care package in their local community.
Dr Daniel Beckett, of the Society for Acute Medicine, warns the high rate of bed occupancy in Scotland's hospitals is a major problem.
On Tuesday the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said 1,000 extra beds were needed to help relieve the "unrelenting pressure" facing the country's emergency departments.

UK government working 'quickly' to remove PCR tests for travel

We have been discussing travel rules today and now Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been speaking to the Transport Committee.
He says the government is working as "quickly as possible" to remove PCR testing for international travellers but he is not able to give an exact date when they would be lifted.
However he says his colleagues in the Department of Health are "aware of half term", when families may be wishing to go on holiday.
"It's clear the range of measures I introduced this week and last week are going to make a big difference and people will be able to travel much more freely," he says.
"Part of that is the removal of the PCR test on day two and replacing it with a much simpler lateral flow test."

Brazil health minister tests positive for Covid at UN General Assembly
Brazil’s health minister tested positive for Covid in New York after president Jair Bolsonaro spoke at the UN general assembly on Tuesday.
Brazil’s government said in a statement that Marcelo Quiroga was in good health and would remain in isolation in the US. He got his first shot of coronavirus vaccine in January.
Other members of Brazil’s government in New York tested negative for the virus, the statement said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bolsonaro spoke at the general assembly, flouting the requirement for all attendees to be vaccinated against the virus.
Bolsonaro has said several times over the last week that he remains unvaccinated. He said getting a shot is a personal, medical decision. He contracted Covid last year.
Queiroga was photographed side by side with Bolsonaro on several occasions this week. Tuesday morning he tweeted a picture with first lady Michele Bolsonaro.
Queiroga had breakfast Monday with several employees of investment funds in New York.

Eight countries to be removed from UK's travel 'red list' today
Turkey, Egypt and the Maldives are among eight countries to be removed from the UK’s travel “red list” today.
From 4am on Wednesday, Kenya, Oman, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were also removed.

Australia on track to reopen borders 'by Christmas', says tourism minister

Australia’s tourism minister said the country is on track to reopen its borders “by Christmas at the latest”, reports CNN.
Dan Tehan said on Wednesday during a National Press Club of Australia talk: “I do empathise with the Australians who have been denied the opportunity to travel overseas this year.”
He added: “It’s another reason why everyone should get vaccinated and we have to stick to the national plan that will see our international border open up – at this rate by Christmas at the latest.”
Tourism minister Dan Tehan also said “there is light at the end of the tunnel” for the industry. When 80% of the country is vaccinated, he said outbound travel will resume and people will be able to travel freely.
He said he hopes home quarantine will also be introduced in the lead-up to Christmas – rather than requiring people to quarantine in hotels.

No fly-zone declared over Melbourne amid lockdown protests
A no-fly zone has been declared over Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, amid a third day of anti-lockdown protests.
Police asked the aviation authority to declare the no-fly zone for operational and safety reasons, reports Reuters.
Groups of protesters roamed the streets and gathered at a city landmark, the Shrine of Remembrance, on Wednesday, despite being urged to remain at home.
“This is a very dynamic situation,” police media official Belinda Batty told the news agency, but did not say how many people had been arrested.
It comes as the city appeared to have escaped widespread damage and with no injuries after being shaken by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake.

Brazil's health minister shook hands with maskless Boris Johnson at UN before testing positive for Covid
Tom Phillips - The Guardian's Latin-American correspondent
Twenty four hours after meeting with a mask-less Boris Johnson in New York, Brazil’s health minister has announced he has tested positive for Covid and gone into isolation.
Marcelo Queiroga, who sat close to Johnson and the foreign secretary Liz Truss on Monday during their meeting with Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, confirmed his positive test on Twitter alongside a picture of himself wearing a mask.
Queiroga, 55, was filmed shaking hands with Johnson and patting the prime minister on the arm during Monday’s meeting at the consulate general’s house in New York.
Despite Bolsonaro publicly claiming not to have been vaccinated against Covid, Johnson and other members of the British delegation were not wearing masks, although Queiroga was.

Hours later Queiroga was caught on camera making obscene hand gestures to Brazilian protesters who had taken to the streets to denounce Bolsonaro’s anti-scientific handling of a Covid outbreak that has killed nearly 600,000 Brazilians.
Brazil has reportedly cancelled its participation in the UN general assembly after Queiroga’s positive test - the second Covid case detected in the South American country’s delegation in recent days.

