Coronavirus - 9th January 2022

Summary for Sunday, 9th January 2022

Good morning and welcome to our live update of coronavirus updates for today.

Starting with a morning rundown of all the most recent news from around the world:

• Tianjin, a major Chinese port city near Beijing, has begun mass-testing its 14m residents after a cluster of 20 children and adults tested positive for Covid-19, including at least two with the Omicron variant. Residents have been told that they must obtain a negative test result in order to receive a “green” code on smartphone Covid-tracing apps in order to use public transport and in other situations.
  
  
• The Philippines broke its own record for the highest single-day tally of new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, with 28,707 new infections reported by the health department. Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles has reportedly denied rumours that a “total lockdown” will be imposed in the country.
  
  
• Cutting the self-isolation period to five days would be “helpful”, the UK’s former vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has said. Zahawi became the first government minister to publicly support the reduction of the Covid isolation period from seven to five days, amid staffing pressures across many private and public sectors.
  
  
• The dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin, 48, has died after contracting Covid-19 in a hospital in Tehran after being released on a furlough from prison where he was infected twice, Iranian news agencies said on Saturday. Abtin was serving a six-year sentence for “anti-government propaganda” and “actions against national security”.
  
  
• Moderna donated 2.7m doses of coronavirus vaccines to Mexico, after the country exceeded 300,000 test-confirmed coronavirus deaths this week. The Mexican government said the doses will go to teachers as the country tries to return to fully in-person learning.
  
  
• More than 150,000 people have died in the UK from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to government figures. Britain on Saturday became the seventh country to pass the milestone after the US, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico and Peru.
  
  
• Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned Boris Johnson that axing universal free lateral flow tests would be an “utterly wrongheaded” approach to dealing with coronavirus. Her warnings came after reports that tests could be limited to high-risk settings – such as care homes, hospitals and schools – and to people with symptoms.
  
  
• More than 105,000 people took to the streets across France on Saturday in protest against the introduction of a new coronavirus pass that would in effect ban unvaccinated people from public life. Interior Ministry officials said 34 people were arrested and 10 police officers were injured after the protests turned violent in some places.
  
  
• The US has administered more than 518m doses of coronavirus vaccines as of Saturday morning and distributed 639.7m doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
  

Lateral flow test kits for Covid to remain free says Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, as cases soar
Alex Nelson - National World
Lateral flow tests will remain free, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has insisted amid criticism after suggestions they could be scaled back despite soaring coronavirus cases.
The Cabinet minister said he is “puzzled” by a report suggesting that their universal availability could be axed as they are limited to high-risk settings and for people with symptoms.
Rapid tests were made available to everyone in England, crucially including those without symptoms, in April 2021.
They have been seen as a key way of suppressing the virus and have given confidence to people to safely mix with loved ones, particularly around Christmas.
But the Sunday Times report suggested there are concerns in Whitehall over their cost, and that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would make an announcement within weeks, while the NHS Test and Trace system could also be scaled back.
Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned such a move would be “utterly wrongheaded”, while Labour said it would be the “wrong decision at the wrong time” while cases are so high.
But Zahawi told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “I saw that story this morning, which I was slightly puzzled by because I don’t recognise it at all. This is absolutely not where we are at.
“For January alone 425 million lateral flow tests (are) coming in and they will continue to be available for free. I don’t really recognise where that story is coming from.”
Asked whether there are plans to stop lateral flow tests being free, he said: “Absolutely not.”
Read more here.

Tianjin, a major Chinese port city near the capital Beijing, has begun mass-testing its 14 million residents after a cluster of 20 children and adults tested positive for Covid-19, including at least two with the Omicron variant.
The citywide testing, which began on Sunday, is to be completed over two days. Residents have been advised to stay at or near home to be available for the community-level nucleic-acid screening. They have been told that until they obtain a negative test result, they will not receive a “green” code on smartphone Covid-tracing apps that nearly all people in China are now required to present when using public transport and in other situations.
China has stepped up its zero-tolerance Covid-19 strategy in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, which open on 4 February in Beijing. The Chinese capital is 150km (90 miles) north-west of Tianjin and connected by a high-speed rail link that takes less than one hour.
Elsewhere in China, millions of people are being confined to their homes in Xi’an and Yuzhou, two other cities that are farther away but have larger outbreaks. The city of Zhengzhou, a provincial capital 70km (40 miles) north of Yuzhou, is also conducting mass testing and closing schools starting Monday.
China reported 165 confirmed coronavirus cases for 8 January, up from 159 a day earlier, its health authority said on Sunday.

