Coronavirus - 25th November 2021

• Germany, who weathered earlier bouts of the pandemic better than many of its neighbours, has now found itself back at the centre of Europe’s virus outbreak as the latest wave of the pandemic infects people at a record pace.
  
  Officials recorded 100,119 Covid deaths as of Wednesday, according to the latest data from the RKI public health institute.
  
  
• The World Health Organization has also issued a warning in the lead-up to Christmas, saying social mixing was back at pre-pandemic levels.
  
  “We are concerned about a false sense of security that vaccines have ended the pandemic, and that people who are vaccinated do not need to take any other precautions,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
  
  “We are back to pre-pandemic levels of social mixing (in Europe)... even in the midst of very strong resurgence in cases and even in the midst of some of those countries under high pressure in health systems,” WHO emergency director Mike Ryan added.
  
  
• Novavax is expected to be approved as a fourth Covid vaccine in UK. Trials show the protein-based jab causes fewer side-effects. The British government has so far ordered 60m doses.
  
  
• Covid cases surge 23% in Americas, mostly in North America, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said.
  
  
• US air travel is set to be busiest since pandemic began due to Thanksgiving.
  
  
• Germany’s next chancellor seeks targeted vaccine mandate. German Social Democrat Olaf Scholz called on Wednesday for vaccinations to be made compulsory for targeted groups.
  
  
• Scientists say a new Covid variant that carries an “extremely high number” of mutations may drive further waves of disease by evading the body’s defences.
  
  
• Italy unveiled new Covid measures banning the unvaccinated from numerous venues, extending compulsory vaccination and expanding booster shots to all adults.
  
  
• Portugal’s health secretary pledged to give Covid booster shots to a quarter of the population by the end of January to tackle the “pandemic storm that has not yet passed”.
  
  
• The World Health Organization director-general has declared that Europe is once again at the epicentre of the pandemic and warned that “no country or region is out of the woods”.
  
  
• Countries should consider implementing mandatory Covid vaccination, the director of World Health Organization (WHO) Europe said today.
  
  
• France is to announce new Covid measures as infections surge across the country.
  

Vaccines give people ‘false sense of security’, WHO says

South Korean cult leader at centre of Covid outbreak

UK eligible public urged to get booster by 11 December

EU to recommend nine-month vaccine validity for travel – reports

The European Union will recommend a nine-month time limit for the validity of Covid-19 vaccinations for travel into the bloc and also propose prioritising vaccinated travellers.

The European Commission will propose that member states should continue welcoming all travelers inoculated with shots approved by the bloc, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. It also calls for countries to reopen as of 10 January to all those who have used vaccines approved by the World Health Organization.

The proposed updates introduce the new time limit for the validity of Covid inoculations, suggesting that boosters will be needed beyond the 9-month period.

Ukraine reports a further 628 deaths in past 24 hours

Today so far

• The World Health Organization has issued a warning in the lead-up to Christmas, saying social mixing is back at pre-pandemic levels and threatens to spread the virus in the run-up to the holidays.
  
• “We are concerned about a false sense of security that vaccines have ended the pandemic, and that people who are vaccinated do not need to take any other precautions,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “Vaccines save lives, but they do not fully prevent transmission.”
  
• Germany, who weathered earlier bouts of the pandemic better than many of its neighbours, has now found itself back at the centre of Europe’s virus outbreak as the latest wave of the pandemic infects people at a record pace.
  
• Officials recorded 100,119 Covid deaths in Germany in total as of Wednesday. The head of the Robert Koch Institute has put the mortality rate in Germany at about 0.8%, meaning that at daily case numbers of around 50,000, some 400 people per day will end dying.
  
• Some hospitals in the Netherlands have halted chemotherapy treatments and organ transplants to free up intensive care beds for a surging number of Covid-19 patients.
  
• France is to announce new Covid measures as infections surge across the country.
  
• Reports claim that the European Union will recommend a nine-month time limit for the validity of Covid-19 vaccinations for travel into the bloc and also propose prioritising vaccinated travellers.
  
• Ministers are urging millions of Britons to get their Covid booster jab by 11 December to ensure they have “very high protection against Covid by Christmas Day” as new evidence shows the risk of infection increases with the time since the second dose.
  
• Novavax is expected to be approved as a fourth Covid vaccine in UK. Trials show the protein-based jab causes fewer side-effects. The British government has so far ordered 60m doses.
  
