Coronavirus - 6th November 2021

In England, people will be able to book their Covid-19 booster jab a month before they are eligible from Monday.
The NHS is changing the booking system to allow people in England to arrange an appointment a month in advance, as the health service aims to ramp up vaccination uptake ahead of a “challenging” winter.
Currently, anyone eligible who had their second dose of a coronavirus vaccine six months ago can only book their top-up once those six months are up.
The update means that people can pre-book an appointment after five months, allowing them to get vaccinated on the day they reach the six-month milestone.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “Covid-19 vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and your family ahead of a challenging winter and this change to the booking system will make it as easy as possible for people to book their booster jabs.”


Ukraine reported a record daily high of 793 Coronavirus-related deaths
It comes as the country grapples with Covid vaccination scepticism. More than a thousand people blocked several streets in the centre of the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, protesting against vaccine certificates and state-imposed restrictions to control the virus.
The protesters held up signs reading “Say No to Covid passports”, “Say no to Covid genocide”.

Mainland China reported 55 new Covid-19 cases on 6 November
down from 78 a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Saturday.
The National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that 40 of the new cases were locally transmitted, down from 68 the previous day, with 16 in the north-east border province of Heilongjiang.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, stood at 27, down from 42 a day earlier. Mainland China has reported 97,660 coronavirus cases, with 4,636 deaths

A "magnificent milestone" for Australia
Australia reached on Saturday a full inoculation rate of 80% of those aged 16 and older, a moment that was dubbed by the country’s prime minister as a “magnificent milestone”.
“Another, magnificent milestone, Australia,” prime Minister Scott said in a video post on Facebook. “That’s four out of five, how good is that? This has been a true Australian national effort.”
While vaccinations remain voluntary on the federal level, Australia’s states and territories introduced mandatory measures for many occupations and workers. The unvaccinated are barred from many activities, such as dining out or concerts.

New Zealand's daily coronavirus infection rate passes the double-hundred mark
New Zealand’s 206 new daily community infections on Saturday carried it past the double-hundred mark for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, as the nation scrambles to vaccinate its population of 5 million.
The most populous city of Auckland, which reported 200 of the new cases, has lived under Covid-19 curbs for nearly three months as it battles an outbreak of the infectious Delta variant, although restrictions are expected to ease on Monday.
The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said she wanted Auckland residents to be able to travel for the southern hemisphere summer and Christmas. “We will not keep Aucklanders isolated to Auckland through that period - we simply cannot do that,” Ardern told a news conference at the national gathering of her Labour party.
Saturday’s cases served to remind people of the importance of vaccination as the number one protection against the virus, the health ministry said in a statement.
It said 78% of New Zealanders aged 12 and above had been fully vaccinated, while 89% had a first vaccine dose by Friday. Once praised globally for stamping out Covid-19, New Zealand has been unable to vanquish the Delta outbreak in Auckland, forcing Ardern to abandon a strategy of eliminating the virus in favour of efforts to live with it.

Covid infections dip among secondary schoolchildren in England
Ian Sample - The Guardian
Covid infections have fallen among secondary schoolchildren in England for the first time in weeks, but experts from the government’s pandemic advisory body are warning that deaths and hospitalisations from the disease across the UK could soar over the next nine days.
Figures released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics show that infection rates among children aged 11 to 16 in school years seven to 11 dropped to 7.5% in the week ending 30 October, ending rises throughout September, and down from a high of 9.1% the week before.
While the infection rate is still far higher than in any other age group in the UK, scientists said the downturn may signify that cases have peaked in England, at least for the time being. While the data includes the October half-term week when children mixed less, the ONS said the tests performed in the week ending 30 October would have identified those infected before the break.
The ONS figures raised hopes that the wave of disease that swept through schools at the start of the autumn term may finally be on the decline.
Read more here.

Russia reports its highest single-day case tally since start of the pandemic
Russia reported 41,335 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, its highest single-day case tally since the start of the pandemic.
The government’s coronavirus task force also reported 1,188 deaths related to the virus. A week-long workplace shutdown in Russia, designed to curb the spread of the virus, is nearing its end. Some regions are planning to extend restrictions into next week, but many have opted to resume work from Monday.

Hyenas at Denver zoo catch Covid in world first
Two hyenas at the US Denver zoo have tested positive for Covid-19, the first confirmed cases among the animals worldwide.
Samples from a variety of animals at the zoo, including the spotted hyenas, were tested after several of its lions became ill, according to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL). The hyena samples tested presumptive positive at a lab at Colorado State University and were confirmed by the national lab.
In addition to the two hyenas, 11 lions and two tigers at the zoo tested positive.
Read more.

Eleven Covid-19 patients die in a hospital fire in India
Sarah Marsh - The Guardian
Eleven patients died Saturday after a fire broke out in a hospital’s Covid-19 ward in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, police said. There were 17 patients in the ward in the city of Ahmednagar where the fire started, said police Inspector Jyoti Karkade. The remaining six patients are in stable condition, she added.
While the fire has been brought under control, the cause was not immediately clear. Officials said they will carry out an investigation.
The former chief minister of the state, Devendra Fadnavis, took to Twitter to express his condolences and called for “strict action” against those responsible.
Such incidents are not uncommon in India. In May, when the country was battling a devastating surge in coronavirus cases, a fire in a Covid-19 ward in western India killed at least 18 patients.
Poor maintenance and lack of proper firefighting equipment often cause deaths in India.

