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    Coronavirus - 3rd November 2021

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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 10:35

    Summary for Wednesday, 3rd November


    • England's deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam has answered your Covid questions
    • He said we are in "half time of extra time" in the pandemic in the UK - but the final whistle hasn't blown
    • "There are hard months to come in the winter, and it is not over," he says
    • But he says he expects "calmer waters" by the spring
    • Prof Van-Tam says masks remain important in some settings - but declines to criticise MPs who don't wear them in Parliament
    • He also says making masks mandatory in more places is a matter for government, not scientists
    • The UK reported a further 33,865 cases and 293 new deaths on Tuesday
    • The number of daily cases is falling in the UK - down 10% week-on-week
    • Less than two months after drastically relaxing Covid restrictions, the Netherlands has become one of the first countries in western Europe to bring back them back again.
    • Faced with sharply rising coronavirus cases, the prime minister Mark Rutte said the Dutch government would be reinstating an order to wear face masks in public places and mandating an extension for the use of Covid passes in light of rapidly increasing case counts.  The country’s public health institute reported Tuesday that confirmed infections rose 39% compared to the week before and hospital admissions were up 31%.
    • Tighter curbs are also expected in China after the National Health Commission reported Covid cases surged to a near 3-month high with 93 new local symptomatic cases recorded for Tuesday, up from 54 a day earlier.
    • A key gathering of the highest-ranking members of the Communist Party in Beijing is expected to go ahead next week.


    And here’s a quick round-up (via The Guardian) of the Covid headlines you might have missed.

    • Australia may soon welcome foreign workers back into the country. NSW premier has pushed for further border re-openings as the state grapples with skilled labour shortages after 18 months of closed borders.
    • Australia also remains on track to reach 80% of the population over 16 being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in a matter of days.
    • The Dutch government has reintroduced face masks in an attempt to stop rising Covid-19 cases. Prime minister Mark Rutte said the use of Covid passports would also be broadened out to include museums, gyms and outdoor terraces. The advice comes amid a major surge in new cases in the Netherlands.
    • The UK has had its highest number of daily Covid deaths reported since late February, as another 293 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.
    • UK government is increasingly worried that hospitalisations and deaths among double-vaccinated people could rise due to waning immunity as an estimated 4.5 million people have failed to get their booster shots despite being eligible.
    • The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unanimously voted in favour of the broad use of Pfizer and BioNTech jabs for children as young as 5. The shots could be administered as soon as Wednesday.
    • China has urged its citizens to stockpile daily necessities, prompting panic-buying, amid surging vegetable prices linked to recent extreme weather, fears of supply shortages and an ongoing Covid outbreak.
    • Romania broke its daily death toll record, after another 591 people died from Covid. It has lagged behind on vaccinations and is well below the average within the EU.
    • Russia also set another daily record for Covid deaths reporting 1,178 on Tuesday.
    • Greece announced new restrictions on non-vaccinated people and increased fines for non-compliance after reporting a daily record high of Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.
    • Public health officials in Ireland say that its case numbers are at their highest point since January, as another 3,726 were registered – 70% higher than a week ago.
    • A scientist has quit the UK government’s pandemic advisery body Sage, saying that the Covid crisis is “a long way from over”. Sir Jeremy Farrar, quit the body at the end of October.
    • The UK government’s independent vaccine advisers recommended against Covid shots for healthy teenagers despite considering evidence that the jabs would reduce infections, hospitalisations and some deaths in the age group.


    What is the latest Covid news in the UK?


    • The number of daily cases in the UK remains high, with a further 33,865 cases, plus 293 new deaths, announced yesterday
    • Cases in the UK are falling though - down just over 10% week-on-week
    • A member of the group of scientists advising the government on coronavirus, Sir Jeremy Farrar has stepped down from his role - warning the pandemic was "a long way from over".
    • Meanwhile MPs will be asked to consider a bill to prevent future emergency school closures in the House of Commons later today.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 10:40

    Let's have a rethink on wearing masks - GP

    GP Dr Rosemary Leonard has been speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning about the Covid situation in her area.
    Hospitalisations are creeping up, she says.
    "We’re seeing a lot of Covid cases - particularly in young people who are yet to be vaccinated, but also unfortunately some older people who have not been vaccinated are being admitted to hospital," she says.
    "The vast number of these admissions are in unvaccinated people but some of the extremely vulnerable also unfortunately are now catching Covid."
    She's calling for a "rethink" on masks - urging people to wear them, not just to stop Covid but also coughs and colds as there's a "huge spike" in them.
    "We are incredibly busy," she adds.