Bangkok cab company transforms its cars into mini vegetable gardens
With little work for taxi drivers in Thailand amid the pandemic, a Bangkok cab company has transformed its cars into mini vegetable gardens to provide food for workers.
The Ratchapruek Taxi Cooperative has been forced to take hundreds of cars off the road in the last year as a result of Covid, reports Reuters, leaving many drivers without enough money to pay for the lease on their vehicles.
The cooperative has been trying to help drivers by growing vegetables on the roofs and bonnets of 300 of its unused cabs to help feed drivers and their families.
“We discussed among each other and decided to grow vegetables to eat because there is no use for these taxis,” said Thapakorn Asawalertkul, a business consultant for the company. “They have become just metal as they’ve been parking for over a year now.”
Thailand has recorded over 1.5m Covid cases and 15,600 deaths, 99% of which have been since April 2021. Only 21% of people are vaccinated.

Here's a summary of the latest developments

• The UK has announced plans for a “vaccine swap” with South Korea. The UK will send over 1m doses of its Pfizer/BioNTech stockpile to South Korea in the coming weeks as the country attempts to fully vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of October.
  
• Brazil’s health minister Marcelo Queiroga shook hands with maskless British prime minister Boris Johnson at the UN before testing positive for Covid. Marcelo Queiroga, who sat close to Johnson and the UK foreign secretary Liz Truss on Monday during their meeting with Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, confirmed his positive test on Twitter alongside a picture of himself wearing a mask. He was also filmed shaking hands with Johnson.
  
• A no-fly zone has been declared over Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, amid a third day of anti-lockdown protests. Police asked the aviation authority to declare the no-fly zone for operational and safety reasons.
  
• Australia’s tourism minister said the country is on track to reopen its borders “by Christmas at the latest”. Dan Tehan said on Wednesday during a National Press Club of Australia talk: “I do empathise with the Australians who have been denied the opportunity to travel overseas this year.”
  
• The UK environment secretary George Eustice says the UK will pay “tens of millions” to support a CO₂ producer as the country struggles with the ongoing energy crisis. He said it is going to cost the UK “many millions, possibly tens of millions” over the next three weeks.
  

Doctors warn of safety concerns amid burnout

Doctors in Brighton are warning of serious clinical safety concerns and burnout amongst hospital staff in a letter to their chief executive.
Consultants say services at The Royal Sussex County Hospital are in "an extremely unsafe situation" and some surgery should be diverted elsewhere.
The letter says intensive care staff and theatre nurses are suffering with post-traumatic stress and depression.
The hospital trust says it was aware of the pressures described in the letter.
The doctors write that "elective surgery must be proactively diverted" elsewhere.
Rob Haigh, medical director at University Hospitals Sussex, which runs the hospital, says: "Our teams have made huge efforts to ensure our resources are focussed on the most clinically urgent patients, including the need to prioritise emergency patients."
He says the hospital is looking at ways to ease "the unprecedented pressure our staff are facing as a result of the pandemic" and is redeploying staff from a range of areas to support the pressure on critical services.

International community failing Yemen on vaccines - Oxfam

Oxfam has accused the international community of failing to live up to its promises to help civilians in Yemen, where fewer than 1% of the population has received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The charity warns that Yemen is battling a third wave of Covid-19, with recorded cases tripling and the death rate rising more than fivefold in the last month.
It says the figures do not include undiagnosed deaths of people in their homes, due to the scarcity of tests and hospital beds, or deaths in the country’s north west, where health authorities controlled by the rebel Houthi movement do not release coronavirus-related data.
Oxfam says Covax, the global scheme to deliver vaccines to poorer countries, has so far delivered just 12% of the 4.2 million doses it has promised Yemen.
Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s country director for Yemen, accused the UK and Germany of continuing to block proposals to share vaccine technology to enable manufacturers in developing countries to make more of their own.
“Protecting lives should be more important than protecting the outsized profits of pharmaceutical corporations who have already made billions from this crisis,” he said.