Philippines reports record daily infections

For the second day in a row, the Philippines has reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases. Health officials today confirmed 28,707 new infections, up from 26,458 cases the previous day.
The total number of active cases reached 128,114, the highest in more than three months. This comprises 4.3% of all confirmed cases.
Earlier this week, the country’s president Rodrigo Duterte ordered the arrest of unvaccinated people who violate stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing “galloping” cases driven by the Omicron variant.

Omicron variant may have passed its peak in London

London’s public health chief has said the Omicron variant “may have passed its peak” in the UK capital. Speaking to Sky News’ Trevor Phillips this morning, Prof Kevin Fenton said:

Data from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) suggests that the peak may have occurred at or just about the New Year period.
We’re seeing reductions in overall case rates across the city and the prevalence of infection within the community.

But he warned infection levels are still “very, very high” and that more than one in 10 Londoners are still infected with the disease.

It means we’re not yet out of this critical phase of the pandemic, although we may well be past its peak.

Russia reported 16,246 new Covid cases in the latest 24 hour period, health officials said, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 10,650,849.
A further 763 deaths of patients with coronavirus were also confirmed, bringing the total death toll to 316,163.

Omicron drives Covid surge but New York a long way from pandemic’s early days
Edward Helmore - The Guardian
In the spring of 2020, Hart Island, a mile from City Island in the Bronx, was a focal point of grief in New York. It was here, at the city’s public cemetery or potter’s field, the final resting place of more than a million people, that officials ordered trenches dug to accommodate those the coronavirus was expected to kill.
The trenches were never filled. Many bodies were returned to funeral parlours or stored in mobile freezers on Randall’s Island, better known for music festivals and the Frieze art fair than cold storage of corpses.
Last week, as New York was once again in the grip of a pandemic spike, the ferry jetty was devoid of morbid feelings, even with infections running at a 35% positivity rate, close to five times the peak of last winter.
“We haven’t seen anyone here – or any of the trucks coming like they used to,” said one Hart Island worker.
The winter Covid wave has hit the Bronx hard. The borough has the city’s highest positivity rate, in some neighbourhoods near 50%. But for many this wave feels different, not least in the way leaders and health officials are treating it.
Read the full story here.

The Empire State Building at sunset this week. ‘Covid is here. We have to learn to live with it in a smart way,’ Mayor Eric Adams said. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Wales may reach its peak of infections in around two weeks, the Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has said.
Modelling shows there will be a “relatively rapid decline” after this point and the government should then be able to step down its coronavirus measures, he said.
Drakeford defended a recent comment that the UK government was the “outlier” in not introducing further restrictions, adding:

Wales is following the same path of putting protections in place that is being followed by Scotland, Northern Ireland, and not just devolved governments in the UK, but governments across Europe and across the world.
The questions as to why the UK government has decided not to follow that course of action are for them to answer, not for me.

Total Covid cases in Africa top 10 million

According to figures from the African Union’s health watchdog and seen by Agence-France-Presse, Africa has registered a total of more than 10m cases since the start of the pandemic.
As of Saturday 10,028,508 cases have been reported by the African Union’s 55 member states, data by the Africa Centres for Disease Control shows.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Libya are among the countries with the highest number of cases on the continent.
The total recorded Covid-19 death count in Africa stands at 231,157, the CDC said.

France should not impose mandatory vaccination, government spokesperson says

A mandatory vaccination order would not be the most efficient way to encourage people to get vaccinated, French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said.
People in France must currently show either proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter restaurants, bars or use inter-regional trains. But with Omicron cases surging, parliament is debating legislation that will drop the test options.
President Emmanuel Macron this week said he wanted to irritate the unvaccinated by making their lives so difficult they would get the jab, Reuters reports.

The Netherlands’ new finance minister Sigrid Kaag has said she will miss the ceremonial inauguration of the new Dutch government on Monday after testing positive for Covid.
She tweeted today: “I have tested positive for Corona. It will be a slightly different start than I had hoped for.
“My installation will take place digitally. Luckily I feel fine.”


