Coronavirus - 15th December 2021

Summary for Wednesday, 15th December

• Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says the government believes England's Covid measures "will see us through to the new year"
  
• Parliament will be recalled if there is a need to discuss further restrictions in England over the Christmas recess, he adds
  
• Prof Chris Whitty tells the public they "need" to get a booster jab as the Omicron variant surges
  
• The UK's chief medical adviser says boosters should "significantly reduce your risk of serious illness and hospitalisation"
  
• Over-18s in England can now book a booster appointment from two months after their second dose
  
• Meanwhile, England's Covid pass scheme begins despite a revolt among Tory MPs
  
• PM Boris Johnson suffers his biggest rebellion over the measure - but it passes with Labour support
  
• A substantial increase in the number of confirmed Omicron cases is expected later after a data delay on Tuesday
  

Good morning

We’ll bring you the latest coronavirus developments as they happen this Wednesday.
Stay with us for what is set to be another busy day.

Here is a snapshot of all the key Covid developments:

• The US surpassed 50 million coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
  
• The UK has recorded another 59,610 Covid cases, the highest figure since early January. A further 633 confirmed Omicron cases were reported, taking the total to 5,346, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
  
• In England, MPs have backed Covid passes being required at nightclubs and large venues as dozens of Tories rebelled against the government’s ‘plan B’ winter Covid measures.
  
• Germany will exempt people who have had a booster jab from having to take a Covid test before entering some leisure facilities, federal and regional health ministers agreed on Tuesday.
  
• Italy has extended a Covid-19 state of emergency to 31 March.
  
• Denmark and Norway announced stricter Covid measures to battle soaring infection numbers.
  
• Austria is likely to recommend Covid booster shots for children aged 12 and over once four months have passed since their second vaccine dose, putting the country ahead of most European countries in terms of vaccinating children.
  
• Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr Paul Burton, said Omicron “poses a real threat” and cautioned against claims it causes milder disease, warning that Omicron and Delta are likely to circulate together for some time.
  
• The UK will need a mini-furlough in the event that the Omicron variant forces the government into closing parts of the economy, the International Monetary Fund has said.
  
• Pfizer says its antiviral Covid-19 pill showed near 90% efficacy in preventing hospitalisations and deaths in high-risk patients, and recent lab data suggests the drug retains its effectiveness against the Omicron variant.
  
• France detected 130 cases of the Omicron variant but so far has no plans to impose new restrictions.
  
• South Korea marked its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic.
  
• Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett is in quarantine after catching a flight with someone who tested positive for Covid.
  
• Billie Eilish revealed that she had Covid-19 in August, and said that she felt sure she “would have died” had she not been vaccinated.
  
• China’s economically important Zhejiang province is battling a Covid outbreak that has left half a million people quarantined and some districts under business shutdown.
  
• The US air force discharged 27 people for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine, making them what officials believe are the first service members to be removed for disobeying the mandate.
  
• Mainland China detected its second imported case of the Omicron variant, this time in its southern Guangdong province, following reports of the first case in the northern city of Tianjin on Monday.
  
• Africa is experiencing its fastest surge in Covid cases this year, with the number up 83% in the past week, although deaths remain low.
  
• High levels of previous exposure to three previous waves of Covid infection in South Africa may explain the relatively low levels of hospitalisation and severe disease in the current outbreak of the Omicron variant, rather than the variant itself being less virulent.
  

Omicron cases likely to surge past previous peak - expert

Covid infections are now at the level seen at the start of 2021 - when cases peaked - and are set to go "beyond that" in the coming months, an expert has said.
Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The numbers of infections with Omicron is increasing and has been increasing quite dramatically.
"We're probably now at the level that we have been in the past, back in January, and it does look as though it's going to continue beyond that and go over it."
He added:

We are a population in a very different position to this time last year in the sense that the majority of people have been vaccinated and there has been much infection since then."

This level of immunity "generally means the virus will appear to be much less severe", he said. But the scientist cautioned that a huge number of infections could still put extreme pressure on hospitals.

The number of infections means that even though individually we are at less risk, at population level, the number of people ending up in hospital could get very large."

Every adult needs to get a booster - Whitty

The UK’s chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty has urged the public to get boosted as the Omicron variant surges.
In an advert which aired on ITV on Tuesday evening, Prof Whitty said every adult "needs" to get a booster jab in the face of the "highly infectious" variant.
The expert - who is also England’s chief medical officer - told viewers: "Boosters give you the best possible protection against the virus and should significantly reduce your risk of serious illness and hospitalisation."
The NHS national booking system opened up to all over 18s on Wednesday, and while people are eligible for a booster three months after their second vaccine they can book after two months.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recovering from a rebellion among Tory MPs in a vote on England’s “Plan B” measures on Tuesday evening.
Almost 100 Tory MPs voted against Covid passes - but all measures passed with Labour support.

Parliament would be recalled over any new measures - Shapps

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says Parliament will be recalled if there is a need to discuss further Covid restrictions in England over the Christmas recess.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Shapps says he is "certain" this would happen if there is a need and any changes to restrictions over the period would not be an "automated" process.
But he adds the government believes they've "got in place now the measures that [they] believe will see us through to the new year".

People in hotel quarantine could be released early

People who are currently in hotel quarantine after arriving from what had been a red list country are braced for an early release.
A letter from the Department of Health and Social Care to those in managed quarantine facilities, seen by the BBC, says an update on their situation is due around lunchtime today.
It follows the emptying of the UK's travel red list at 04:00 GMT this morning.
Previously, arrivals from Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe had to enter hotel quarantine at their own cost.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also hinted this morning that an update for those still inside hotels would come later.

Analysis: Will tougher measures stop the spread?

