Coronavirus - 27th January 2022

Summary for Thursday, 27th January 2022

• As part of the lifting of Plan B restrictions in England, it is no longer legally compulsory to wear face masks in indoor venues
  
• Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the measures were being lifted thanks to the vaccine rollout and improved Covid treatments
  
• But Sainsbury's, John Lewis and Waitrose will continue to ask their customers in England to wear masks. Train passengers will also be asked to wear one
  
• Coronavirus passes are no longer needed to enter bars, restaurants and cinemas in Northern Ireland
  
• Covid restrictions on adult social care will be eased in England from Monday
  
• There will be no limit on the number of visitors allowed at care homes and self-isolation periods will be cut
  
• MPs are still waiting to see the findings of Sue Gray's report into lockdown parties in Downing Street
  
• Meanwhile, more than eight million people have tested positive for coronavirus in the Americas in the past week - a new record for the region
  
• The UK reported 102,292 new cases on Wednesday
  

Good morning

welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are the main stories so far this morning:

• Face coverings and Covid passes are no longer legally required in England, as the relaxation of Plan B rules have come into effect. But train operators and some shops say they will continue to ask people to wear them
  
• Covid restrictions on adult social care will be eased in England from Monday. There will be no limit on the number of visitors allowed at care homes and self-isolation periods will be cut
  
• Women can experience small changes to their periods after having a Covid vaccine but they quickly return to normal, a leading UK menstruation expert has said. Dr Victoria Male, from Imperial College London, said studies from the US and Norway which tracked women's cycles were "reassuring"
  
• MPs are still waiting to see the findings of Sue Gray's report into lockdown parties in Downing Street. The BBC understands that Ms Gray's report is essentially completed, but she has not yet sent it to the prime minister
  
• Meanwhile, more than eight million people have tested positive for coronavirus in the Americas in the past week - a new record for the region
  

Here’s everything else you might have missed:

Europe:

• Italy will ease Covid restrictions for all visitors from European Union countries starting from 1 February, its health ministry said on Wednesday.
  
• Moderna has started testing an Omicron-specific Covid booster in healthy adults.
  
• In Denmark, the government announced it will scrap most pandemic restrictions next week, even as neighbouring Sweden extended its own measures for another fortnight.
  
• Police in Berlin have been authorised to crack down on protesters wearing badges resembling yellow star badges and other symbols associated with the Nazi era at demonstrations against vaccine mandates or other pandemic restrictions. Story here.
  
• The UK has reported a further 102,292 Covid infections and 346 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest data from the government’s coronavirus dashboard. That compares with 94,326 cases and 439 fatalities in the 24 hours prior.
  
• Sweden will extend its current pandemic measures by another two weeks, the minister for health said on Wednesday, as Omicron is spreading at record speed. The curbs mean bars and restaurants have to close at 11pm and there is a cap of 500 people inside larger indoor venues.
  
• As pressure on hospitals eases, Austria will end its lockdown for people not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus on Monday, though some restrictions on public life will remain.
  

Middle East:

• Israel has broadened its eligibility for a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine to include adults under 60 with underlying medical conditions, their carers and others over 18 at significant risk of exposure to coronavirus.
  

United States:

• The United States has donated more than 400m vaccine doses to 112 countries, marking a major milestone in the White House’s goal of donating 1.2bn vaccine doses under president Joe Biden’s direction.
  
• The Americas have seen their highest daily Covid caseloads since the pandemic began, and Omicron has clearly become the predominant variant, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said.
  

Face mask rules dropped as Plan B ends in England

Our main story this morning is that face coverings and Covid passes are no longer legally required in England as Plan B restrictions have now come to an end.
Guidance on the use of face coverings in communal areas of educational settings has also been removed.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the vaccine rollout, testing capacity and the availability of new antiviral treatments have allowed the government to “cautiously” restore more freedoms.
Infections remain high, with 102,292 cases reported on Wednesday and 346 deaths within within 28 days of a positive test.

Care home restrictions in England to be eased

Covid restrictions on adult social care will be eased in England from Monday, the government has announced.
There will be no limit on the number of visitors allowed at care homes, self-isolation periods will be cut and care homes will only have to follow outbreak management rules for 14 days, not 28.
The change is the latest rolling back of restrictions in England.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the move meant people could see more of their loved ones.
Read more.