• Deaths of people being treated for substance misuse problems in England rose sharply during the pandemic, data shows, as charities put the rise down to treatment services closing their doors due to Coronavirus.
  
• Turkey’s domestically developed Covid-19 vaccine, Turkovac, has applied for emergency authorisation. Health minister Fahrettin Koca said he hoped the shot would be available for use by year-end.
  
• A little known sect led by a pastor who pokes eyes to heal is at the centre of a Covid outbreak in South Korea, as the country reported a new daily record of 4,116 cases and battles a rise in serious cases straining hospitals.
  
• Airline Cathay Pacific has said it is “cancelling a number of flights to Hong Kong” for December blaming “operational and travel restrictions that remain in place”. Hong Kong’s strict quarantine rules are increasingly out of step with rivals for international business like Singapore.
  
• Chief minister of Australia’s Northern Territory Michael Gunner has lambasted Covid conspiracy theorists as “tinfoil hat wearing tossers, sitting in their parents’ basements in Florida.”
  
• Protests against Covid measures turned to violence on France’s Caribbean island of Martinique overnight.
  
• Scientists say a new Covid variant that carries an “extremely high number” of mutations may drive further waves of disease by evading the body’s defences.
  

France announces new Covid measures including booster shots for all

Our main objective is to avoid diverging measures throughout the EU. This also applies to the question of boosters, which will be essential to fight the virus. Among other measures, we propose today that the council [of EU ministers] agrees on a standard validity period for vaccination certificates issued following the primary series. Agreeing on this proposal will be crucial for the months ahead and the protection of the safe free movement for citizens.

A quarter of EU adults are still not fully vaccinated. If you are unvaccinated, you are more at risk of having severe COVID-19 symptoms. Vaccination protects you, and the others.

When we see the epidemic flare up right now, it is primarily due to the transition from summer to autumn and winter, and at the same time we have an open society with only a few restrictions. Combined with the fact that the effect of the vaccines decreases over time, it is expected that the infection will increase.

Here's a summary of the latest developments...

• Ministers are urging millions of Britons to get their Covid booster jab by 11 December to ensure they have “very high protection against Covid by Christmas Day” as new evidence shows the risk of infection increases with the time since the second dose.
  
• The Portuguese government has said it is to reintroduce vaccination certificates for public spaces including bars, hotels, restaurants and gyms and once again make face masks compulsory indoors. It said that all passengers arriving at airports in Portugal will have to present a negative Covid test.
  
• Bryan Adams has tested positive for Covid after arriving by plane in Milan. The Canadian musician and photographer said it was the second time in a month that the he has tested positive for the virus.
  
• The Czech government has declared a 30-day state of emergency and introduced new Covid restrictions today amid record cases. The state of emergency will come into effect tomorrow, Christmas markets will be banned and it will be forbidden to drink alcohol in public places, the health minister, Adam Vojtěch, said.
  
• Coronavirus cases are continuing to rise in the UK today, recording 47,240 new cases, and 147 more people died. Yesterday there were 43,676 new cases and 149 deaths.
  
• Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel has issued a stark warning to her successors on coronavirus, telling them that “every day counts”, as Germany’s death toll exceeded 100,000.
  
• The Dutch government today said it planned to bring in a swathe of “heavy measures” to slow the spread of Covid, but has yet to decide when they will be introduced.
  
• Covid vaccination is safe for pregnant women and not associated with higher rates of complications, according to new data released in the UK today. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said data from the Covid vaccine roll-out in Britain supports other studies around the world that vaccines are safe to give at any stage of pregnancy.
  
• Slovakia has gone into a two-week lockdown – closing non-essential shops and services, restricting movement and banning gatherings of more than six. Hospitals in the country, which has one of the European Union’s lowest vaccination rates, are in a critical situation, reports Reuters, amid rising new infections.
  
• The European Union executive has proposed that travellers should get a booster jab nine months after their original vaccines, if they want to maintain ease of movement inside the bloc.
  
• The European Medicines Agency, the European Union’s drug regulator, has approved the use of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid vaccine on children aged five to 11. The EMA said the dose would be lower than that used in those aged 12 and over and will be given as two injections in the upper arm three weeks apart.
  
• The French health minister, Olivier Véran, said from tomorrow it will be mandatory to wear a mask inside. He said they will also be required at events, including Christmas markets. He also said France will roll out Covid vaccine booster shots for all adults and that the gap between initial doses and boosters will be cut to five months.
  

Scientists call for travel ‘code red’ over Covid variant found in southern Africa