Nick Triggle - Health Correspondent
Infections caused by the new variant Omicron are rising rapidly, doubling every two to three days.
It is expected to become the dominant variant soon and then the UK is being warned to be braced for a surge in cases.
In Scotland the public are being encouraged to limit their social contacts, and in England, PM Boris Johnson saw off the biggest rebellion of his prime ministership to get parliamentary approval for his Plan B measures.
The moves are all driven by one fear - the risk of a huge wave of infections that causes enough illness to overwhelm the NHS.
Make no mistake, the UK - and the rest of the world for that matter - is facing a very challenging few months. But it is not a situation without hope.
Read more from Nick here.

'Very real possibility' NHS could be overwhelmed, says Sage member

More now from our interview with infectious diseases expert Prof Graham Medley.
Most of the cases at the moment are in young adults, he said, but the risk is that the wave of infections may start moving into older generations.
Asked whether the NHS could be overwhelmed, he replied: "That's the million dollar question.

I think it is a very real possibility that if the numbers of infections increasing continues in the way that it has done and it spills out into older age groups than we could see the number of people being admitted to hospital getting very large and certainly going over the thousand, maybe up to 2,000 a day."
I think it is a very real possibility that if the numbers of infections increasing continues in the way that it has done and it spills out into older age groups than we could see the number of people being admitted to hospital getting very large and certainly going over the thousand, maybe up to 2,000 a day."

Medley - who sits on the Sage committee of scientists which advises the government - said that with the Delta variant, the number of daily hospital admissions had been under 1,000 since July without any lockdown rules, but that would be unlikely with Omicron.
He added that it was "very hard to be certain about these things" but the NHS being overwhelmed "is one of the more likely things that could happen".

Covid passes in England - what you need to know

As we've been reporting this morning, further coronavirus measures for England were passed by MPs last night - including Covid passes.Here's what you need to know:

• Over-18s in England must prove they are double vaccinated against Covid-19, or had a negative PCR or lateral flow test result within the last 48 hours, or have an exemption, to enter large events and venues
  
• This can be shown via the NHS Covid Pass or with a text message or email from NHS Test and Trace
  
• The rules apply to nightclubs, indoor unseated venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people, and any venue with more than 10,000 people
  
• Covid passport schemes are already in operation in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales
  

Potential for more Covid restrictions before Christmas - Swinney

Scotland's Deputy First Minister John Swinney has said there is the potential for more restrictions before Christmas in response to the new Omicron variant.
Speaking to BBC Good Morning Scotland, Swinney said: "We hope that we have done enough in the announcements that were made yesterday and we hope that members of the public and businesses will work with us in a cooperative spirit to make sure that we can take these provisions forward."
Swinney said he was "optimistic" enough was being done for now but cautioned that the percentage of Omicron cases in Scotland had soared from 2% about 10 days ago to more than 27% now.
He added: "We have a variant that is very powerful, that is growing at an alarming rate, and we face a very severe situation.
"What we are trying to do is protect the period that people are looking forward to, to have as normal a Christmas as we possibly can do, but we need people to work with us in a spirit of caution to try and make sure that we get through this and get through it safely."
Read more here.

Omicron is most significant threat since Covid began - Harries

Dr Jenny Harries, the head of the UK Health Security Agency, tells MPs that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is "probably the most significant threat since the start of the pandemic".
Giving evidence to the Transport Committee, Dr Harries says the growth rate - the doubling time - was now under two days "in most regions of the UK".
"I'm sure for example, the numbers that we see on data over the next few days will be quite staggering compared to the rate of growth that we've seen in cases for previous variants," she says.
She says they are starting to see the fast growth rate in London and Manchester particularly, adding "we're very sure there are levels growing across most communities in the UK now, although there is quite a lot of regional variation still".

Covid more likely than a cold in hard-hit London - Zoe app founder

Professor Tim Spector, who helped found the Zoe symptom-tracking app, has said Covid cases in London are accelerating more than was seen during the very first wave of the virus.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the "majority of symptoms" of the Omicron variant are like a common cold, including headaches, a sore throat, runny nose, fatigue and sneezing.
He said: "In London, where Covid is increasing rapidly, it's far more likely to be Covid than it is to be a cold.
"If we look at our regional charts we see London accelerating more than we've seen it since the very first wave and this now means that Omicron is the predominant variant already."
Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol and a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told BBC Breakfast the wave of Omicron was just taking off across the country.

The wave is coming very fast and in fact alarmingly fast - if anything faster than ever. So it really is a race at the moment.

The more immunity that we've all got the less of a problem this is going to be, but I'm afraid it is going to be a serious problem either way."

Prof Finn said it was not up to him to say what regulations should be put on the population, but added: "I think I can certainly encourage people to do everything they can to minimise spread of the virus during this critical period and, of course, a lot of that can be done voluntarily without anyone imposing rules on people."

The U.S. has just surpassed 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to recently updated data from Johns Hopkins University.
The grim milestone means the country now has the highest number of reported total Covid-19 deaths in the world, followed by Brazil and India. On Monday, the US reached 50m confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Covid deaths this year were mostly in unvaccinated patients and may have been preventable, health experts say. Roughly 60% of the US population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, CDC data shows.
A warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) has also cautioned that the Omicron variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate.
“The reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries even if it hasn’t been detected yet,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” he added.
The WHO also noted that low vaccination rates in regions including Africa - where Omicron was first detected and which has recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week - would provide breeding grounds for new variants.

Omicron probably present undetected in most countries, WHO says

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the Omicron variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate and had “probably” spread to most nations undetected.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday:

The reality is that Omicron is probably in most countries even if it hasn’t been detected yet. Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant.”

The WHO urged countries to act swiftly to rein in transmission and protect their health systems and warned against complacency.
WHO expert Bruce Aylward strenuously warned against “jumping to a conclusion that this is a mild disease”.
“We could be setting ourselves up for a very dangerous situation,” he added.

