Summary for Thursday, 2nd December
And here’s a quick rundown of Covid news around the world over the past 24 hours:
- The UK government signs deals to buy 114 million more doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to use in 2022 and 2023
- The deals were speeded up after the Omicron variant emerged - but talks were already under way
- Pfizer's boss tells the BBC that annual jabs "are likely to be needed" to maintain high levels of protection
- But the WHO points out that many poorer countries have still not been able to vaccinate their most vulnerable
- UK regulators approve new treatment that could reduce hospitalisation and death by 79% in high-risk adults
- Scientists in Cardiff meanwhile find the trigger for very rare blood clots after the Oxford-AZ jab
- On Wednesday, the UK recorded a further 48,374 coronavirus cases and another 171 deaths
Good morning
Welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Here are some of the stories we are looking at first thing:- The UK government announces it is buying 114m Covid vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech for the next two year
- Health Secretary Sajid Javid says the deals "will future proof the Great British vaccination effort"
- Pfizer's boss tells the BBC that annual jabs "are likely to be needed to maintain a very robust" protection
- A team of scientists based in Wales and the US believe they have found the "trigger" that leads to extremely rare blood clots after the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
- Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey says there shouldn’t be "much snogging under the mistletoe" this Christmas
- On Wednesday, the UK recorded a further 48,374 coronavirus cases and another 171 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test
And here’s a quick rundown of Covid news around the world over the past 24 hours:
- The US reported its first Omicron case identified in California and discovered in a traveller who returned from South Africa on 22 November and tested positive on 29 November.
- The World Health Organization has urged countries to prioritise getting the unvaccinated vaccinated, both nationally and globally, rather than boosters.
- Ministers in the UK have secured new contracts to buy 114m more Covid-19 vaccines for the next two years.
- The US will extend requirements for travellers to wear masks on aeroplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through mid-March.
- Greek lawmakers approved legislation making vaccination for Covid mandatory for all residents aged over 60. Some 17% of Greeks aged over 60 have not yet been vaccinated. They have until 16 January to get their first jabs, or will be fined 100 euros for every month they remain unvaccinated.
- The United Arab Emirates announced its first known case of the new Covid variant Omicron.
- Moderna could have a Covid booster shot targeting the Omicron variant tested and ready to file for US authorisation as soon as March, the company’s president said.
- The EU must consider mandatory vaccination, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. One-third of Europe’s 150-million population are not vaccinated.
- The UN condemned the travel bans implemented in response to Omicron as “unfair, punitive and ineffective”.
- Hong Kong’s quarantine is pushing Cathay Pacific pilots to “breaking point” as many seek work elsewhere, AFP reports.
- India has recorded another 9,765 daily Covid cases and 277 for Wednesday, according to an update from the health ministry.
- Germany has reported another 73,209 new Covid cases for Wednesday and 388 deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
- China is reporting 73 new Covid cases for Wednesday, a decrease from the 113 reported Covid cases a day earlier, Reuters reports.
- South Korea has reported a new daily record in Covid cases with 5,266 cases recorded on Wednesday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
- A large number of temporary and bridging Australian visa holders will be cut off from their families this Christmas despite the planned easing of border restrictions, causing further agony and uncertainty for those stuck in the country.
- The heavily mutated Omicron variant has propelled a sharp rise in Covid cases in South Africa as health experts describe the degree of increase as “worrying”. The variant now accounts for 74% of all the virus genomes sequenced in the nation last month.
- Ukraine has recorded 13,531 new cases of Covid-19 for Wednesday.
- Authorities in Indonesia have tightened border curbs, extended quarantine and limited movement on strategic toll roads, in a preemptive move to limit the spread of the Omicron Covid variant.
- Thailand reported another 4,971 new Covid cases.