Six pharmaceutical companies accused of fuelling a global human rights crisis
Sarah Johnson - The Guardian
Amnesty International has accused six pharmaceutical companies that have developed Covid vaccines of fuelling a global human rights crisis, citing their refusal to sufficiently waive intellectual property rights, share vaccine technology and boost global vaccine supply.
After assessing the performance of six Covid vaccine developers – Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax – Amnesty International claims that all are failing to uphold their own human rights commitments and warns they should not be putting profit before the lives of people in the world’s poorest countries.
Less than 1% of the almost 6bn doses of Covid vaccine administered worldwide have gone to low-income countries, with almost 80% delivered to wealthy countries. Despite calls to ensure a fair global vaccine supply, some companies have continued to disproportionally distribute vaccines to wealthy countries, according to Amnesty’s report, published today.
Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, said:

:Left Quotes:  Big pharma’s intentional blocking of knowledge transfer and their wheeling and dealing in favour of wealthy states has brewed an utterly devastating vaccine scarcity for so many others.

Read more.

French president's health data shared online

French President Emmanuel Macron's personal information has been shared on social media after a photo of his health pass appeared online.
Details including Macron's date of birth, date of vaccination and the type of vaccine he received were revealed after users zoomed in on the president's pass - a QR code - which was featured in a photo as he participated in a routine check.
It comes just days after France's prime minister, Jean Castex, also had his health pass shared online in similar circumstances.
The prime minister's office confirmed to French newspaper Le Figaro earlier this week that someone was able to gain access to Castex's details "thanks to a photo" of his pass.
"Although the prime minister is regularly followed and photographed by the press, this episode shows that the health pass is a confidential document," it added.

Fully-jabbed UAE arrivals can avoid UK quarantine

The transport Secretary has said that from 4 October, people vaccinated in the United Arab Emirates will be able to avoid quarantine when arriving in the UK, as their vaccination status will be recognised.
Grant Shapps tweeted: "We will be accepting UAE vaccination certificates from 4th Oct following updates to their vaccination app. As a major transport hub which is home to many British expats, this is great news for reopening international travel, boosting business & reuniting families."
The UAE was this morning added to the list of countries where vaccines are recognised and from which people do not need to quarantine on arriving in the UK..
Those jabbed in the EU or USA are already recognised as fully vaccinated.
India is awaiting clarification of the rules after its Covishield jab was earlier added to the list of recognised vaccines but the country was not put on the quarantine exemption list.

Fraudsters stole £4m a day as crime surged in pandemic

Kevin Peachey - Personal finance reporter
More than £4m on average was stolen by fraudsters every day in the UK during the first half of the year as losses skyrocketed during the pandemic.
In total, £754m was stolen through fraud in the first half of the year - an increase of 30% compared with the same period last year.
Within this total, so-called authorised push payment (APP) fraud - when victims think they are paying a genuine organisation - rose by 71% to £355m.
Those scams can range from fake delivery texts asking for payment, which were common during the pandemic, to higher-value losses where fraudsters pretended to be solicitors during a house purchase.
Less than half of the money lost in these cases was refunded by banks.
Banking trade body UK Finance says teenage criminals buying fraud kits online were among the con artists.

Global Covid-19 cases saw substantial drop last week, says WHO

The World Health Organisation says that the global number of Covid-19 cases continued to fall last week.
In its latest update, the UN health body said 3.6 million new cases were reported last week, down from 4 million the week before.
It's the first substantial drop in over two months, with infections falling in every region of the world. There were major decreases in two regions especially: the Middle East, with a 22% fall, and a 16% drop in south east Asia.
Most cases were reported in the US, the UK, India, Turkey and the Philippines.
Global coronavirus-related deaths also declined 7% to just under 60,000.
The WHO has revised its list of "variants of interest" and said it is tracking Lamba and Mu variants. Both have a Latin American origin, but haven't yet caused widespread epidemics.
Meanwhile the Delta variant has spread to 185 countries.

Melbourne police break up anti-lockdown protest with non-lethal rounds and teargas
Ben Doherty - The Guardian
Third day of demonstrations ends in a standoff between officers and protesters at the city’s war memorial
In Australia, police in Melbourne have again fired non-lethal rounds and teargas at anti-Covid lockdown protesters to end an almost three-hour standoff at the city’s war memorial during a third straight day of demonstrations.
More than 200 people were arrested. Two officers were injured by bottles thrown at them and one was hospitalised with chest pains, Victoria police said. Earlier, up to 400 protesters had camped on the steps of the Shrine of Remembrance, lighting flares and throwing bottles, batteries, tap handles and golf balls at police.
The protests that have seized Australia’s second-largest city for days had their genesis with members of the powerful Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), who were resisting a government mandate for compulsory coronavirus vaccinations for workers on building sites.