Africa is 'breeding ground' for new variants, WHO warns

Low vaccination rates in regions including Africa - where Omicron was first detected and which has recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week - would provide breeding grounds for new variants, the World Health Organization has warned.
WHO estimated it will take Africa until May 2022 to have 40% vaccination coverage and until August 2024 to reach 70% as countries with plentiful vaccine supplies raced to administer third doses to beat Omicron.
Although Africa has recorded a massive rise in cases over the past week, the region is reporting a lower number of deaths compared with previous waves.

Cambodia has just detected the country’s first case of the Omicron variant in a local woman who had travelled from Ghana.
The 23-year old woman had returned from Ghana via Dubai and Bangkok, the ministry of health said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The woman, who was 15 weeks pregnant, had been admitted to hospital for treatment, it said.

Auckland, New Zealand, reopens border

Eva Corlett - The Guardian
There were tears of joy, long embraces and sighs of relief, as thousands of New Zealanders boarded flights or hit the road on Wednesday, in what was, for many, the first reunion with friends and family in four months.
The wider Auckland region was closed off in August as the city tried to contain an outbreak of Covid-19. In November, the government announced it would relax the border from 15 December to allow people to travel, due to the eligible population nearing the 90% double-vaccination rate.

At midnight, the road checkpoints at the edge of the city were removed, and the queues of cars, some with boats and trailers attached, were given the green light to move. On Wednesday morning, airport terminals around the country buzzed with Aucklanders eager to leave and reunite with loved ones.
About 12,000 people were expected to fly out of Auckland on Wednesday. It will mark the beginning of a 4000% increase in movement through the airport over the summer period, the airport said.
Read the full story here.

Omicron likely to become dominant strain in Australia, experts say

Melissa Davey - The Guardian
A third booster Covid-19 vaccine dose will be essential to get high protection against symptoms from the Omicron variant and it appears likely the variant will become the dominant strain in Australia, virologists from the Kirby Institute say.
The new data from the Kirby Institute comes as Covid-19 case numbers in New South Wales jumped again on Wednesday to 1,360, 25 of them are the Omicron variant. There are now 89 Omicron cases in NSW.
The researchers also said Covid boosters may be required every six months to protect against the variant.
Virologists from the Kirby Institute presented new data on Wednesday after growing the Omicron variant in a laboratory and testing how it responded to various samples, including from the fully vaccinated, from those who had recovered from the virus but were unvaccinated, and those who had recovered from the virus and also received two vaccine doses.
Read the full story here.

South Korea sets daily Covid record, brings back restrictions

South Korea will clamp down on social gatherings and cut the hours of some businesses to fight a record-breaking surge of the coronavirus that has led to a spike in hospitalisations and deaths.
Prime minster Kim Boo-kyum confirmed the government’s intent to restore stricter social distancing measures during a meeting on Wednesday as the country set another new one-day record in infections with 7,850 cases, the fourth time this month the daily tally exceeded 7,000.
The country’s death toll is now 4,456 after 70 virus patients died in the past 24 hours, while a record 964 patients were in critical or serious condition.

People wait in line to get Covid-19 tests at a testing centre in Seoul on 14 December. Photograph: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

Officials previously said the country’s medical system could buckle if the number of serious cases topped 1,000 because it would greatly hamper hospitals’ ability to respond not only to Covid-19 but also to other medical conditions.
Kim Boo-kyum said:

The government sees the current virus situation as serious and plans to enforce stronger social distancing measures.
We are considering measures that include further reducing the size of allowable social gatherings and imposing business-hour restrictions, and these steps will be confirmed and announced soon.”

Journalist accompanying US secretary of state on trip to UK and south-east Asia tests positive for Covid
A journalist accompanying US secretary of state Antony Blinken on a trip to the UK and southeast Asia has testing positive for Covid.
A spokesperson for the state department, Ned Price, said one of 12 members of the travelling press corps on Blinken’s trip tested positive on Wednesday in Malaysia, reports the Associated Press.
He said that neither Blinken, any of his senior staff or other members of the press corps have tested positive.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, at a bilateral meeting at the ministry foreign affairs office in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Blinken arrived in Kuala Lumpur late last night from Jakarta, Indonesia and is due to arrive in Bangkok, Thailand later today.
The first stop of his trip was in Liverpool, England, where he took part in a G7 summit over the weekend.

German police investigate alleged plot by anti-vaxxers to murder state's leader

German police have searched several locations in the eastern state of Saxony as part of an investigation into what they said was a plot by anti-vaccination activists to murder the state’s leader, Michael Kretschmer.
Reuters reports that searches in the city of Dresden targeted individual members of a group on the messaging service Telegram, where plans for the killing were discussed in connection with the state government’s coronavirus curbs, police said.
The group Dresden Offlinevernetzung, or Dresden offline networking, came to the attention of authorities after an investigation published last week by the broadcaster ZDF.

Expect mass staff absences and major shortages, UK ministers told
Soaring Covid cases could cause major shortages across industry, hospitality and healthcare in the UK, ministers have been told, as rail companies cancelled services and Royal Mail said it was experiencing high staff absences.
Read more.

Greece, Italy, Spain and Hungary start vaccinating five- to 11-year-olds

EU countries including Greece, Italy, Spain and Hungary have started vaccinating five- to 11-year-olds, reports the Associated Press.
The vaccination campaign expansion comes after the EU regulator last month approved a reduced-dose vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech.
A children’s hospital in Athens started administering jabs early on Wednesday – hours after Greece reported 130 Covid deaths, its highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic.
More than 30,000 vaccination appointments for children aged under 12 have been booked.
Greek education minister Niki Kerameus said:

I won’t hide the fact that on a personal level after having talked with doctors and receiving scientific data, our family decided to vaccinate our son who is five-and-a-half years old.