    China school keeps children in overnight after one Covid case

    In China, strict lockdowns are continuing as part of the country's plan to hit zero cases by the time it hosts the Winter Olympics in February.
    At one primary school, dozens of children were held inside for hours after it was locked down because a staff member tested positive.
    A large group of parents gathered outside the school, anxiously waiting for news which did not come until almost midnight.
    The children were tested and, according to local site Jimu News, the school principal finally emerged at around 23:30 local time and told parents that some children would have to go into quarantine.
    More here.

    The Netherlands reintroduces Covid curbs as cases rise

    The Netherlands is bringing back coronavirus measures including a requirement for face masks in many public spaces to combat a surge in cases, prime minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday.
    He said the government will be reintroducing social distancing rules, extending so-called Covid passes to places such as museums and restaurant terraces, AFP reports.
    People are also being advised to work from home for at least half the week and avoid rush-hour travel.
    The move – which makes the Netherlands one of the first in western Europe to bring back restrictions – comes less than two months after it drastically relaxed anti-Covid measures.
    Infections have since been rising for a month after most social distancing measures were scrapped in late September,
    “It won’t surprise anyone that we have a difficult message tonight. Infections and hospital admissions are rising quickly,” Rutte told a press conference.
    The Netherlands had some of Europe’s most lax restrictions early in the pandemic but drastically tightened up during a brutal second wave last year.
    Rutte said masks would be required again in shops and for professions including hairdressers and massage parlours. They were already still obligatory on public transport, although not in stations or on platforms.
    Sex workers in the Netherlands – where prostitution is legal – will continue to be excluded from the mask rule.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 10:44

    President Duterte says local officials will be punished in Philippines over slow vaccine rollout

    Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that local government officials will be punished for falling behind their targets for Covid-19 vaccinations.
    The Philippines has so far fully immunised a little over a third of 77 million people eligible for shots. Duterte said there was no reason why daily vaccinations could not be ramped up to at least a million from an average of 500,000 since the country has sufficient stock of vaccines.
    “We saw fault lines in the overall picture of our vaccination programme. I am not contented,” Duterte said in a recorded address.
    Karen Lema reports for Reuters that Duterte said local officials “who are not performing nor using the doses given to them in a most expeditious manner” would be sanctioned and made accountable. He did not spell out penalties.
    The government has been gradually easing Covid-19 curbs, and on Wednesday it announced it was lifting the nightly curfew imposed in the capital region from Thursday.
    The seven-day average for new cases in the Philippines is around 4,000, down from a peak of about 21,000 in the peak of the last wave of the virus in mid-September.

    Czech Republic nears 10,000 new daily cases for first time since March

    The number of daily Covid-19 cases reported in the Czech Republic neared 10,000 for the first time since March, health ministry data showed.
    Reuters reports the country recorded 9,902 new infections yesterday, up from 6,284 on the same day a week ago. Hospitalisations reached more than 2,000 for the first time since May, including 288 people in intensive care.
    Yesterday, the head of the Institute for Health Information and Statistics in the Czech Republic, Ladislav Dušek, told Czech Radio that the number of cases was less important than the number of hospitalisations, which he predicted would soon reach 3,000.
    He also said that cases in the country were growing not among young people, as was the case in September, but among unvaccinated 30- to 50-year-olds.

    Ukraine is also one of the countries towards the east of Europe that is seeing rising numbers of Covid cases.

    This morning, the health ministry has reported 23,393 new cases, which is up on the previous day. The figures state that this number includes 1,406 children and 421 medics among the caseload. There were 720 further deaths, according to a statement the ministry posted on Facebook.