But the initial rally appears to have since been hijacked by far-right extremists, allegedly including neo-Nazis and anti-vaccination groups, who have organised via Telegram, Facebook and WhatsApp. Comments circulating on social media channels, seen by the Guardian, are explicitly racist, antisemitic, and include conspiracy theorist tropes.
Read more

Should I be working from home or going back to the office?

Since Covid restrictions lifted in England on 19 July, people have been told they no longer have to work from home.
However, there have been warnings that this could change if there is a surge in coronavirus cases this winter.
Staff in the rest of the UK are still advised to remain at home where possible.
The government's Covid Autumn and Winter Plan for England has two proposals.
Much of Plan A focuses on the vaccine rollout:

• booster jabs for over 50s, the most vulnerable and health workers
  
• single jabs for 12-15 year olds
  
• encouraging others who've not yet been vaccinated to come forward
  

But if the NHS struggles, Plan B (or parts of it) could start - including advice to work from home again for "a limited period".
Some businesses - but not all - have embraced the remote-working model seen during the pandemic, with some firms putting in place hybrid working arrangements that would see employees work part of the week from home. Other companies have said they want workers to return to the office or workplace full-time.
You can ask to continue to work from home by making a flexible working request, but employers don't have to agree, even if you've worked from home throughout the pandemic.
The government is expected to launch a consultation shortly on proposals to give all employees the right to request flexible working as soon as they start a job. At the moment, workers have to wait for six months.
You can read more here.

Shortage of private flow lateral tests reason for switch delay - Shapps

A bit more detail now on Transport Secretary Grant Shapps's comments to the Transport Committee.
Earlier, he said the government was working as "quickly as possible" to remove PCR Covid testing for international travellers and to replace the PCR test taken two days after arrival with a cheaper and simpler lateral flow test.
The expense of paying for private PCR testing is widely blamed for discouraging people from travelling abroad - with most private providers charging above £60 for PCR tests and £30 for lateral flow tests.
The government has warned more than 80 providers over misleading prices.
Asked why the switch from PCR to lateral flow tests for arrivals into England would not happen until the end of October, Shapps said it would take several weeks to implement because private testing firms did not have enough lateral flow tests to meet demand.
“This is a Department of Health [and Social Care] responsibility rather than mine, but my understanding is that the ramp up of supply of lateral flow through the private testing sector has some way to go in as much as they have been almost entirely involved in providing PCRs currently,” he says.
When questioned by Ben Bradshaw MP about why this was an issue as many test providers also offered lateral flow tests, Shapps responded that he thought it was a question of scale.
“We go from a situation where they are providing low number of thousands to probably millions of tests very quickly and need a few weeks to scale up on it,” he said.
The transport secretary could not provide a more specific date for the switch but said his Department of Health colleagues were aware of the upcoming October half-term school holidays and understood the speed required to bring in the changes.

What are the latest developments this lunchtime?

Hello and thanks for following our rolling coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
If you're just joining us, here are some of the biggest developments:

• Nearly 230 million cases of Covid-19 have been recorded since the start of the pandemic, along with 4.7 million Covid-related deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University
  
• The US, India and UK continue to have the highest 28-day rolling average of cases in the world
  
• But there's good news. The WHO reports that global cases fell significantly last week to 3.6 million, down from 4 million the week before
  
• Earlier today, the UK added India's Covishield vaccine to its list of approved jabs. But it's not clear whether people will be able to travel to the UK without having to self-isolate for 10 days
  
• The UK has also agreed to swap more than a million Covid-19 vaccine shots with South Korea
  
• Development charity Oxfam has warned that Yemen is battling a deadly third wave of Covid-19. It has says the international community is failing live up to its promises to held people in the war-torn country, where less than 1% of the population has had one vaccine dose
  
• Meanwhile there have been more violent anti-lockdown protests in Australia's Victoria state. Officials said some construction sites will now be closed in Melbourne for up to two weeks, following clashes between protesters and construction workers
  

Romania launches lottery to encourage vaccinations

As policy makers look for creative ways to encourage people to get their vaccines, Romania's government has announced a new vaccination lottery.
Any fully-vaccinated residents with an EU digital Covid certificate can enter the scheme, which is running from 1 October until the end of the year.
A total of 19 draws will be made during the period, with 1,139 prizes totalling 15m Romanian leu ($3.6m; £2.6m).
Dozens of other weekly prizes will also be given out, some up to 500,000 Romanian leu (£118,433; £86,825).
Funding for the lottery will be given by Romania's economic ministry.
“In this epidemiological context, with significant increases in the number of people infected with Covid-19, it is important to support the vaccination process, including by granting rewards,” said Cseke Attila, Romania's interim health minister, in a statement on Monday.
Authorities are struggling with vaccine hesitancy in the eastern European country. Just over a quarter of eligible citizens have been fully vaccinated - one of the lowest rates in the EU.
Officials have blamed the low pick-up on logistical issues, and a general mistrust of medicine, made worse by online fake news.