Poland daily Covid death toll hits fourth wave record with 660 new fatalities

Poland’s daily Covid death toll has hit a fourth wave record as 660 more people died with the virus and 24,000 new cases were reported.
It comes as the country tries to battle high infection rates with tighter restrictions, reports Reuters.
“This is the effect of these last weeks, when the number of cases has accumulated. They are mainly unvaccinated people,” a government spokesman, Piotr Muller, told private broadcaster Radio Zet.

Polish Senators at a Covid-19 commemoration ceremony in the Senate Gardens in Warsaw yesterday. Photograph: Rafał Guz/EPA

Poland’s highest daily death toll of the pandemic was recorded in April when 954 people died.
The country brought in new restrictions today - including on capacity limits for public spaces and closing nightclubs - in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading.
“There is no doubt that Omicron is already in Poland ... Within the EU, we have free movement of people, so it is obvious that this mutation should be in Poland,” Muller said.

Omicron could be dominant in Europe by mid-January, warns von der Leyen

European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned that Omicron could become dominant in Europe by mid-January.
But she insisted that the 27 nations have sufficient vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic, reports AFP.
“If you look at the time it takes for new cases to double in number, it seems to be doubling every two or three days. And that’s massive. We’re told that by mid-January, we should expect Omicron to be the new dominant variant in Europe,” she told the European Parliament, citing scientific data.
“But over the last year, we’ve worked hard and we’ve achieved a great deal and that is why Europe is in a better position now to fight the virus.”
She said there were “enough vaccines doses for every European” as EU countries try to speed up booster rollouts to stop the spread of the new variant.
“We’re now in a position to produce 300 million doses of the vaccine per month here in Europe,” von der Leyen said.
To date, 66.6% of the EU population have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and 62 million had received a third booster jab, she said, adding that the priority now is to increase vaccination rates, including among children, and overcome scepticism.
It comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday said that Omicron was spreading at an unprecedented rate and was “probably” in most countries.

Omicron will likely be the dominant Covid variant in Ireland by next week, the deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said, after it rose to accounting for 14% of cases from just 1% a week ago.
Varadkar told the Newstalk Radio station that he expected the country’s health chiefs to recommend a tightening of Covid restrictions on Thursday around the managing of close contacts, decreasing social mixing and on international travel.
The government also plans to increase the number of booster doses administered to 1.75 million by Christmas and possibly 2 million by year-end, Varadkar said, up from a previous target of 1.5 million.
Almost 1.3 million of Ireland’s 5 million population has received a booster jab to date.

Potential for NHS to be in serious peril, says health chief Harries

Earlier, we heard from a member of Sage who said there was a real possibility the NHS could be overwhelmed by the Omicron variant.
Now Dr Jenny Harries - UK Health Security Agency chief - also warns the NHS could be potentially in "serious peril" because of the Omicron wave.
Speaking to MPs on the Transport Committee, she says testing people who travel to the UK from abroad "still remains a key point, particularly when we can foresee a very large wave of Omicron coming through and our health services potentially being in serious peril".
One of the MPs asks her whether she is concerned that countries might not report new variants, after South Africa complained it was being punished by the strict travel bans after it identified Omicron.
Harries replies it's an "important point", adding: "It's really important that countries feel able and supported to develop their genomic capacity, to signal that to the world and for the world to support them in return."

Testing positive from today means Christmas in isolation

There are only 10 sleeps until Christmas, and while that's good news for all those who are excited - it's also nerve-wracking for anyone who has or might have Covid.
Because of the rules on self-isolation, anyone who gets Covid from today may have to cancel their Christmas plans.
In England, if you come into contact with a Covid case you don't have to isolate automatically - but you are told to take daily lateral flow tests and isolate if you test positive.
This is different to the situation in Wales and Northern Ireland, where you have to isolate if you come into contact with an Omicron case.
In Scotland, you must self-isolate if someone in your household tests positive, and take a PCR test if you come into contact with a Covid case outside your household.
More details here.

Some cllinically vulnerable missing out on their booster jab
Some clinically vulnerable patients say their third Covid vaccine dose has been wrongly recorded as a booster jab, resulting in them being turned away, writes Dr Frances Ryan in her column this week.
Here is an extract:

Most worryingly, large numbers of clinically vulnerable people are missing out on their booster. Take those whose health or age means they are unable to leave the house to go to a vaccine centre. Nearly two-thirds of housebound people are yet to receive their booster after many already stretched GPs opted out of delivering top-up jabs. That translates as about 300,000 of the most clinically vulnerable people in the country having not yet received their extra protection.
In March, I reported how some people who were housebound were missing out on the first and second vaccines, and in an all too predictable tragedy it is happening again. I spoke to the family of an 81-year-old woman this week who missed out on her Covid jabs last year because she was unable to leave her home and her GP “didn’t have her down as housebound on the system”. After developing bedsores, she was admitted to hospital and caught Covid while there. Unvaccinated, she died soon after. “Covid safety measures meant we had to have a funeral with no wake and the whole thing was just horrific,” her granddaughter told me. “My step-grandad sat there and cried and said, ‘I just want to kiss her goodbye.’”

Elsewhere, immunocompromised patients report they are now missing out on additional doses of vaccines after confusion over who is eligible for a third dose followed by a booster jab. Some patients say their third dose has been wrongly recorded on their medical records as a booster jab, resulting in them being turned away. One woman with lupus, who has to take multiple medications to suppress her immune system, told me she’s due her booster this week – but her GP can’t give it to her because the system didn’t record her third dose correctly. “My GP is amazing – if she could find a way to give it to me she would – but the system just won’t allow it.”

Or consider vulnerable infants, who have not even had their first vaccine dose. Leading scientists this week called for the vaccination of young children in a bid to tackle the new variant and keep schools open, with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said to be currently reviewing data on Covid jabs for children over five as a “matter of urgency”. Remarkably, however, there has been no word on the need to specifically protect children with disabilities. Unlike other nations, such as the US, where vaccines have already been rolled out to children as young as five with no underlying health condition, in the UK a vaccine has still not been approved for under-12s – even if a child is extremely vulnerable.