    Poland reported more than 10,400 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday

    A 24% rise week on week, government spokesman Piotr Muller said.
    Reuters note that the last time the number of daily infections in Poland was above 10,000 was in late April.
    “Unfortunately over 10,400 infections have been reported today, that’s over 24% more than last week,” Muller told Radio Plus.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 10:58

    Queues outside Cop26 in Glasgow 'really concerning' during pandemic – health expert

    A health expert in Scotland has described the scenes of delegates queuing at the Cop26 conference in Glasgow as “really concerning” during a pandemic.
    Prof Devi Sridhar, a professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said seeing pictures of hundreds of people in close proximity has left her anxious knowing how “fragile” the situation has been.
    Coronavirus - 3rd November 2021 3000_w16
    Cop26 delegates wait in a long queue for entrance to the summit at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow. Photograph: Daniel Barker/PA

    PA Media reports that, asked about the queues, Prof Sridhar told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “It is really concerning, this week I have been quite anxious seeing all that and knowing how fragile the situation has been.
    “We’ve controlled the situation for quite a long time. Can we control it even after this big gathering? That’s the question. Will it lead to a spike, will it lead to a wave, will actually the mitigation measures have been enough?
    “I know they thought a lot about making sure people were fully vaccinated, people were testing, it’s a really tricky one because obviously this is the worst timing ever during a pandemic, but at the same time I listened to those people who work in climate and they are saying now is the time, if not now we have an existential threat to humanity.”
    Yesterday, Scotland’s health secretary, Humza Yousaf, said “scale and worldwide draw” of the summit “poses a risk of spread of Covid-19 both within delegates and to or from the local population of Scotland and the UK”.

    Ukraine health minister tells protestors: 'anti-vaccination spirit quickly disappears in intensive care units'
    Faced with rising case numbers, the Ukrainian government has enacted a series of anti-Covid measures. Teachers, government employees and other workers have been told to get fully vaccinated by 8 November or face having their salary payments suspended. In addition, proof of vaccination or a negative test is now required to board planes, trains and long-distance buses. That has led to protests in the street today in the capital Kyiv.
    Reuters reports that Ukraine lagged behind other European countries in obtaining coronavirus vaccines earlier this year and is now struggling to persuade a sceptical public to take them.
    “Such rallies of people that we see today, with calls not to get vaccinated, in my opinion, make a mockery of our doctors and families, who, unfortunately, have lost their relatives due to the coronavirus,” Ukrainian health minister Viktor Lyashko told a televised news conference.
    “Trust me, this anti-vaccination spirit quickly disappears in intensive care units, and fake certificates don’t work,” he said.
    Coronavirus - 3rd November 2021 7206_w10
    Demonstrators hold posters reading ‘Say No to genocide’ as they try to block a street during an anti-vaccination protest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 11:03

    Prof Jonathan Van-Tam: Covid wave in UK 'now starting to penetrate into older age groups'
    England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, has said he is worried that increasing numbers of deaths show “the infection is now starting to penetrate into older age groups”.
    “Deaths are increasing – there might be some artefacts in the very latest figure – but essentially deaths are increasing,” PA Media quotes him telling BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 5 Live.
    “If you then look at hospital admissions, those have plateaued in the last four days. And if you look at the total number of patients in hospital with Covid, those have gone down in the last two or three days, but only a small bit.
    “So what that tells me is that we have to just wait and see a bit longer – this could be a pause before things go up, it could be the very first signs that things are beginning to stabilise but at a high rate.
    “On cases, they are now starting to fall, but that mainly reflects the fact that this big wave we’ve had in teenagers is now starting to slip away. But my worry is that the deaths are increasing and that shows that the infection is now starting to penetrate into those older age groups.

    South Korea to increase testing at schools over fears of teenage infection wave

    South Korea has said it would ramp up Covid-19 testing at schools after a sharp rise of infections among children, weeks ahead of a plan to fully reopen schools nationwide.
    The surge comes as new social distancing rules aimed at a phased return to normal came into effect on Monday as a part of the country’s plan to gradually move toward living with Covid-19.
    South Korea has fully vaccinated nearly 90% of its adult population but only began inoculating children aged between 12 and 17 in recent weeks, administering just 0.6% of the age group with both doses so far.
    “There is a growing concern as the frequency of new cluster outbreaks has been increasing, centred on educational facilities such as private tuition centres and schools,” interior and safety minister Jeon Hae-cheol said, Reuters reports.
    The country recorded 2,667 new cases for Tuesday, an increase of more than 1,000 from the day earlier. Nearly a quarter of the new cases were found in teenagers, officials said.
    “The teenagers spend a lot of time in communal living such as schools and tuition centres and they are also active in social activities,” Son Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, told a briefing.
    “We believe that the risk of infection will inevitably rise and the confirmed cases will continue to surge stemming from these teenagers.”

    Russia sets another new records for official daily Covid deaths at 1,189

    Russia today has confirmed 40,443 new Covid-19 infections and a new official pandemic record of 1,189 daily deaths. The country is in a week long enforced shutdown in order to try to stem the rising tide of infections.