The US and Japan have reached an agreement to keep American troops within their bases amid concerns over a surge in Covid cases that has been linked to US military bases.
Starting Monday, US military personnel are confirmed to base facilities except for “essential activities”, a statement from the US Forces in Japan and the Japanese foreign ministry said.
The allies will share information and cooperate on coronavirus measures, “given the extraordinary virulence of the Omicron variant spreading throughout Japan,” the statement said.
Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has come under increasing pressure to address outbreaks that began at US military facilities last month and have since spread to the local civilian population.

The Netherlands’ new finance minister Sigrid Kaag has said she will miss the ceremonial inauguration of the new Dutch government on Monday after testing positive for Covid.
She tweeted today: “I have tested positive for Corona. It will be a slightly different start than I had hoped for.
“My installation will take place digitally. Luckily I feel fine.”

The boss of one of London’s busiest hospitals has said he is worried about losing staff when new rules come in requiring them to be vaccinated
BBC News reports:
King’s College hospital’s chief executive, Clive Kay, said 10% of his staff of 14,000 were still unvaccinated. He said staff were “not being forced” to have the jab, but instead “being encouraged”. He added:

There’s a possibility if they choose not to be vaccinated they could be redeployed. And if we can’t find that opportunity to redeploy them then the consequence is that they will [not have a job].

Asked how many frontline staff he could lose under the law change, he replied:

I am confident that we are already seeing a number of staff choosing to be vaccinated. I don’t want at this stage to predict or give any numbers.

The US and Japan have reached an agreement to keep American troops within their bases amid concerns over a surge in Covid cases that has been linked to US military bases.
Starting Monday, US military personnel are confirmed to base facilities except for “essential activities”, a statement from the US Forces in Japan and the Japanese foreign ministry said.
The allies will share information and cooperate on coronavirus measures, “given the extraordinary virulence of the Omicron variant spreading throughout Japan,” the statement said.
Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has come under increasing pressure to address outbreaks that began at US military facilities last month and have since spread to the local civilian population.

A leaked briefing from the UK’s Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) shows a backlog of 250,000 PCR tests this week.
The Sunday Times’ Shaun Lintern said the backlog affected 4,600 care homes and 70 prisons. In some cases, testing was so delayed in labs that they became void, he said.

Greece sets February deadline for booster jabs

Greece has announced that people who have not received their coronavirus booster jabs by 1 February will be barred from most indoor venues, Agence-France-Presse reports.
In an interview with Ant1, health minister Thanos Plevris said:

From February 1, anyone who has not taken the booster dose after a seven month period (from the second dose) will be considered unvaccinated.
The certificate will be valid, because it is a European certificate valid for nine months, but they will not be able to have the privileges and advantages as to access indoor and other activities that are for the fully vaccinated.

Since mid-November, unvaccinated people have been largely barred from indoor spaces, including restaurants, cinemas, museums and gyms, even if they test negative for Covid-19.

Ireland’s health service is “under stress”, the head of the Irish Health Service Executive Paul Reid has said.

His warnings come as a further 21,384 cases of Covid were reported by the Department of Health, a day after Ireland reported a record 26,122 new cases.
As of 8am on Sunday, 984 people were in hospital with the virus, up 67 in the last 24 hours. That is the highest number of people in hospital since the surge last January.
Reid said yesterday that between 14,000 and 15,000 healthcare staff were on Covid-related leave, which is approximately 12% of all healthcare staff in Ireland.

Kuwait, Qatar report record daily Covid cases

Daily coronavirus infection rates reported by Kuwait and Qatar have soared past previous peaks recorded in the summers of 2021 and 2020, Reuters reports.
Kuwait reported 2,999 new cases today, its fourth day of case numbers surpassing a high of 1,993 recorded last July.
Qatar on Saturday reported 3,487 new cases - almost 10% of those tested - exceeding a previous high of 2,355 seen in May 2020.
Qatar has reintroduced measures limiting home gatherings to 10 vaccinated people, as well as barring unvaccinated people from entering shopping malls and restaurants and reducing capacity limits for some commercial establishments. Schools have reintroduced distance learning until at least 27 January.
Saudi Arabia has also seen a rapid increase in cases since the start of the year, although still below the numbers seen in June 2020.