Gray report watch - the latest

There had been speculation that senior civil servant Sue Gray’s report into lockdown parties held in Downing Street could be delivered to the prime minister yesterday, but that never happened. So where are we now?
The BBC understands that Gray's report is essentially complete, but that final checks were still being made to it yesterday - including with legal, HR and police teams.
So it means the wait for the PM, MPs and the rest of us continues.
There have also been questions about whether the report will be published in full or partial form.
Downing Street has said it intends to publish the report in the format Johnson receives it in.

Gray report will be published at earliest opportunity - cabinet minister

As we've already reported, senior civil servant Sue Gray's report into parties held at Downing Street during the pandemic has not yet been delivered to the prime minister.
Cabinet minister Therese Coffey has been on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning. She said that she's conscious that people want to make sure the report is published, and says that the government intends to publish its "full findings".
She says she doesn't know when it will be published, "but I'm confident that will be done at the earliest opportunity".
Given the investigation by the police, she says it's "not appropriate for me to comment any further" but she hopes it will "provide welcome clarity".

Everything will be exactly the same - Salon owner says

Back on face masks, and some businesses are asking people to continue wearing them, even though Plan B means you no longer have to.
Wendy Cummins, who owns a hairdressing salon in Eastleigh, says she's not planning to change any systems she has in place.


She says she and her staff will continue to wear their face masks and keep the screens and PPE in place.
Wendy says it’s a question of making people feel comfortable and safeguarding her staff.
She says she will ask her customers to wear a mask, but that they will still be able to come into the salon without one.

PM tweets as Plan B comes to an end

The prime minister has taken to Twitter this morning to talk about the end of Plan B measures in England.
He says the “success of our booster rollout, the tireless work of the NHS and the amazing public response” have helped to make it possible.
Boris Johnson warns the pandemic is not over and asks everyone to “remain cautious”.
He also urges anyone who hasn’t yet had their vaccine to come forward.

Real danger of Omicron spiking again - social psychologist

Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of the government's scientific advisory panel on behaviour, has been telling BBC Breakfast that the reason why infections and hospitalisations aren't as high as many people had feared is because “people’s behaviour was actually far more cautious than we expected”.
He says over Christmas many decided not to go out if they were going to see an elderly relative, and before they did go out a high number of people took a test to make sure that they didn’t have the virus.
He says those things have put us in a relatively good situation and we've got to be very careful about removing them all because there's a real danger of the infection spiking again.
"We’re over the peak of Omicron," he says, but the rate of infection is now getting higher in schools and “we’re not out of it yet”.

England lifts Omicron restrictions

England today lifts Covid restrictions imposed to tackle the Omicron variant, with masks no longer required in enclosed places and vaccine passports shelved.
People will no longer be legally required to wear face masks, although they will still be recommended in some settings.
Covid passports are also to be scrapped to enter places such as nightclubs, football grounds and large-scale events, although venues may continue to ask customers to provide evidence of their vaccination status or a recent negative test if they wish.
The changes are part of the government’s decision to lift Plan B coronavirus measures and come as the number of positive Covid-19 cases has fallen sharply over the past two weeks. Although still at high levels, cases have plateaued in recent days.
The UK government introduced the so-called Plan B restrictions on 8 December, after prime minister Boris Johnson warned of a looming “tidal wave” of Omicron.

How have Covid rules changed in England?

Here’s what you need to know.

• Face masks are no longer compulsory in any public spaces - although they will be still be "recommended" in some places
  
• Some retailers, including Sainsbury's and John Lewis, are asking their customers to keep wearing them
  
• London Mayor Sadiq Khan says face coverings will remain mandatory on Transport for London services, and is calling on people to "do the right thing"
  
• Covid passes are no longer compulsory to gain entry to venues and events.
  

The rules are also being relaxed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Find out more here.

We have to take more risks, care home provider says

Mike Padgam, chair of the Independent Care Group, which represents independent care providers in York and North Yorkshire, has been responding to the easing of restrictions on care homes in England.
He tells the Today programme he's pleased unlimited visitors will be allowed, but he says it will still be "tricky" if homes have outbreaks of Covid.
The number of days when homes are required to have in place "outbreak management rules" has been reduced from 28 to 14 days.
But Pagham says this can still prove challenging for care homes, explaining they can end up in a "cycle" of closing, opening and closing again because of outbreaks in homes.
"We have to take a few more risks in the future because it's not fair on people for them to be locked up."