    Hong Kong will roll out booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines from next week
    Health secretary Sophia Chan said today. “The elderly are the most fragile group and we have a responsibility to protect their health,” Chan said.
    The vaccination campaign in the global financial hub has lagged many other developed economies, with about 65% of the eligible population fully vaccinated with shots from either China’s Sinovac, or Germany’s BioNTech.
    Reuters report that about 85% of those older than 80 in the Chinese-ruled city of 7.5 million have not been vaccinated. The elderly will get priority for the booster shots, along with health workers, cross-border truck drivers and others in categories deemed to be at higher risk of getting the disease.
    About 1.86 million people are eligible for the booster, which they can start booking from 5 November, to receive it as soon as 11 November.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 11:11

    Prof Van-Tam warns UK public: 'Too many people believe that this pandemic is now over'
    England’s deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam had some strong words appearing on the BBC this morning, saying that “Too many people believe that this pandemic is now over. I personally feel there are some hard months to come in the winter and it is not over.”
    Reuters quotes him warning the UK public that “the caution that people take or don’t take in terms of interacting with each other: that is going to be a big determinant in what happens between now and the darkest months of the winter.”
    In other comments to the media this morning, he said the flu vaccine has “never been more important”.
    PA Media quotes him saying: “Don’t forget flu. We have very few restrictions in society at the moment – this means all the other respiratory winter viruses will come back.
    “We didn’t have any flu to speak of last winter because of the lockdowns and so forth, and that means we have a population who are more susceptible, less immune to flu at the moment.
    “So, for the people who are at high risk who need a flu jab in the winter, it could never have been more important than right now that you come forward to get it.”

    This next block comes with an “awkward football analogy” health warning, as PA Media round up some of the things that England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said to the media this morning, including that he thinks we are “kind of half-time in extra time” of dealing with the pandemic, with the final whistle coming in spring. It is unclear if he thinks we then go to penalties.
    More seriously, here are some more of his key quotes:
    Christmas, and indeed all of the darker winter months, are potentially going to be problematic, and I think the things that are really going to determine this are, first of all, human behaviours and caution over the winter months, but particularly in the next couple of months if you’re talking about Christmas, so it’s how cautious we are.

    The other things that are going to be really important are how people respond if they are in need of a booster, if they are in need of flu vaccine, if they are partially vaccinated, or indeed if they are unvaccinated - that will be another really important factor in terms of what happens over the next few months.

    It’s of concern to scientists that we are running this hot this early in the autumn season. And so, from that perspective, I’m afraid it’s caution, followed by caution, and we need to watch these data very carefully indeed over the next days and weeks.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 11:15

    Today so far


    • England’s deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam had some strong words this morning, saying that “Too many people believe that this pandemic is now over. I personally feel there are some hard months to come in the winter and it is not over.”
    • He warned the UK public that “the caution that people take or don’t take in terms of interacting with each other: that is going to be a big determinant in what happens between now and the darkest months of the winter.”
    • Prof Jeremy Brown of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said it is “far too early” to be following the lead of the US by vaccinating children aged 11 and under against coronavirus – but added that there may be a case for some youngsters receiving a jab.
    • The UK has had its highest number of daily Covid deaths reported since late February, as another 293 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test.
    • Health expert Prof Devi Sridhar in Scotland has described the scenes of delegates queuing at the Cop26 conference in Glasgow as “really concerning” during a pandemic.
    • The Netherlands is bringing back coronavirus measures including a requirement for face masks in many public spaces to combat a surge in cases. Neighbouring Belgium is also experiencing a sharp rise.
    • Hong Kong will roll out booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines from next week, health secretary Sophia Chan said today. “The elderly are the most fragile group and we have a responsibility to protect their health,” Chan said. About 1.86 million people are eligible for the booster, which they can start booking from 5 November, to receive it as soon as 11 November.
    • Tighter curbs are expected in China after the National Health Commission reported Covid cases surged to a near 3-month high with 93 new local symptomatic cases recorded for Tuesday, up from 54 a day earlier.
    • China has already urged its citizens to stockpile daily necessities, prompting panic-buying, amid surging vegetable prices linked to recent extreme weather, fears of supply shortages
    • South Korea has said it would ramp up Covid-19 testing at schools after a sharp rise of infections among children, weeks ahead of a plan to fully reopen schools nationwide.
    • Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday that local government officials will be punished for falling behind their targets for Covid-19 vaccinations.
    • Russia today has confirmed 40,443 new Covid-19 infections and a new official pandemic record of 1,189 daily deaths. The country is in a week long enforced shutdown in order to try to stem the rising tide of infections.
    • There have been protests in Kyiv, Ukraine today against government moves to try and halt the current wave of the virus. Ukrainian health minister Viktor Lyashko told a televised news conference “Trust me, this anti-vaccination spirit quickly disappears in intensive care units.”
    • The number of daily Covid-19 cases reported in the Czech Republic neared 10,000 for the first time since March, health ministry data showed.
    • Poland reported more than 10,400 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, a 24% rise week on week, government spokesman Piotr Muller said.
    • The number of foreign tourists visiting Spain more than quadrupled in September from a year ago to nearly 4.7 million, official data showed as widespread vaccination and looser travel restrictions enticed back more visitors.
    • Seven gang leaders, representing four of New Zeland’s most well-known street gangs, joined forces in a video urging their communities to get vaccinated.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 13:03