Hong Kong has detected a second untraceable Covid infection over the weekend.
Health officials reported 33 confirmed cases today, 27 of which were imported. Among the six remaining cases, five were linked to imported infections, while one was classified as possibly import-related.
As Bloomberg reports, the cases are a worrying trend for officials who have upheld a “Covid zero” strategy, sacrificing the city’s status as an international hub to bring in some of the world’s harshest measures and isolating itself from the rest of the world.
“Now it’s living with the worst of both worlds,” it writes, after a couple of imported infections triggered renewed measures. The government has banned indoor dining after 6pm and closed swimming pools, sports centres, bars and clubs, museums and other venues.
Expatriates who travelled home for Christmas have also been unable to return to Hong Kong, after authorities fearing the highly contagious Omicron variant suspended flights from eight countries, including the UK and the US.

Hospital chief concerned about losing staff over mandatory NHS vaccinations
The Independent
The head of one of London’s busiest hospitals has said he is worried about losing staff who do not get vaccinated before new rules come into force.
Frontline NHS workers in England must have their Covid jabs by April – or face being moved to another role.
Clive Kay, the chief executive of King’s College Hospital, said one in ten of his staff remains unvaccinated – meaning he could lose more than 1,000 workers.
He explained this would be an “extreme” position and his job was to encourage workers to get jabbed.
The hospital is ramping up its efforts as the deadline for them to get a first dose approaches.
Asked if he was worried, Dr Kay told the BBC: “Yes, of course. I think my job is to worry about everything in relation to whether or not we have enough staff here to provide care for patients safely.”
But he said it was ultimately up to staff to decide.
“We will not make individuals be vaccinated,” Dr Kay told the BBC’s Sophie Raworth on the Sunday Morning programme. “We must treat them with kindness, with compassion, we must give them every single opportunity to talk through if they don’t want the vaccine.”
Government minister Nadhim Zahawi defended the policy, saying: “We have a duty of care when looking after the most vulnerable to protect ourselves and to protect them.”
The NHS is already severely understaffed and is reportedly short of about 93,000 workers.
Health secretary Sajid Javid said in November that more than 93 per cent of NHS frontline staff had received their first dose and 90 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Dr Kay was reluctant to predict exactly how many unvaccinated staff he might lose, and said the impact at his hospital would depend where they worked. “We’ll have to address that as we pass through the coming weeks. We will re-organise as we need to,” he said.
On Twitter, he explained he chose to be interviewed because “Covid-19 vaccines save lives”. He paid tribute to his colleagues’ work and said he wanted everyone, including King’s College Hospital staff, to come forward for their jabs. 
Read more here.

Coronavirus: should the UK make vaccination mandatory?
Robin McKie - The Guardian
In Italy, it is now obligatory for people aged 50 or over to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Greece is pondering a similar move. In France, which has seen record numbers of positive cases, President Emmanuel Macron has also announced that he wants to “piss off” the unvaccinated, while Austria is contemplating a law to make the vaccine mandatory for all its citizens.
By contrast, in the UK, Boris Johnson has confined himself to accusing anti-vaxxers of talking “mumbo-jumbo”. But is that enough? Should the UK take a harder line on those who refuse to be vaccinated? After all, this is a virus that threatens to overwhelm the NHS. As doctors continue to point out, hospital beds are now filling up with more and more seriously ill Covid patients, many of whom are unvaccinated.
So, should vaccines against Covid be made mandatory, not just in certain workplace settings but for all individuals?

 
The UK reported 141,472 new coronavirus cases
and 97 deaths in the latest 24 hours, according to the government’s Covid dashboard.
A total of 51,950,528 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been delivered in the UK by January 8, Government figures show.
This is a rise of 30,713 on the previous day.
Some 47,677,951 second doses have been delivered, an increase of 45,468.
A combined total of 35,499,486 booster and third doses have also been given, a day-on-day rise of 225,541.

New Delhi: Four judges, 5 per cent of Supreme Court staff test positive for COVID
The Indian Express

Supreme Court (Photo| EPS)

PTI reports:
Four Supreme Court judges and almost five per cent of its staff have tested positive for COVID-19, official sources said on Sunday, as the national capital witnesses a sharp spike in coronavirus cases.
Delhi on Saturday, recorded seven fatalities due to Covid and 20,181 cases as the positivity rate rose to 19.60 per cent, while the country, according to Union health ministry data updated on Sunday, reported a single day rise of 1,59,632 cases and 327 fatalities.
A COVID-19 testing facility has been set up on the top court's premises and it is open from Monday to Saturday.
"In view to contain the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus infection and sudden upsurge in the cases of Omicron variant of the coronavirus, it is reiterated that the entrants to the Supreme Court premises, i.e. the registry staff, staff of the coordinate agencies, advocates and their staff etc., particularly those who may be showing any symptom(s) similar to those notified for COVID-19 infection(s), may kindly get themselves tested at such facility...," a circular read.
The top court on January 2 had decided to conduct all hearings in virtual mode for two weeks starting from January 3, in view of rising number of cases.
A circular issued in this regard stated that an earlier circular prescribing standard operating procedure for physical hearing (hybrid hearing) will remain suspended for the time being.