UK Quarantine hotel guests could be released today

All countries were taken off the travel red list early this morning - but those already staying in quarantine hotels are still waiting to find out when they can leave.
Jonathan Mogford, an official from the UK Health Security Agency, says he expects people can be released from quarantine hotels today, once "logistics like travel" are sorted.
Mogford tells the Transport Committee of MPs that the standard practice in quarantine hotels is that "if you start you complete” - but this had changed.
"We want to release people early" and we are "sorting arrangements as quickly as possible", he said.
He added that officials don’t want to be releasing anyone with Omicron immediately and so people with Omicron would need to stay in the hotels.
Ben Bradshaw, an MP who sits on the Transport Committee, said there had been photos of guests fleeing hotels overnight published by the media, and commented it would be difficult to prosecute them now the countries had been removed from the red list.

Fans at today's Premier League fixtures to face Covid pass rules

People now need to show Covid passports - either proof of double vaccination or a recent negative test - before entering large events in England from today. Covid passes are already compulsory in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It means fans going to today's four Premier League matches will need to have their NHS Covid Pass ready - and supporters who don't comply won't be able to get in.
But some clubs, such as Carlisle, are limiting their capacities at 9,999 - just shy of the 10,000 that would make Covid passes mandatory.
Fans have had some practice with Covid passes. Premier League clubs have already been conducting Covid vaccination spot checks before matches in recent weeks, just like at Man City vs Leeds last night.
The new measures come amid outbreaks at several top-flight and EFL clubs - including at Tottenham and Manchester United - which have led to postponed fixtures.

Very few in-person PCR tests available in London

As we've been reporting this morning, from today anyone testing positive for Covid - or anyone whose symptoms start today, ahead of a positive result - will spend Christmas in isolation.
That's because the isolation period is 10 full days from when a positive test was taken or from when symptoms begin.
We've also heard reports from the founder of the Zoe symptom-tracking app that London is especially hard-hit - with cases accelerating faster than at any other stage of the pandemic.
So it's perhaps little surprise that, according to the government website, in-person PCR test slots in London are running low. There are "very few available" at present, the website says.
As of 11:00 GMT on Wednesday, availability appears to be good in all other regions in the UK. People can continue to book home testing kits.
Read more about how to book a test here.

Availability of in-person PCR tests at 11:00 GMT on Wednesday

Poland announces further Covid curbs as death toll climbs

Poland brought in new restrictions on the numbers of people allowed in restaurants, hotels and theatres on Wednesday, as the daily Covid death toll hit its highest level since April [see 10.10am.], AFP reports.
The new limits of 30% of maximum capacity don’t apply for people who have been vaccinated, putting the onus for checking vaccination status on business owners.
Legislation allowing employers to verify whether employees have been vaccinated or had a recent test showing they do not have Covid is also making its way through parliament.
The health ministry on Wednesday reported 660 Covid deaths in Poland in the last 24 hours - the highest daily tally since April.
“The overwhelming majority are unvaccinated people,” government spokesman Piotr Muller told private broadcaster Radio Zet.
“The only scientific solutions that are known at the moment are to vaccinate and react quickly when you get sick,” he said.
The health ministry has said it would also like to introduce mandatory vaccination for health workers, teachers and the military from 1 March but the cabinet is divided on the issue.
Also from Wednesday, people flying into Poland from outside the EU’s free travel Schengen area must have proof of a negative test taken no earlier than 24 hours before crossing the border.
Among other measures, schools will switch to remote learning for a few days on either side of the Christmas holidays, meaning that children will be out of school from 20 December to 9 January.
Nightclubs will also have to close, except for New Year’s parties.
Poland’s right-wing populist government has so far been very cautious about following other European countries in embracing vaccine certificates and mandatory vaccinations.
Vaccination hesitancy is still very high in Poland, a country of 38 million people where only around 54% of the population is fully vaccinated - one of the lowest levels in the EU.
Most of the opposition is calling on the government to impose tougher restrictions and the Left party has presented proposals for obligatory vaccinations for all adults in Poland.

Kenya has detected its first three cases of the Omicron variant, the country’s health minister said on Wednesday.
“We have at least three cases so far, and have a lot of other samples that we are sequencing,” said Mutahi Kagwe.
He said Omicron was detected among travellers - two Kenyan and one South African - at airports, but did not specify when and where in Kenya the cases were detected.
Kagwe said those hospitalised with Covid in Kenya were still suffering from the Delta variant, but cases of Omicron were expected to quickly rise.
“It is just a matter of time before Omicron becomes the dominant variant,” he told reporters in Mombasa.
The East African country has seen a surge in Covid infections in recent days after a lull lasting several months.
On Tuesday, the health ministry said the number of tests returning positive results stood at 11.5% - a roughly ten-fold rise on a week earlier.
Kagwe ruled out taking “knee-jerk reactions” in response to the Omicron detection, saying any measures taken would be based on science.
“From where we sit, variants will come and variants will go...the decisions we make as a government in order to protect our people must also be measured and calculated,” he said.
The WHO warned Tuesday that the variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate and urged countries to act swiftly to rein in transmission and protect their health systems.
Since the variant was first detected last month, it has been reported in 77 countries, according to the WHO.
Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which accounts for the bulk of the world’s coronavirus cases.
Kenya has fully vaccinated only 3.27 million people, or 12% of the adult population, according to official figures.
The government hoped to vaccinate 10 million people by Christmas, and 27 million by the end of 2022.
This week, the High Court in Nairobi struck down a government order to prevent unvaccinated Kenyans from accessing services and entering public places such as national parks, bars and restaurants.
In total, the country has recorded 256,815 infection, of which 5,349 have been fatal.