Care rule changes: 'We're concerned about mum's mental state'

Also on BBC Radio 4's Today programme we heard from Suzy MacPherson, who last saw her mother - who is 96 and lives in a care home - before Christmas. The home has been closed since then because there was an outbreak of Covid.
She says her sister is her mother's essential care giver, but travels for work and has limited chances to visit.
"We're very concerned at the moment about my mum's mental state," Suzy says.
Asked if she thought the rule changes would improve things, she says "Yes, I think they will.
"I'm delighted to see that we're now going to have some parity with the wider community."

A convoy of truckers is set to descend on Ottawa in Canada to protest a vaccine mandate for cross-border drivers.
Thousands of truckers are protesting a new requirement that they be fully immunised to enter Canada as of 15 January.
Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said officers have been in been in contact with protest leaders whom he said have been cooperative and shared their plans, the Associated Press reports.
The US has imposed the same requirement on truckers entering the country.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance has estimated that about 15% truckers in Canada — as many as 16,000 — are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Donald Trump Jr. took to social media Tuesday to endorse the Canadian truck convoy’s fight against “tyranny” and to urge Americans to follow suit.
At the meeting in Ottawa, police disclosed they are preparing for a range of scenarios including the potential for violent outbreaks. Police say they are planning for the arrival of between 1,000 and 2,000 demonstrators, but say the situation is “fluid” and changing by the hour.
Some supporters of the convoy have taken to social media to warn the vaccine mandate for truckers will leave store shelves empty.
Transport minister Omar Alghabra has assured Canadians there’s no reason to fear food shortages will result from a small minority of truck drivers refusing to comply with the vaccine mandate.
Moreover, he said there’s been no “measurable impact” on the number of trucks crossing the border since the vaccine mandate went into effect on 15 January. Last week, he said almost 100,000 trucks crossed the border — about the same as usual for this time of year.

Germany records more than 200,000 new cases in a single day for first time during pandemic

Germany’s Omicron wave continues apace, as the country again set another record number of daily new infections, crossing the 200,000 threshold for the first time.
The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 203,136 positive tests in the last 24 hours, 69,600 cases more than the same day a week ago.
The seven-day incidence per 100,000 people rose to 1,017 from 941 the previous day, while another 188 people died, bringing the death toll since the start of the pandemic to 117,314.
Reuters remind us that German lawmakers debated yesterday whether to impose compulsory Covid vaccine shots, while protesters gathered outside the parliament building.

Anti-vaccine protesters gathered in Berlin yesterday. Photograph: Michael Kuenne/PRESSCOV/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Around 75% of the German population have received at least one dose of a vaccine - less than in western European peers such as France, Italy or Spain.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz backs compulsory vaccines for over-18s but his coalition government is divided on the issue and he has told lawmakers to vote according to their conscience.

Russia records over 80,000 new daily Covid cases for the first time

Russia’s daily Covid-19 cases rose to 88,816 on Thursday, a new record high for the seventh consecutive day as the Omicron variant was identified in new regions, officials said.
The number of new infections was a significant jump from the 74,692 reported on Wednesday. Reuters report that officials also said that 665 people had died in the last 24 hours.

Poland's Defence minster tests positive for coronavirus

Poland’s defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak has tweeted that he has tested positive for coronavirus. “I feel well, I will carry out my duties under isolation,” Blaszczak said.
Reuters remind us that Poland reported a record 53,420 new daily Covid infections yesterday.

Taipei to launch Level 2.5 alert, details Friday
Keoni Everington - Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Amid the rise of Omicron cluster infections tied to restaurants in northern Taiwan, the Taipei City Government will raise the epidemic prevention alert to Level 2.5, with the details to be provided on Friday (Jan. 28) afternoon.

While attending a forum of borough chiefs for Wenshan District on Thursday morning (Jan. 27), Taipei Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) said that the city is planning on raising its COVID alert to Level 2.5. She stated that details of the plan will be discussed on Friday morning.

When inspecting the vaccination efforts at Taipei Main Station that afternoon, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) also told the media that the city will upgrade to Level 2.5. He said that all government units are already making relevant preparations, with the focus on restaurants.

When asked if Taipei will ban indoor dining, Tsai said that the Taipei City Government will hold a meeting on Friday to make a decision on the details of the Level 2.5 alert, including the new epidemic prevention measures for restaurants.

Tsai said that once the meeting has concluded, officials will first consult with the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), before making an announcement on the new epidemic prevention measures.