Here is a quick snapshot of all the most recent coronavirus news stories from around the world:

• Africa has registered a total of more than 10m cases since the start of the pandemic, according to figures from the African Union’s health watchdog and seen by Agence-France-Presse. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Libya are among the countries with the highest number of cases on the continent.
  
• For the second day in a row, the Philippines has reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases. Health officials today confirmed 28,707 new infections, up from 26,458 cases the previous day. A senior government official confirmed an increase in hospital beds and medical resources in and around the capital Manila have been ordered.
  
• A senior UK cabinet minister has suggested it would be helpful to cut the isolation period to five days to ease workforce shortages. The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, played down suggestions that the government was imminently about to start charging for free rapid Covid tests which would lead to fewer infections in the community being caught.
  
• Daily coronavirus infection rates reported by Kuwait and Qatar soared past previous peaks recorded in the summers of 2021 and 2020. Kuwait reported 2,999 new cases today, setting a record for the fourth straight day and far exceeding a previous high of 1,993 recorded last July.
  
• Greece has announced that people who have not received their coronavirus booster jabs by 1 February will be barred from most indoor venues. In an interview, health minister Thanos Plevris said anyone who does not have a booster shot will “not be able to have the privileges and advantages as to access indoor and other activities that are for the fully vaccinated”.
  
• A London hospital leader has said he may lose 1,000 staff to the Covid vaccination mandate. About 10% of the 14,000 staff at King’s College hospital are yet to be fully vaccinated ahead of a mandate for all NHS staff who work directly with patients that comes into force on 1 April, Prof Clive Kay said.
  
• Tianjin, a major Chinese port city near the capital Beijing, has begun mass-testing its 14 million residents after a cluster of 20 children and adults tested positive for Covid-19, including at least two with the Omicron variant. The citywide testing, which began on Sunday, is to be completed over two days.
  
• A mandatory vaccination order would not be the most efficient way to encourage people to get vaccinated, a spokesperson for the French government has said. People in France must currently show either proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter restaurants, bars or use inter-regional trains. But with Omicron cases surging, parliament is debating legislation that will drop the test options.
  
• The US and Japan have reached an agreement to keep American troops within their bases amid concerns over a surge in Covid cases that have been linked to US military bases. Starting Monday, US military personnel are confirmed to base facilities except for “essential activities”, a statement from the US Forces in Japan and the Japanese foreign ministry said.
  
• Ireland’s health service is “under stress”, the head of the Irish Health Service Executive Paul Reid has said. Between 14,000 and 15,000 healthcare staff are on Covid-related leave, which is the equivalent of approximately 12% of all healthcare staff in Ireland.
  

West Bengal breaks all previous records with 24287 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours
DNA reports:
West Bengal on Sunday reported an all-time high of 24,287 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, the highest since the first wave of infections in 2020.
The infections detected in the last 24 hours, were 5,485 more than yesterday's, taking the tally to 17,55,046, the health department said.
Kolkata city accounted for more than a third of Bengal's Covid-19 infections for the day with a tally of 8,712 cases, compared to 7,337 cases on Saturday.
While neighbouring North 24 Parganas with several of Kolkata's sattelite towns including Salt Lake and its infotech and commercial hub accounting for 5,053 cases against the previous day's 3,286 cases.
Other districts reporting large number of infections during the day included the industrial districts of Howrah (1,742) and Hooghly (1,276), near Kolkata. There were 18 Covid-19 related deaths registered here which pushed the toll to 19,901, it added.
Since Saturday, 8,213 recoveries were reported in Bengal, though the discharge rate further slipped to 94.42 per cent. The number of active cases, however, increased by another 16,056 to 78,111.
In the last 24 hours, 71,664 samples have been tested in Bengal taking the total number of such clinical examinations to 2,18,74,205, the bulletin stated.

MoPH: Lebanon registers 4,780 new Covid cases, 16 new deaths
National News Agency
In its daily report on the COVID-19 developments, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health announced on Sunday the registration of 4,780 new Covid infections and 16 new deaths in Lebanon, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the country to-date to 774,180.