Italy imposes mandatory testing for all EU arrivals

Italy will tighten restrictions for arrivals from the rest of the EU from Thursday, requiring coronavirus tests of everyone and a five-day quarantine for those who are not vaccinated, AFP reports.
Previously, EU arrivals had to show proof of vaccination, recent recovery or a negative test.
The decree signed by the health minister, Roberto Speranza, late on Tuesday “provides for the obligation of a negative test on departure for all arrivals from European Union countries”, a spokesperson said.
“For the unvaccinated, in addition to the negative test, a five-day quarantine is planned.”
Unvaccinated people arriving from outside the bloc must already quarantine, and tests are required of those with jabs.
The new measures, valid from 16 December to 31 January, come as Europe battles a fresh wave of coronavirus infections as winter settles in and the Omicron variant takes hold.
Early data suggests two vaccine doses may not offer as much protection against Omicron and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which currently accounts for the bulk of the world’s Covid cases.
Italy was the first EU country to experience a major outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020.
In recent months, it has sought to control infections through the use of health passes showing proof of vaccination, recent recovery from Covid or a negative test for everything from going to work to eating in restaurants.
European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said they had not yet been notified of Italy’s new temporary restrictions, despite what he said was the obligation of member states to inform the Commission 48 hours in advance.
“Additional restrictions on certificate holders are only possible where this may be necessary and proportionate to safeguard public health in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Wigand said.
“It remains crucial to ensure the proportionality of any measures taken”.
More than 20,000 new cases were reported in Italy on Tuesday, and another 120 deaths.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has cut short his trip to Southeast Asia due to a Covid case among his travelling party, a State Department official said on Wednesday.
The decision was made to mitigate the Covid risk and prioritise health and safety, and Blinken had expressed by phone his deep regret to the foreign minister of Thailand, where he was due to attend meetings on Thursday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
The positive case was confirmed on Wednesday while Blinken was in Malaysia. He was in Indonesia the previous two days. [see 9.44am.].

Concern over Omicron's potential to overwhelm NHS

Nick Triggle - Health Correspondent
Omicron is “probably the most significant threat since the start of the pandemic”, according to Dr Jenny Harries, the head of the UK Health Security Agency.
The concern within government is that a huge surge in cases could overwhelm the NHS.
There have been suggestions the virus cases milder illness. That is certainly logical as reinfection and infections post-vaccination tend to be less serious.
But even if severity is halved, the total number of people needing hospital care will increase if infections more than double.
There is huge uncertainty over how many admissions there will be. Modelling has suggested the peak could be around half what was seen last winter or approaching double.
But even if the Omicron wave does not overwhelm the NHS there is still a wider threat to society as mass illness and isolation could disrupt supply chains and essential services.

'I feel hopeless stuck in quarantine hotel waiting for news to leave'

The UK's rules on travel changed early this morning - and all countries were removed from the red list. But those already in quarantine hotels after arriving from a red list country are waiting to find out if they can leave.
Candice Dampier, 37, who lives in Kent, is currently in hotel quarantine in Stansted after returning from South Africa on 9 December after visiting family for the first time in three years.
Candice says she was told last night she could leave at 04:00 GMT this morning as she’d tested negative in her day two test, and so she made arrangements with family to bring her home.
But as she was moving her suitcases to leave this morning, she noticed a letter saying she had to remain. Officials told her if she was to leave they would have to report her to the police, Candice says.
"I’m heartbroken to be honest," she says. “It feels so pointless to be here still.
"I have a six-year-old son and I’m desperate to get home to him and there’s no rhyme or reason why I should still be stuck here.
"If I had tested positive I wouldn’t be kicking up a fuss but because I’ve tested negative. It shouldn’t take close to 24 hours to update the guidance on the government website. They could have done this before the announcement was made.
"I just feel hopeless. The government needs to remember that there is still a human element here. It is close to Christmas and for them to be keeping us here for any longer than is necessary it is just a failure to me."
Health officials have said hotel guests should be released today.

Johnson promises MPs would have a say on any new rules

"If further regulation is needed of course this House will have a further say," says Boris Johnson as he faces questions from MPs at this week's PMQs.
It comes after last night's rebellion among Tory MPs over the Covid pass in England.
Also at PMQs:

• Labour leader Keir Starmer says Boris Johnson has "quite rightly" not ruled out further restrictions in response to Omicron cases - and pledges to vote in "the national interest" if further rules are needed
  
• Johnson says the government has taken a "balanced and proportionate" approach by bringing in its Plan B measures
  
• And Johnson tells MPs that on Tuesday more than 500,000 booster jabs were delivered (that's not a record though, the highest daily number of boosters was still in November)
  
• Referring to the row over gatherings in Downing Street at the height of Covid restrictions last year, Starmer says Johnson has been "undermining public confidence". The PM replies that he thinks the public is "focused on" the government's vaccine booster campaign, and calls the row over parties last year "partisan trivia"
  

More from PMQs here.

Red-list quarantine guests walk out of hotels amid confusion

Katy Austin - Business Correspondent
Some travellers in hotel quarantine have told the BBC they have left government-approved facilities early and returned home after all 11 African countries on the travel red list were removed this morning.
Last night they received letters from the health department asking them not to leave for the time-being. The letter said more details of early release would come by Wednesday lunchtime.
But one guest near Gatwick airport said she’d walked out of her hotel despite staff trying to stop her. She saw several cars parked outside picking up other people.
Another person in hotel quarantine said security guards told her and her husband to return to their rooms, but they were able to board a minibus they’d arranged to take them home.
Some of those who left said they had taken lateral flow tests and had negative results.
Roughly 5,000 people have come through the system since the red list was re-started in late November, officials say.
A senior official at the UK Health Security Agency, Jonathan Mogford, told the Transport Select Committee latest figures suggested about 5% of people in the hotels had tested positive for Covid.
He said arrangements to release people early were being sorted as "quickly as possible" and that officials didn't want to be "releasing Covid or Omicron-positive guests immediately".