    Germany is experiencing a “massive” pandemic of the unvaccinated, the health minister Jens Spahn has said, calling for tougher action to combat a resurgence in Covid cases
    “We are currently experiencing mainly a pandemic of the unvaccinated and it is massive,” Spahn told reporters on Wednesday. “In some regions in Germany intensive care beds are running out again.”
    Germany, Europe’s most populous country with some 83 million people, has been grappling with a fourth wave of infections in recent weeks that has seen the seven-day incidence rate hit highs not seen since May.
    The country added 20,398 cases over the past 24 hours, the Robert Koch health institute said Wednesday, while another 194 people died.
    More than 66% of the population is fully vaccinated, but Spahn expressed frustration that the uptake of jabs has slowed and that a significant group of 18 to 59 year olds remain unvaccinated.
    He also called for tougher checks at establishments or events where only those who can show they have been vaccinated, have recovered from Covid or have recently tested negative, are allowed to enter.
    In some hard-hit regions, he said, access should be limited to those who are fully vaccinated or can show proof of recovery - a system knowns as 2G in Germany.
    “It’s nothing to do with vaccine bullying,” he said, “but with avoiding an overloading of the health care system”.
    His final recommendation was for a bigger push on booster jabs, saying the current pace “is insufficient”.

    Hundreds of Greek health care workers protested in central Athens against mandatory coronavirus vaccines for their profession on Wednesday
    The protest comes a day after the government imposed more restrictions on unvaccinated Greeks amid a spike in infections, hospitalisations and deaths.
    About 300 demonstrators chanted slogans and held up banners outside the parliament building, protesting regulations that call for unvaccinated health care workers to be suspended from their jobs.
    Health care unions have said they do not oppose the vaccines but object to them being required.
    Vaccines against the coronavirus are compulsory for workers in Greece’s health care sector and those working in care homes for the elderly.
    On Tuesday, Greece reported a record 6,700 new daily Covid cases and 59 deaths, bringing the total in the country of around 11 million to over 750,000 infections and more than 16,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
    Intensive care units for patients with Covid are at over 28% capacity, while regular coronavirus wards in hospitals are nearly half full, officials said.
    The health minister Thanos Plevris said on Tuesday that tougher restrictions would be imposed as of Saturday for all unvaccinated people in Greece.
    Anyone without a certificate of vaccination or recent recovery from Covid will need to display a negative PCR or rapid test, conducted at their own cost at a private facility, for access to a wide range of facilities, including banks, public services, shops, hair salons and entertainment venues.
    Public and private sector employees will also have to take two tests per week, up from the current one, to enter their workplaces.
    Around 61% of Greece’s total population has been fully vaccinated, and people age 12 and over are eligible for shots.
    Booster shots are available for those over 50, and will be available starting Friday to all adults who received their last vaccine dose six months earlier.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 13:09

    Slovenia registered a record high new daily 3,456 Covid cases on Tuesday, or 44.7% of the number of people tested, the state health institute said, as medical experts suggest tighter restrictions to rein in the pandemic.
    Currently there are 29,354 active infections in the small Alpine state of some two million people. There are 1.12 million fully vaccinated people, or 53% of the overall population.
    Medical experts this week proposed tightening curbs on gatherings, including shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants and work from home for public sector employees, national television reported.
    The government is expected to discuss the pandemic on Thursday.