Austria will bar anyone not fully vaccinated from cafés, restaurants and hairdressers
Austria said on Friday it was barring those not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from cafes, restaurants, and hairdressers as the government struggles to convince people to get vaccinated.
Around 64% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. Many Austrians are sceptical about getting jabbed.

Russia’s Covid-19 cases hit another one-day record as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections that have persisted for more than a month.
The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 41,335 new cases since the previous day, exceeding the previous daily record of 40,993 from Oct. 31. The task force said 1,188 people with Covid-19 died, just seven fewer than the daily death record reported Thursday.
Officials cite Russia’s low vaccination rate as a major factor in the sharp rise in cases that began in mid-September. The task force reported about 57.2 million full-course vaccinations or less than 40% of the country’s 146 million people.
Last month, President Vladimir Putin ordered many Russians to stay off work between Oct. 30 and Nov. 7. He authorized regional governments to extend the number of non-working days, if necessary.
Several regions, including Novgorod in the northwest, Tomsk in Siberia, the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains and Kursk and Bryansk regions southwest of Moscow, have extended the nonworking period through the end of next week.
Moscow’s mayor said the situation in the capital had stabilized sufficiently for people to return to work there on Monday. People in the Russia-annexed Crimea region also will resume working next week.
Certain restrictions will remain in place in the Russian capital, such as a stay-at-home order for older adults and a mandate for businesses to have 30% of their staff work from home. Access to theaters and museums is limited to those who either have been fully vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 within the last six months, or can present a negative coronavirus test.
Russia has recorded more than 8.75 million confirmed virus cases and 245,635 deaths in the pandemic, according to the national task force, which counts only deaths directly attributed to the virus.
Figures from the state statistical service, which also count deaths in which the virus was a contributing factor or was suspected but not confirmed, indicate the virus’ impact is significantly more severe; its most recent report tallied about 462,000 virus-connected deaths through the end of September.

Dear Nadhim Zahawi, children need to express their grief about Covid as well as to ‘catch up’
Michael Rosen
The poet Michael Rosen has written an impassioned open letter to the UK’s education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, asking what space there is in schools to discuss how pupils think and feel about what has happened over the course of the pandemic.
He wrote:

I had a conversation with a teacher the other day. She asked me what she and other teachers could do to help children with the trauma of the pandemic. This pulled me up sharp. She explained that the children in her class had been deeply affected by what has happened over the last 18 months. She thought some of them were troubled, at times distressed, and that this was showing up in the way they were behaving towards each other.
She wasn’t talking about whether the children were “behind” at school. This was about that very unfashionable idea “the whole child” – not the tested and measured child, evaluated purely on the basis of their performance in tasks set by people in offices far away.
When we see children in a school playground or in a park, it’s easy to imagine that the past year and a half has washed over them. They run about, whooping and laughing. This teacher made me think about what might be going on under the surface.
Let’s ask ourselves some hard questions: how many school-age children have had direct experience of losing a sibling, a parent, a grandparent, a close relative or carer? How many children are close friends with a child who has had that experience? How many schoolchildren have had direct experience of people suffering the long-term effects of Covid? A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? More? I ask myself and you: do we think that the effect of this can be ignored? We are, after all, talking about the psychological impact of widespread bereavement.

Read the full letter here.

Those eligible for Covid boosters to be invited a month earlier in England
Sarah Marsh - The Guardian
Booster jabs will be available to book for those who need them a month earlier than expected in England, in an effort to speed up the programme, the government has announced.
Those eligible for the top-up vaccination will receive their booking invitation five months after their second dose instead of six, after a change to the system means boosters can be prebooked.
Office for National Statistics figures show that the prevalence of coronavirus infections in England remained at about 1 in 50 people in the week ending 30 October, steadying at its highest level of the year. Prevalence was unchanged from the previous week, after five weeks of rising infections.
Infection rates decreased for older secondary school pupils over the week, the ONS said, dropping to 7.5% from 9.1% the previous week.
Other suggestions that the spread of Covid is slowing include England’s R number falling to between 0.9 and 1.1, down from a previous estimate of 1.1-1.3.
More than 9m top-up jabs have already been administered across the UK and from Monday, the English booking system will allow someone to prebook their booster appointment a month before they are eligible. Everyone over 50 and all those most at risk from Covid-19 should get a booster six months after their second dose. Currently, someone can only book an appointment at six months.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said the plans would “accelerate the booster programme”. He urged people not to delay getting jabbed.
Dr Michelle Drage, chief executive of Londonwide LMCs, which represents GPs in 27 of the capital’s 32 boroughs, doubted that the change would increase uptake much.
He said:

It may make a small difference. But it doesn’t tackle the levels of vaccine hesitancy and denial that are prevalent in communities right now.