The UK sectors most likely to be affected by Omicron staff shortages
Boris Johnson’s cabinet has been told that rising Covid-19 infections as a result of Omicron are likely to mean staff shortages across industries and sectors in the UK, similar to the pingdemic that was set off by millions self-isolating over the summer. Schools and healthcare setting are also likely to face a significant challenge.
Here’s a look at each sector from the Guardian’s chief political correspondent, Jessica Elgot.

London now has plenty of available in-person tests - government website

Earlier today we reported there were "very few" available in-person PCR tests in London, according to the government's website.
Well now it appears appointments have been replenished - as all regions in the UK, including London, show good availability for walk or drive-in PCR tests.
Current guidelines state people should only book a PCR test if they have been instructed to by contact tracers, or they have Covid symptoms.
You can read more about testing here.

 

Record 78,610 daily cases reported in UK

A further 78,610 Covid cases have been confirmed in the UK, the government has announced. It's a record number of daily cases for the UK.
The previous record for cases was in January.
Official figures released just now also show a further 165 people have died.

Record cases, but more jab protection now than in last wave

Although the UK has just announced a record number of daily confirmed cases, our health correspondent Hugh Pym says it's worth remembering that there’s far more vaccine protection against serious illness now than during the previous peak in January - plus more therapies to treat Covid.
There was also a record number of booster jabs and third doses announced today - 656,711.
For more on the record coronavirus case numbers, we've got a full story on it here.

Record cases were only a matter of time

Nick Triggle - Health Correspondent
Health officials have been clear we should expect cases to surge because of the Omicron variant.
In just a few weeks the variant has been spreading quickly.
By the weekend it was thought to account for nearly a quarter of cases.
And with Omicron infections doubling every two days it was only a matter of time before it began to drive up overall infection levels.
These numbers are only going to go up from here as both Delta and Omicron circulate.
What is not clear is what it means for serious illness.
There are suggestions it is causing milder illness. There is logic to that – reinfections or infections post vaccination are likely to be milder.
But if infections continue to rise as quickly as they are, that will push up hospital admissions.
Left unchecked, the peak will come quickly with modelling suggesting it could range between just over 2,000 a day to more than 6,000.
Last winter it peaked at 3,700.

Travellers to Greece from the UK and Denmark will need a negative PCR test to enter the country, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The measure will be in effect from 19 December as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the ministry said. The tests will need to be no more than 48 hours old.
The quickly spreading Omicron variant is expected to become the dominant strain in Denmark this week.
In the UK, at least one person has died after contracting Omicron, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Monday, the first publicly confirmed death globally from the variant.

A lioness in a Belgian zoo has been diagnosed with Covid-10 and the members of her pride have gone into isolation in individual enclosures away from the public, the Pairi Daiza Park said.
Dana, one of four lions at the park, was suffering from fever, a cough and loss of appetite according to vets. None of her keepers has tested positive.
In June, a lioness in a zoo in the Indian city of Chennai died from coronavirus and cases have been reported in other big cats.

The lioness Dana, who tested positive for coronavirus, is suffering from fever, a cough and loss of appetite. Photograph: Pairi Daiza/Reuters

Vulnerable should get four doses - Whitty

Prof Whitty, answering a question about shielding, says the government doesn't want to make the most vulnerable people do this again - unless it's absolutely necessary.
He reminds them they should get four doses - rather than three - of a coronavirus vaccine, wherever possible.

Should people cancel pre-Christmas plans?

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg also asks Prof Chris Whitty whether people should cancel plans this Christmas.
He replies that most people are prioritising the social interactions that really matter to them - and "deprioritising" the ones that matter less.
Whitty also says it's "exactly right" to take a lot of precautions - for example taking tests before meeting vulnerable people, which he would strongly encourage.
Dr Nikki Kanani, the medical director of primary care for NHS England, says making careful choices is the right thing to do.
She gives the example of her own situation, saying that she really wants to see her immediate family on Christmas Day so she's going to be "really really careful" until then.

Overwhelming the NHS is a very serious threat - Whitty

Prof Chris Whitty is asked whether he agrees with experts today who say the NHS could be overwhelmed.
Whitty says it's a really serious threat - because of the speed at which Omicron is moving. He describes this as an "absolutely phenomenal pace".
Whitty says he would echo other experts, who have warned the NHS could be overwhelmed.
There will be substantial numbers of Omicron patients going to hospital, he says.

What happened at the news conference?

Here's a round-up of the key points from today's Downing Street briefing:

• Standing behind a podium reading "get boosted now", the PM repeats the government's message that it's absolutely vital people get their booster jabs - and says the government is "throwing everything" at the booster programme
  
• He does not announce any new restrictions - but says the "right thing" to do is stick with current Plan B Covid measures
  
• On the day the UK recorded its highest-ever number of new Covid cases, Prof Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, warns people to expect more records to be broken in the coming weeks
  
• Whitty urges "really serious caution" over reports that a reduction in hospitalisations was being seen in cases of Omicron in South Africa
  
• Instead, he warns there will be substantial numbers of Omicron patients going to hospital in the coming weeks
  
• Whitty says people should not "mix with people you don't have to" in the run up to Christmas
  
• And Dr Nikki Kanani, the medical director of primary care for NHS England, calls for people to volunteer to help the booster roll-out
  

Londoners with cold symptoms more likely to have Covid, says expert
Hannah Devlin - The Guardian
People who have cold-like symptoms in London are more likely to have Covid than a cold, according to the scientist behind the Zoe coronavirus symptom tracker app.
Prof Tim Spector told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that most of the symptoms of Omicron were the same as those of a common cold, including headaches, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue and sneezing.
Spector urged people with cold symptoms – and not just the classic Covid symptoms – to take a test. “Things like fever, cough and loss of smell are now in the minority of symptoms we are seeing,” he said. “Most people don’t have classic symptoms.”
He added: “In London, where Covid is increasing rapidly, it’s far more likely to be Covid than it is to be a cold. We’re seeing doubling in the numbers equivalent to what’s being seen elsewhere, every two and a half days.”
Read more here.