    US to begin vaccinating children aged 5-11 with Pfizer jab

    The United States is set to begin giving Covid vaccines to children aged 5 to 11 as soon as Wednesday, with roughly 28 million school-age kids now eligible for the shots that provide protection against the illness, Reuters reports.
    On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the Pfizer/BioNTech shot for broad use in that age group after a panel of outside advisers voted in favour.

    Covid jabs to be compulsory for NHS staff in England from April

    Denis Campbell - The Guardian
    Covid vaccination is to be made compulsory for the NHS’s 1.2 million full-time staff in England, despite criticism that forcing frontline personnel to get jabbed is “heavy-handed” and will lead some to quit.
    However, the tough new approach will not come into force until next April year, after Sajid Javid heeded warnings that introducing it soon could lead to an exodus of staff during the winter, the health service’s busiest time of year.
    An announcement is due as soon as Thursday, the Guardian understands.
    The health secretary appears to have been influenced by NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation, the two organisations that represent NHS trusts in England, strongly advising him to delay implementing the move until next year.
    Read the full story here.


    The risk of reinfection with the dominant Delta variant of coronavirus is 74% greater than with the previous Alpha variant that was first spotted in Kent last year, official figures from the UK show.
    Ian Sample - The Guardian
    A report published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday recorded 358 Covid reinfections in 20,757 people between July 2020 and October 2021. While overall rates of reinfection were low, they climbed significantly after May 2021 when the Delta variant became dominant, reflecting the variant’s increased transmissibility.
    The ONS estimates that the rate for all Covid reinfections in the UK was 11.9 per 100,000 participant days at risk, meaning that once the participants had accrued 100,000 days at risk of reinfection between them, statisticians would expect to see about 12 cases. Most reinfections were seen seven to eight months after the initial infection.
    People who had the lowest amount of virus in their system during their earlier Covid infection were at greater risk of contracting the virus again, as were people living in multiple-occupancy houses. Teachers and others working in education were also at higher risk of reinfection, probably because of the high levels of infection in schools, the ONS found.
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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 15:14

    Children as young as seven were held for hours in a Beijing school before being sent to centralised quarantine for two weeks after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19.
    Helen Davidson - The Guardian
    The incident, which drew alarm from parents and observers, came amid a rush of extreme measures imposed on the city over about 40 cases of the Delta variant, part of a national outbreak affecting at least 16 of China’s 31 provinces.
    Tighter curbs are expected after the National Health Commission reported a near three-month high on Tuesday, with 93 new local symptomatic cases, up from 54 a day earlier.
    The Huajiadi Experimental primary school in Chaoyang district was quickly sealed off on Monday afternoon after it emerged a teacher had been diagnosed with coronavirus, local media reported.
    Parents were called to the school but spent hours gathered outside the gate waiting for information on their children caught inside by the lockdown. According to reports, school authorities said the children were all being tested and some would have to remain there overnight.
    Read the full story here.

    Four Russian regions said on Wednesday they would extend a one-week workplace shutdown that took effect nationwide on 30 October in response to a surge in Covid cases
    Reuters reports:
    It comes as the daily Covid death toll from the country’s epidemic hit a record high. A further 1,189 deaths were reported on Wednesday, and the government coronavirus task force also reported 40,443 new infections in the last 24 hours.
    The president Vladimir Putin ordered the shutdown last month, giving regional authorities the option of extending it.
    Authorities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions, which border Ukraine, the Chelyabinsk region near the Ural mountains and Tomsk in Siberia said their shutdowns would be prolonged.
    “The tense epidemiological situation forces us to extend the period of non-working days by another week,” the Tomsk governor Sergei Zhvachkin said in a statement. “One non-working week is not enough to stop the chain of infection.”
    Moscow authorities, meanwhile, said businesses there would reopen on Monday.
    “The spread of the disease has stabilised in terms of its detection and its severe forms requiring hospitalisation,” RIA news agency quoted the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, as saying.
    Other measures, including a requirement that companies have at least 30% of their staff work from home, would remain in place, Sobyanin said.
    The health consumer watchdog in Moscow said it had recorded violations of Covid regulations at more than a quarter of the businesses it inspected last week.
    The Moscow region, which includes the small cities and towns surrounding the city, also said it would not prolong the shutdown.
    The Novgorod region announced on Monday it was extending its shutdown by a week.
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    • Post n°11

    Coronavirus - 3rd November 2021 Empty Re: Coronavirus - 3rd November 2021

    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 22:20

    The World Economic Forum said on Wednesday that it is postponing its event planned for later this month in the Chinese city of Tianjin due to the outbreak of Covid cases in the country, where new locally transmitted cases hit a near three-month high.
    “Regretfully, due to the circumstances around the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and recent cases in major cities and provinces in China, the Annual Meeting of the New Champions will be rescheduled,” the WEF said in an email to participants.