But Ruth Rankine, director of primary care at the NHS Confederation, applauded the move.
She said:

Vaccination remains at the heart of our response to the pandemic.
Primary care sites will do everything they can to ensure that those eligible for vaccination get them without delay, and to do that well, the supply will need to match the volume and timing of appointments as they are booked.

Read more here.

California town declares itself a ‘constitutional republic’ to buck Covid rules
Dani Anguiano - The Guardian
A northern California town has declared itself a “constitutional republic” in response to Covid-19 health restrictions imposed by the governor, in the latest sign of strife between the state’s government and its rural and conservative regions.
The city council in Oroville, located at the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills about 90 miles from the capital of Sacramento, adopted a resolution this week stating it would oppose state and federal orders it deems to be government overreach.
Oroville leaders said the designation was a way of affirming the city’s values and pushing back against state rules it doesn’t agree with, although a legal expert said the designation was merely a gesture and did not grant the city any new authority.
Read more here.

Germany’s expected incoming government will not reimpose pandemic lockdowns, a coalition partner pledged on Saturday.
It comes amid a record rise in Covid-19 cases. Christian Lindner, head of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), one of three parties working to form a coalition to replace the government of the outgoing chancellor, Angela Merkel, made the promise.
“The Bundestag majority of the [Social Democrats], Greens and FDP is excluding the instruments of lockdown and curfew,” Lindner told the German tabloid Bild, referencing the three coalition partners.

UK death toll increases by 155
The UK reported 155 deaths on Saturday of people who had tested positive for Covid-19 within the past 28 days, and 30,693 new infections.
The government figures show a fall from the 193 deaths and 34,029 new cases reported on Friday.

Queues formed outside shops in Athens on Saturday on the first day of new restrictions that require the unvaccinated to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test before entering a range of venues
Reuters reports.
Coronavirus infections in Greece hit a new daily high almost every day in November, prompting authorities to announce new measures on Tuesday, which restrict access to cafes, restaurants, state services and banks, among other public spaces, to those who are either vaccinated or have a negative test.
Those vaccinated against Covid-19 must also present their certificates, resulting in long lines outside shops in the capital’s busiest shopping street, Ermou.

Italy reported 31 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, the country’s health ministry said.
It also reported 6,764 new infections, the same figure as the previous day, Reuters reports.
Italy has registered 132,365 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its initial outbreak in February last year, the second highest toll in Europe after the UK.
The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 3,173 on Saturday, up from 3,124 a day earlier.
There were 23 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 37 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 392 from a previous 395.
Some 491,962 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 543,414, the health ministry said, Reuters reports.

France has reported a cumulative total of 90,988 coronavirus deaths in hospital – an increase of 25 in the last 24 hours, Reuters reports.
It also reported 1,099 people in intensive care units for Covid-19 on Saturday, an increase of 10.
France reported 9,605 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The country has had over 7.1 million cases overall.

A US federal appeals court issued a stay freezing the Biden administration’s efforts to require workers at US companies with at least 100 employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or be tested weekly, citing “grave statutory and constitutional” issues with the rule
Reuters reports.
The ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit comes after numerous Republican-led states filed legal challenges against the new rule, which is set to take effect on 4 January.

Mexicans who need to cross the US land border for work or school are scrambling to get approved Covid-19 vaccines ahead of new rules set to go into effect next week, 20 months after the United States shut crossings for non-essential trips.
The rules specify that from Monday only foreigners who have received World Health Organization-approved vaccines can cross, which effectively bars those who received jabs including China’s CanSino Biologics and Russia’s Sputnik V, among others.
More than 15 Mexicans told Reuters that they were looking to get re-vaccinated, not with booster shots, but rather to simply comply with the new entry rule, which requires them to show proof of their vaccine status and will be enforced with random checks.

Summary of today's news so far

• Booster jabs will be available to book a month earlier than expected in England for those who need them, in an effort to speed up the programme, the government has announced. Those eligible for the top-up vaccination will receive their booking invitation five months after their second dose instead of six, after a change to the system means boosters can be prebooked.
  
• Russia’s Covid-19 cases hit another one-day record as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections that has persisted for more than a month. The national coronavirus taskforce on Saturday reported 41,335 new cases since the previous day, exceeding the previous daily record of 40,993 on 31 October. The taskforce said 1,188 people with Covid-19 died, just seven fewer than the daily death record reported on Thursday.
  
• Eleven patients died on Saturday after a fire broke out in a hospital’s Covid-19 ward in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, police said. There were 17 patients in the ward in the city of Ahmednagar where the fire started, said police inspector Jyoti Karkade. The remaining six patients were in stable condition, she added.
  
• Austria said on Friday it was barring those not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from cafes, restaurants, and hairdressers as the government struggles to convince people to get vaccinated. About 64% of Austria’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid, one of the lowest rates in western Europe. Many Austrians are sceptical about getting jabbed.
  
• New Zealand’s 206 new daily community infections on Saturday carried it past the double-hundred mark for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, as the nation scrambles to vaccinate its population of 5 million.
  
• Covid infections have fallen among secondary schoolchildren in England for the first time in weeks, but experts from the government’s pandemic advisory body are warning that deaths and hospitalisations from the disease across the UK could soar over the next nine days.