As he visited first responders on Thursday afternoon, reporters asked Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) if he would require restaurants to use partitions and checkerboard seating. Ko replied by saying, "No, no, I'll tell you, everything must be done on a scientific basis. This afternoon, all the departments are holding a meeting. After the meeting, the results will be announced tomorrow afternoon."

Regarding the implementation of partitions, Ko said "This needs to be first researched, studied, and compared with data from abroad. Tomorrow afternoon, a report will be made to the public."

Israeli government report: global anti-Semitism stoked by Covid protesters making Holocaust comparisons

The Israeli government has said in a report marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day that protesters against Covid-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazi persecution are stoking global anti-Semitism.
Such displays showed factual knowledge of the genocide was eroding, the report said, adding that some Covid-19 agitators have been “consuming and disseminating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for the crisis and are using it for oppression, global domination, economic gain, etc”.
Expanding on the findings, Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai said Holocaust distortion or trivialisation is itself anti-Semitic and can sometimes lead to actual endangerment of Jews.
“There are people so fraught with hate who can, when faced with such imagery, be tipped over into action,” he told Reuters.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s main Holocaust memorial, has urged world leaders to come out against such discourse - a call apparently heeded by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Monday said the yellow star protests were “reprehensible”.
“Covid brought Holocaust trivialisation to a summit,” said Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan. “Things like that, sometimes done by politicians, by public figures, are despicable and Yad Vashem is very clear in demanding those persons retract.”

Anti-vaxxers making ‘at least $2.5m’ a year from publishing on Substack

Dan Milmo - Global Technology editor, The Guardian
A group of vaccine-sceptic writers are generating revenues of at least $2.5m (£1.85m) a year from publishing newsletters for tens of thousands of followers on the online publishing platform Substack, according to new research.
Prominent figures in the anti-vaccine movement including Dr Joseph Mercola and Alex Berenson have large followings on Substack, which has more than 1 million paying subscribers who sign up for individual newsletters from an array of authors who include novelist Salman Rushdie, the writer musician Patti Smith and former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings.
Mercola, a US alternative medicine doctor and prolific producer of anti-vaccine content, and Alex Berenson, a journalist banned from Twitter last year after questioning the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, are among five vaccine sceptics on the platform who earn themselves and Substack a minimum of $2.5m a year from their newsletters. Under Substack’s business model, writers keep about 90% of the subscription income, with the platform taking 10% and payment company Stripe charging the writers 3% of their take.
Research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a campaign group, showed that Mercola’s newsletters made a minimum of $1m a year from charging subscribers an annual fee of $50, with Berenson making at least $1.2m from charging people $60. Three other vaccine sceptic newsletters, from tech entrepreneur Steven Kirsch, virologist Robert Malone and anonymous writer Eugyppius, generate about $300,000 between them.

Hong Kong to shorten 21-day quarantine to 14 days for incoming travellers

Hong Kong will shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement to 14 days for incoming travellers starting from 5 February, leader Carrie Lam has said. Reuters report that it is a move that comes after months of pressure from financial executives and foreign diplomats who said the rule was eroding the city’s competitiveness.
Currently Hong Kong residents returning from over 160 countries are mandated to quarantine for 21 days at their own cost in designated hotels.

What exactly will be in Sue Gray’s report?

Back to Sue Gray's report on lockdown parties within government buildings.
They're still said to be running the report past lawyers and HR teams, but when it comes, we expect it to be a full account of every party and gathering that the senior civil servant has discovered or been told about.
Sue Gray began by looking at three gatherings but expanded her inquiry as fresh reports emerged in the media. Her report will include the 20 May event Boris Johnson attended in the Downing Street garden and the PM’s birthday party.
It may include others we don’t yet know about.
The Gray report will cover the nature of the gatherings, how many people were at them, and the Covid rules in force at the time. It could also recommend disciplinary action against individuals, although we don’t know at this stage whether individuals will be named in the published version of the report.
Gray has also been handed pictures and WhatsApp messages as part of her inquiry and is understood to have obtained logs of staff swiping in and out of Downing Street with their passes.
She's given details of some of the parties where criminality is suspected to the Metropolitan Police, who have launched their own investigation.

Analysis: Will the wait for Gray's report drag on to next week?