    The Saudi Food and Drug Authority said on Wednesday it had given its approval to use Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for those between five and eleven years of age.
    The authority added in a statement its decision was “based on data provided by the company, which showed the vaccine met the special regulatory requirements”.

    Face masks will again become compulsory from next week for French school kids in 39 regional departments where the Covid virus has been ramping up, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday.
    French health authorities reported 7,360 daily new Covid infections on 30 October, the first time the tally has topped 7,000 since 21 September.
    France’s cumulative total of new cases stood at 7,170,782 as of 2 November, with the number of patients with Covid in intensive care units reaching 1,091, a rise of 22 over 24 hours.

    The UK has recorded another 41,299 Covid cases, and a further 217 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, in the latest 24-hour period, the latest government data shows.
    This is compared to 293 deaths and 33,865 positive infections reported a day prior.
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    • Post n°12

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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 22:25

    Evening summary

    Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today:

    • The UK recorded another 41,299 Covid cases, and a further 217 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, in the latest 24-hour period. This is compared to 293 deaths and 33,865 positive infections reported a day prior.

    • Russia’s one-dose Sputnik Light vaccine had a good safety profile and induced strong immune responses especially in people who had already encountered Covid, according to the results of phase I and II trials published in The Lancet medical journal. The vaccine, a single-dose version of the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine unveiled last year, has already entered later phases of studies and is widely used in Russia, but the publication of the early research in a top Western journal is a milestone as Russia moves towards making Sputnik Light its main vaccine for export.

    • Face masks will again become compulsory from next week for French school kids in 39 regional departments where the Covid virus has been ramping up, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday.

    • The Saudi Food and Drug Authority said on Wednesday it had given its approval to use Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for those between five and eleven years of age.

    • Four Russian regions said they would extend a one-week workplace shutdown that took effect nationwide on 30 October in response to a surge in Covid cases. The president Vladimir Putin ordered the shutdown last month, giving regional authorities the option of extending it. Authorities in the Kursk and Bryansk regions, the Chelyabinsk region and Tomsk said their shutdowns would be prolonged.

    • Italy’s medicines agency AIFA recommended a booster of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine to those inoculated with the Johnson & Johnson shot, a source close to the agency told Reuters. All those who have had a single shot of the J&J vaccine, regardless of age, about 1.6 million people in Italy, will be eligible to receive the booster, the source added.

    • The first trial of a drug to target the fatigue and muscle weakness experienced by more than half of people with long Covid has been launched in the UK. It is also the first drug trial in patients with long Covid who were not hospitalised during their initial infection. Full story here.

    • Nadhim Zahawi, the UK education secretary, said he has “no plans whatsoever” to close schools again during the pandemic. He pledged to keep schools open as he said testing pupils for Covid and vaccinating eligible children will help keep them in class. His comments came as a bill was set to be introduced in the Commons calling for a “triple lock” of protections to ensure that any future school closures would have to be approved by parliament.

    • The World Health Organization approved Indian drugmaker Bharat Biotech’s Covid vaccine, Covaxin, for emergency use, paving the way for the homegrown shot to be accepted as a valid vaccine in many poor countries. The emergency use listing would allow Bharat to ship the vaccine to countries that rely on WHO guidance for their regulatory decisions.

    • Covid vaccination is to be made mandatory for the NHS’s 1.2 million full-time staff in England from April next year, despite criticism that forcing frontline personnel to get jabbed is “heavy-handed” and will lead some to quit. Story here.

    • The US is set to begin giving Covid vaccines to children aged five to 11, with roughly 28 million school-age kids eligible for the shots that provide protection against the illness.

    • Germany is experiencing a “massive” pandemic of the unvaccinated, the health minister Jens Spahn said, calling for tougher action to combat a resurgence in Covid cases. Spahn expressed frustration that uptake of jabs has slowed and that a significant group of 18 to 59 year olds remain unvaccinated. He called for tougher checks at establishments or events where only those who can show they have been vaccinated, have recovered from Covid or have recently tested negative, are allowed to enter. He also called for a bigger push on booster jabs.