Saudi Arabia reports 3,460 new COVID-19 cases
CGTN
Saudi Arabia has reported 3,460 new COVID-19 cases and one virus-related death in the last 24 hours, according to local media outlets citing the Kingdom's Ministry of Health on Sunday.
The total numbers of confirmed cases now exceeded 578,753 and 8,893 deaths have recorded in Saudi Arabia. 
There were also 843 recoveries recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 546,614.
Saudi Arabia recently re-imposed social distancing measures at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, as well as in public places. Masks are now required again in both indoor and outdoor places.

Thousands in Prague rally against COVID-19 vaccine mandate
AP reports:
Thousands of people marched through the Czech Republic’s capital on Sunday to protest against compulsory COVID-19 vaccination for certain groups and professions.
The protesters gathered at Wenceslas Square in central Prague to question the effectiveness of the current vaccines and reject the vaccination of children before marching through the capital, chanting “Freedom, freedom.”
Prague’s protest followed similar but smaller demonstrations in several Czech cities on Saturday.
The previous government released an order in early December, making vaccination mandatory for the 60 and over age group, as well as medical personnel, police officers, firefighters and medical students.
The order is due to take effect in March, but it still might end up being overturned.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ administration was replaced later in December by a new government formed by five parties that won October’s parliamentary election, led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
The new administration opposed a vaccination mandate for older people and was ready to cancel it, but didn’t rule out it might still be compulsory for some, depending on the development of the pandemic. The government should announce its decision about it by the middle of February.
The new fast spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus was expected by health authorities to become dominant in the country next week.
In the nation of 10.7 million, 6.7 million are considered fully vaccinated, while over 2.8 million have received a booster shot.

Italy reported 157 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday down from 184 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 155,659 from 197,552.
Italy has registered 139,038 deaths linked to COVID-19 since the outbreak in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 7.436 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 15,647 on Sunday, up from 14,930 a day earlier.
There were 142 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 154 on Saturday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,595 from a previous 1,557.

Thousands of protesters take to the streets of Brussels to oppose anti-Covid regulations
MailOnline
Several thousand protesters marched in Brussels on Sunday to oppose anti-coronavirus regulations, as European governments mull tighter rules in the face of the omicron wave.
There was no repeat of the violence that had marred previous, larger demonstrations in the Belgian capital, although police intervened to surround a small group that approached the EU headquarters.
As it marched through the city the crowd - 5,000-strong according to the police - chanted 'freedom, freedom!' and brandished banners denouncing what they called a 'vaccine dictatorship'.
Belgium requires residents to show a Covid certificate to enter bars, restaurants and cultural events, and there have been several recent protests.

Although there was no repeat of the violence that had marred previous demonstrations there was a large presence of police in riot gear with helmets and shields: Photo Reuters

On Sunday, health minister Frank Vandenbroucke called, in a television interview, for a parliamentary debate on tighter rules as Belgium see Covid cases soar as the omicron variant takes hold.
'People's minds are changing,' he said. 'A year ago, I was saying: compulsory vaccination is not a good idea, we need to convince people.
'Now, knowing that we really need to vaccinate 100 percent of the population - which was not our idea a year ago, we thought that 70 was enough - we still need some sort of generalised take up.'
This is not an idea that is likely to find much support among the protesters, who carried the flags of a diverse array of political groups, but were united in opposition to compulsory measures.

Some 5000 people took part in the demonstration to protest against the health pass and measures aimed at curbing the spread of the Covid: Photo BELGA/AFP via Getty Images

'It's a completely absurd crisis management which affects freedoms enormously and which will lead to a Chinese-style system if we let it happen,' said one, who gave her name as Danielle.
Previous marches developed into running street battles with police, who have deployed tear gas and water cannon in recent weeks, but Sunday's ended in relatively orderly fashion amid tight security.
Riot police erected barbed wire barricades across roads leading towards the European Union's headquarters buildings and deployed drones and two water cannon trucks.
Between December 30 and January 5, Belgium recorded and average number of 17,513 new daily coronavirus infections, up 96 percent on the previous week and 169 hospitalisations per day, up 28 percent.
The Netherlands and Austria are also still in lockdown with the Dutch government saying restrictions will remain in place until at least past January 14.