Legal challenge planned over vaccine passports

A group representing nightclubs is launching a legal challenge to the Scottish government's plans for vaccine passports.
From October, people will need proof they have had two doses of vaccine to enter certain venues and large events.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says the scheme will help reduce transmission of the virus and keep clubs open.
But the Night Time Industries Association Scotland says there are "serious flaws" with the plans.
The government's definition of a nightclub is a venue which is open between midnight and 05:00, serves alcohol, and which has a designated area for dancing and provides live or recorded music for this purpose.
However, industry groups have voiced concerns that the definition could also cover a range of other hospitality venues, including bars, pubs and hotel function rooms.

At-home tests must be overseen by a professional, says immunologist

As we've heard a bit earlier today, PCR tests for fully vaccinated travellers arriving in the UK will be replaced by lateral flow tests under new foreign travel rules.
But a leading immunologist says it is "critical" that the government ensures at-home testing is overseen by professional and any positive tests are screened for variants of concern.
Professor Denis Kinane, immunologist and founding scientist at Cignpost Diagnostics, says: “If we are to use lateral flow, let’s make it as robust as we can, which means the swabbing should be administered by a capable agent and the authenticity of the individual being tested should be verified.
"Any positives picked up in this way should be reported to PHE and the individual retested and genomically sequenced by the NHS. “Lateral flow tests can also be performed at home but observed online by a medical professional.
"This would ensure that the test is conducted correctly and that the person being tested is who they say they are.
"The government has to reduce spread and new variants coming into the UK and if lateral flow tests are used, they need to be performed authentically.”

Ex-councillor feared mum would die after she caught Covid from him

An unvaccinated former councillor who became seriously ill with Covid feared his mother would die after she caught the virus from him.
Andrew Girvan, 48, was infected at the start of August and within a week 19 family members had the virus, including his grandparents and six-year-old daughter.
He says he was given a 50/50 chance of survival and his mother was put on a ventilator, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
"It was without a doubt that it was me who gave it to her," the former Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) councillor tells BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show.
"I was lying in bed in hospital and she was in the other hospital and she looked a lot worse than I was.
"To think that you've given your mum something that could eventually kill her isn't a nice place to be."
He says "procrastination" got in the way of getting his jab.

Substantial Covid transmission in children

England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty and his deputy Jonathan Van-Tam are answering questions from the Education Committee.
Prof Whitty says children are currently driving the spread of the virus, with "substantial transmission" in children. The 12-17 age group is the highest transmission group "as far as we can tell", he says.
All children in that age group are due to be offered a Covid-19 vaccine - a decision Whitty insists has not been made for political reasons or for the benefit of more vulnerable adults.
Asked about vaccination he says the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the chief medical officers agree the risk to children from Covid is small and the risk of vaccination is small.
But he says it is the view of the JCVI that the benefits of vaccinating them are marginally greater than the potential for harm.
He adds that vaccinating children would help prevent disruption in schools.
"The great majority of children who have not currently had Covid are going to get it at some point," he says.
"It won't be necessary in the next two or three months but they will get it sooner or later because this is incredibly infectious... vaccination will reduce that risk."

Van-Tam: Inevitable teens will get infected - and maybe at bad time

Deputy chief medical officer for England Professor Jonathan Van-Tam tells the Education Committee the dominant Delta variant is 60% more infectious than the Alpha variant, so it is really quite likely that teenagers will be infected at some point.
He adds that he has in mind particularly the impact of being ill at a time not of their choosing, such as around their GCSEs.
"Because the Delta variant is so infectious we're not looking at a theoretical risk of children 12 to 17 becoming infected. I think it is really quite inevitable that they will be so at some point."