French president Emmanuel Macron has said it is possible the Covid vaccine would eventually be made compulsory in France, but said it was not the priority for now.
Like its European neighbours and countries across the globe, France is scrambling to find ways to contain a fresh surge in the pandemic. France’s seven-day average of new infections is at its highest since November 2020.
Asked in an interview with TF1 and LCI television stations if Covid vaccination could become mandatory in France, Macron said: “This hypothesis exists.”
But he quickly added that France was “almost there,” in practice. With nearly 90% of eligible people in France already vaccinated, France was not far from the level of take-up that would be achieved by making the jab mandatory, he said.
First and foremost, he encouraged those who have not had a jab yet to get it done, Reuters reported. He said:

There are a little more than 5 million of our fellow citizens who are not vaccinated and therefore really, I call on them to take responsibility because they are not protected and we see many cases today in hospital ... who have not been vaccinated.
Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate: this is the first pillar.

In the US, Apple has temporarily closed three retail stores in Miami, Maryland and Ottawa after a rise in employee Covid cases and exposures, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The company said that all employees will take tests prior to the stores reopening and that it is staying in touch with the affected workers, according to the report.
The iPhone maker said on Tuesday all customers and employees at its stores will be required to wear masks.

Canada’s government called on its residents not to leave the country as provinces ramp up vaccinations to combat the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant.
Case numbers are increasing as Canadian hospitals struggle to clear backlogs from months of postponed procedures. Many burnt-out staff members appear ill-equipped for another surge in infections, Reuters reported.
“I say very clearly: now is not the time to travel,” health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said at a news conference, adding that it’s clear there is community transmission of Omicron in Canada.
Duclos also said the government is sending millions more Covid vaccine doses and rapid tests to the 10 provinces.
Canada already has travel bans on 10 African countries because of concerns about the new variant. Canada advised people in March 2020 not to travel abroad unless necessary but it withdrew the notice in October of this year - before the first Omicron cases were reported - citing the success of vaccination campaigns.

What's happened today?

We're closing our live coverage of the pandemic for this evening. But we'll be back tomorrow.
Here's a recap of today's key developments:

• The UK recorded the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with 78,610 reported on Wednesday
  
• At a press conference, Boris Johnson urged people to "get boosted now"
  
• England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, warned that Covid records "will be broken a lot" in the next few weeks due to the Omicron variant and its "phenomenal" speed of transmission
  
• He said people should "prioritise what matters" with regards to social mixing in the run-up to Christmas.
  
• South Africa - one of the first countries to detect the Omicron variant - also reported its highest-ever number of new cases in a single day
  
• The EU's public health body meanwhile warned Omicron could become the dominant strain in the bloc by the start of next year
  
• The Omicron variant has been found to multiply about 70 times quicker than the original and Delta versions of coronavirus in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs, in laboratory experiments that could help explain its rapid transmission, a study has found. Story here.
  
• Christmas get-togethers may need to be downsized as Omicron is now “very likely” to increase the death toll in Europe even if it proves to be less severe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said. The new Covid variant’s high transmissibility means that more people are forecast by the EU agency to be admitted to hospital or killed this winter than previously projected. The risk assessment, published on Wednesday, advises governments they urgently need to reintroduce Covid restrictions, with one option being to advise families and friends to avoid mixing over the festive season. Story here.
  
• Covid cases in the UK reached record levels, with 78,610 new cases reported on Wednesday, as the Omicron variant continues its rapid spread. The caseload came as Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health and Security Agency, told the Commons transport committee that Omicron was “probably the most significant threat we’ve had since the start of the pandemic” and that the data expected on growth rates over the next few days “will be quite staggering compared to the rate of growth that we’ve seen in cases for previous variants”. “The difficulty is that the growth of this virus, it has a doubling time which is shortening – ie it’s doubling faster, growing faster,” she said, adding that when Omicron first arrived the doubling time was estimated to be four or five days. Story here.
  
• Canada is set to advise its population to avoid international travel while provinces ramp up vaccinations to combat the fast-spreading Omicron variant. But efforts to head off a rising Covid wave are complicated by public pandemic fatigue. Justin Trudeau’s government, set to speak on Omicron measures Wednesday afternoon, was expected to advise Canadians to avoid non-essential international travel, a source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
  
• Ukraine’s government will extend Covid restrictions for another three months, to 31 March from the end of December, because of low levels of vaccination, the prime minister Denys Shmyhal said. “Until the level of vaccination in Ukraine reaches 70% of the population, we must adhere to all imposed restrictions,” Shmyhal said at a televised government meeting.
  
• Italy will tighten restrictions for arrivals from the rest of the EU from Thursday, requiring coronavirus tests of everyone and a five-day quarantine for those who are not vaccinated. The new measures, valid from 16 December to 31 January, come as Europe battles a fresh wave of coronavirus infections as winter settles in and the Omicron variant takes hold.
  
• Poland brought in new restrictions on the numbers of people allowed in restaurants, hotels and theatres on Wednesday, as the daily Covid death toll hit its highest level since April. The new limits of 30% of maximum capacity don’t apply for people who have been vaccinated, putting the onus for checking vaccination status on business owners. Also from Wednesday, people flying into Poland from outside the EU’s free travel Schengen area must have proof of a negative test taken no earlier than 24 hours before crossing the border. Among other measures, schools will switch to remote learning for a few days on either side of the Christmas holidays, meaning that children will be out of school from 20 December to 9 January. Nightclubs will also have to close, except for New Year’s parties.