Germany will study how reliable rapid antigen tests are in detecting the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said on Sunday.
“We do not know exactly how well these tests work for Omicron,” Lauterbach said on public broadcasting channel ARD, adding the results of the assessment would become available within the next few weeks.
It was clear, however, that “the alternative not to test at all ... would be far too dangerous,” said Lauterbach, a scientist and physician.
Earlier, he had told a Sunday newspaper that Germany must revamp its Covid vaccination strategy to tackle the Omicron variant and to ensure it could develop a new vaccine rapidly if it faced a more deadly coronavirus variant in the future. New measures for dining out and bar visits were brought in only last Friday, Reuters reports.

Mass Covid testing and vaccination should be ended for all but the most vulnerable after the booster campaign has been completed, the former chairman of Britain’s vaccine taskforce has said.
Dr Clive Dix has called for an overhaul of the current Government strategy in the coming months, claiming the impact of cellular immunity on fighting the virus may have been downplayed.
Covid should instead be treated like flu or a heavy cold among younger people who have been fully jabbed, the former vaccines tsar said.
Speaking to C4 News, Dr Dix claimed that mass vaccination has outlasted its main purpose, which he said was to curb the spread of infection.

Prime Minister facing revolt over coronavirus restrictions

Boris Johnson has been warned by a Conservative rebel ringleader he faces a massive revolt from his own MPs if he does not end all coronavirus restrictions this month.
Mark Harper, chair of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group, also said the Prime Minister could even face a leadership challenge if the Tories do badly in May’s local elections.
The former chief whip’s intervention came after a poll of Conservative members suggested nearly half believe Chancellor Rishi Sunak would make a better leader.
Mr Johnson suffered the biggest revolt of his premiership last month when 100 backbenchers defied him over Plan B restrictions in a Commons vote.

‘Living with Covid’ does not have to mean ditching all protective measures
Hannah Devlin - The Guardian
Reports on Sunday that free lateral flow tests could be axed under a strategy of living with Covid within weeks were met with a swift backlash. The government promptly denied the suggestion that free tests could soon be scrapped.
The story highlights a gulf in opinions on what “living with Covid” might look like, with some saying we will achieve this only through continued caution and others equating the phrase to ditching all Covid measures and partying like it’s 2019.
Wherever your instincts lie, it is not surprising – or even undesirable – that the mass testing of asymptomatic people is being reviewed.
The policy was rapidly brought in at a time when, faced with a new, highly infectious variant of unknown virulence, it made sense to throw everything we had at Omicron to slow down transmission and to minimise disruption caused by essential workers having to self-isolate. With case numbers wildly outstripping the UK’s laboratory testing capacity, lateral flow tests continue to be vital for tracking case numbers.
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Calls for PM to be questioned by inquiry into alleged No 10 lockdown gatherings
Rowena Mason - The Guardian
Downing Street is facing calls to ensure that Boris Johnson will be personally interviewed by the Sue Gray inquiry about alleged No 10 gatherings during the first lockdown, after it emerged he may have been present at a “bring your own booze” party that month.
The inquiry, into allegations of social mixing bans being broken in No 10, was widened this weekend to include reported gatherings from May 2020, amid reports that an official emailed Downing Street staff inviting them to socially distanced drinks.
No 10 did not deny on Sunday that the prime minister and his wife attended the event on 20 May, which is said to have been organised by a senior civil servant in Johnson’s private office, Martin Reynolds, with food and wine set out on tables.
It comes after the Guardian reported a “wine and pizza” party in Downing Street in the garden and inside No 10 on 15 May, with staff drinking late into the evening after a press conference that day. After No 10 insisted staff were working, the Guardian obtained a photograph of the prime minister and his wife sitting with officials at a table with wine and cheese, with 15 other staff in the background and bottles of wine visible.
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Finishing up with a quick round-up of recent developments today:

• Downing Street is facing calls to ensure that Boris Johnson will be personally interviewed by the Sue Gray inquiry about alleged No 10 gatherings during the first lockdown, after it emerged he may have been present at a “bring your own booze” party that month.
  
• Boris Johnson has been warned by a Conservative rebel ringleader he faces a massive revolt from his own MPs if he does not end all coronavirus restrictions this month.
  
• Germany will study how reliable rapid antigen tests are in detecting the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the health minister, Karl Lauterbach, said on Sunday.
  
• Italy reported 157 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, down from 184 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 155,659 from 197,552.
  
• If you’ve just joined us, here is a quick snapshot of all the most recent coronavirus news stories from around the world.