San Francisco airport makes vaccines mandatary for staff

US officials have announced announced that all staff at San Francisco International Airport must be fully vaccinated to carry on working.
In a statement on Tuesday, airport authorities and city mayor London Breed said the mandate was the first of its kind in the US, and would take effect immediately.
“As SFO prepares for the upcoming holiday travel season and the return of pre-pandemic passenger levels, we have an obligation to provide a safe airport facility for the traveling public and our on-site employees," said airport director Ivar Satero.
Under the new rules, every airport tenant or contractor must ensure their on-site staff are fully vaccinated. Employees can be granted exemptions based on "either medical disability or sincerely held religious belief".
The airport offers free vaccines at an on-site medical centre.
The announcement has been welcomed by one local workers' union that represents several food and beverage staff at the airport.
Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Anand Singh, president of Unite Here Local 2, which represents several food and beverage workers at the airport, said:
"Our union is working with employers to ensure fair implementation because vaccines are critical to keeping workers safe and building a recovery where everyone comes back stronger."

Germany to end pay compensation for unvaccinated who have to quarantine

Germany's health minister has announced that, from 1 November, Germans will no longer receive compensation for lost pay if they are unvaccinated and forced to quarantine.
The government has been helping to pay workers sent into quarantine after being in contact with an infected person or returning from a "high risk" area abroad.
But minister Jens Spahn says this support will be withdrawn, in an effort to encourage more people to get the jab.
Getting vaccinated will remain a "personal decision", he says, but that decision will now "also come with the responsibility to bear the financial consequences".
"Some people will say this means pressure for the unvaccinated. I think we have to look at it the other way around - it is also a question of fairness," he added.
More than 60% of Germany's population have been fully vaccinated, according to official data.
While compulsory vaccination has been ruled out by the government, many German states have introduced restrictions for unvaccinated residents in public places.
Those who've had their jabs are no longer required to quarantine.

Kenya affected by Covishield confusion

As we reported earlier, there are protests in India as it has not been added to the list of countries where people fully jabbed with an approved vaccine can avoid having to isolate if they want to travel to the UK.
Many other countries are affected after the UK government clarified the jab widely distributed by Covax - Covishield - was an approved vaccine but arrivals from some places were not added to the exempt-from-quarantine list.
Covishield is the Indian-made AstraZeneca jab and identical to the one used in the UK.
The Kenyan and British governments say they are working on a system to recognise Covid vaccine certificates issued in both countries, to facilitate travel between them.
Under the UK's new rules effective from 4 October, fully vaccinated people from countries that are not on the red list will be exempt from the compulsory quarantine.
But despite being removed from the UK's red list, Kenyans intending to travel there will still have to take a test three days before travelling, quarantine for 10 days on arrival, as well as pay for Covid tests while in isolation.
People from other African countries that remain on the UK red list have also criticised the new travel rules saying they are discriminatory.
Read: UK recognises Covishield jab after India outcry
And find more on the rules for entering the UK here.

 

UK records more than 34,000 new cases

The government has reported 34,460 new coronavirus cases in figures released today.
A further 166 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test were also reported.
The case figures are a jump from the 31,564 new cases recorded yesterday, though deaths fell from 203 on Tuesday.

In Singapore, the country’s health ministry has reported 1,457 new Covid cases today, the highest since April last year.
A recent rise in cases after the relaxation of some Covid measures has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening.
More than 80% of its population has been vaccinated against the virus.

Italy confirmed 67 deaths from Covid on Wednesday, the same number as the day before, its health ministry said.
It came as the daily tally of new infections rose to 3,970 from 3,377, according to the Reuters news agency.
Italy has registered 130,488 deaths linked to Covid since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after the UK and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.65 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid - not including those in intensive care - stood at 3,796 on Wednesday, down from 3,937 a day earlier.
There were 40 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 38 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients edged down to 513 from a previous 516.

Canadian police seek man who allegedly punched nurse for vaccinating his wife
Police in the Canadian province of Quebec are searching for a man they suspect of punching a nurse in the face for giving his wife a Covid vaccine without his consent, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.
The man confronted the female nurse on Monday morning in the office of a pharmacy in the city of Sherbrooke, about 155 kilometres (96 miles) south-east of Montreal, where she was assigned to administer vaccines, a police spokesman, Martin Carrier, said by phone.
“Our suspect went directly into the office and began to yell at the nurse,” Carrier said.
The man appeared to be very shocked that his wife was vaccinated at the pharmacy “without his authorization”, and hit the nurse in the face, Carrier added.
Sherbrooke police are asking for the public’s help in finding the assailant, who they say has short dark hair, dark eyes, thick eyebrows and a tattoo resembling a cross on his hand.
Read more.