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    • Post n°13

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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 22:33

    More people may die from other conditions such as cancer than directly from Covid-19 due to the effect the pandemic has had on health services, according to a UK professor of respiratory medicine.
    Professor Michael Peake, who received an OBE for services to medicine, said: “Not the direct effect of having Covid as an infection, but how that’s altered health services and access for patients to both GPs and hospital and access to tests, PA reports.

    “And we’re beginning to quantify what that is. “It’s a huge... there’s probably going to be more people who die of other conditions - heart disease, cancer, kidney disease - than will have died directly of Covid, probably, just because of the effect of Covid on those services.”

    LA Mayor Eric Garcetti has tested positive for Covid

    Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday while attending the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, an event that has drawn world leaders and tens of thousands of other people from around the world.

    Canadian employers are firing or putting on unpaid leave thousands of workers who refused to get Covid-19 jabs, Reuters reports.
    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised vaccine mandates as a central part of his successful campaign for re-election in September, setting a precedent that has spread from the public to the private sector.
    The mandate for federal workers is one of the world’s strictest, and the government has extended it to federally regulated spaces, which include airports, and to air and rail travelers.
    Across Canada, hospitals, banks, insurers, school boards, police and some provincial administrations are now implementing similar policies for current and future hires.
    Unvaccinated workers whose livelihoods are on the line - in a country where more than 83% of the eligible population over 12 years old have had their jabs- are flooding labour lawyers with calls.

    Brazil registered 164 Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday and 14,661 further cases, according to data released by the country’s health ministry.
    The South American country has now registered a total of 608,235 coronavirus deaths and 21,835,785 total confirmed cases, Reuters reports.
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    • Post n°14

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    Post by Kitkat Wed 03 Nov 2021, 22:37

    Turkey to begin administering booster jabs on Thursday

    Turkey will begin administering boosters to people who have received two doses of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, its health minister Fahrettin Koca said.
    Turkey has already administered a third dose to more than 11.2 million people who received two doses of the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac, whose efficacy rate officials believe falls faster. Koca said the booster shots for Pfizer/BioNTech recipients would begin on Thursday with the elderly, those with chronic illnesses, health workers and those in other high-risk jobs, Reuters reports. He said 59% of the population had so far received two vaccines doses, adding: “That rate needs to get over 70% to achieve herd immunity.”

    Latvia declares three month state of emergency over rise in Covid cases

    Latvia has declared a three-month state of emergency starting from Monday following a surge in Covid-19 infections to record levels as its vaccination rate remains one of the lowest in the EU.
    The number of daily infections is now well over 1,000 in the Baltic country of 1.9 million people, overtaking the peak infection rate seen during the pandemic earlier this year, AFP reports. Under the new rules, masks are now obligatory in all buildings accessible by the general public and anyone employed in government must have a vaccine by November 15 at the latest. Unvaccinated people will only be allowed to shop for food and other essential items in designated stores and only shops considered essential will be allowed to open at weekends. All Latvians are being encouraged to work from home where possible.

    Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen, facing a probe over the slaughter of the country’s entire mink herd last year, has denied that she knew then that the government did not have legal authority to order the move.
    Responding to the rising spread of coronavirus from mink to people, including a new mutated strain, Frederiksen’s Social Democratic government in November 2021 ordered all of the country’s 17 million minks killed, Reuters reports.
    The government later admitted it did not have the legal authority to kill healthy mink herds, only those infected with coronavirus, leading to the exit of the minister of agriculture.
    Parliament launched a probe in December into whether other ministers including Frederiksen knew of but ignored the faulty legal basis for the order.
    “What motive should the government have had for not disclosing the lack of legal basis? Let me make it very clear: I did not know,” Frederiksen told a press briefing.

    Chilean presidential candidate Gabriel Boric, has tested positive for Covid-19, less than three weeks before the Andean country votes.
    In a post on Twitter, center-left former student leader Boric, 35, said he had just received the positive test and called on his contacts to follow pandemic protocols.
    The leader of the broad leftist Frente Amplio coalition, which includes the country’s Communist Party, had gone into preventive isolation earlier in the week when he posted that he had a fever, a challenge for his team ahead of the November 21 vote.
    Boric is seen just behind ultra-conservative candidate Jos Antonio Kast in election polls, with many surveys showing the leftist winning a likely second-round run-off in December.
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