Adam Fleming - Chief political correspondent, BBC
We understand Sue Gray's report is undergoing last-minute checks.
There's speculation the ongoing police investigation might mean some elements of it are removed. An incomplete report would mean this issue would hang over the government unresolved for longer.
That would also be the case if No 10 publishes a summary rather than the full thing, or if there are sections blacked out or omitted.
Opposition parties would accuse the government of a cover-up and MPs have already started examining the parliamentary procedures they would use to force publication.
Time is running out in this week's parliamentary calendar for the report to be published, for MPs to have the time to digest it and for the PM to come to the Commons to answer questions.
Hence the theory that it won't happen until the start of next week.

What are the Covid rules in England now?

Here's a useful reminder of what's changed today in England now that the relaxation of Plan B rules have come into effect.
Care home restrictions will ease from Monday.


More Covid rules are easing in Scotland and Wales from tomorrow.
Find out more here.

Half of England's Covid patients mainly treated for other conditions

Nick Triggle - Health Correspondent


New data shows the majority of patients in hospital in England with Covid are there because of something else rather than the virus.
The latest figures for 25 January show a total of just over 13,000 Covid patients in hospital but 52% of them are primarily in for another condition and just happen to be infected.
It is the first time in the pandemic this has happened and is another sign of how the Omicron variant is leading to milder illness.
Patients who are infected but in for something else include a wide variety of cases.
Some will be patients who are not sick at all with Covid, while others will be vulnerable patients, such as those with cancer, dementia and heart disease, whose care and health is still being compromised by the virus.
Overall, the numbers in hospital with Covid have fallen - down by 1,500 in the past week.

Nearly 97,000 new coronavirus cases in UK

A further 96,871 coronavirus cases have been reported in the UK, according to the government's daily figures.
There have also been another 338 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

The unvaccinated NHS workers facing the sack

Today marks a week from the deadline for all NHS England staff to have their first Covid vaccination or face being moved out of patient facing roles or sacked.
Matt Taylor is a specialist paramedic who has worked through the pandemic treating elderly and vulnerable people in their homes. He hasn't had a Covid-19 vaccination and says he's prepared to lose his job over it.
The 42-year-old from Cumbria says: "The government says as healthcare workers we should want to protect our patients by getting vaccinated.
"But you can argue that it won't protect them any more whether I have it or not. We all know people who are triple jabbed and they've still got Covid or they've not been jabbed and they haven't got it."
The UK Health Security Agency says vaccines significantly reduce the risk of getting seriously ill or dying from Covid-19, and help cut the risk of catching or spreading the virus.
Other unvaccinated NHS workers have shared their stories here.

Olympic athletes can remove masks on podium, Chinese media say

Kerry Allen - BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst
The question of masks is on the agenda in China too, where the Beijing Winter Olympics get going next week.
China’s media are reporting that athletes will be allowed to remove their masks during award ceremonies.
The country’s leading paper, People’s Daily, says athletes will be given a signal on when to remove their masks before entering podiums, and they will be prompted to put them back on when they hear their national anthem.
Permission will be granted for athletes to remove masks during commemorative photo shoots, provided they socially distance.
Over the past couple of weeks, Beijing has grappled with an outbreak of Covid. There have been 80 local cases of the virus since 15 January.
However, athletes and Olympic personnel have been quarantined on arrival in the country and are being regularly tested. They're part of a "closed loop management system" that prevents them from having any contact with the wider Beijing community.

English hospitals still under 'sustained pressure', despite over half of patients with Covid treated primarily for something else

More than half of all patients with Covid-19 in hospital trusts in England are being treated primarily for something else, PA reports.
New figures show that of the 13,023 patients reported as having the virus on 25 January, 6,767 (52%) were not being treated principally for Covid.
This is the highest proportion since these figures were first published in June 2021, and is up from 26% at the start of December.
In London the figure was as high as 64% of patients, while in eastern England it was 62%. Both the Midlands (54%) and south-west England (51%) were also above 50%.
But other regions in England had slightly lower levels, with north-east England and Yorkshire at 46%, south-east England 45% and north-west England 43%.
All hospital patients who have tested positive for Covid need to be treated separately from those who do not have the virus, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for Covid or not.
But the growing proportion of patients who are in hospital “with” Covid rather than “for” Covid is another sign that the current wave of the virus has not led to the same sort of pressure on critical care as in previous waves.
A total of 501 patients in all hospitals in England were in mechanical ventilation beds on 25 January, compared with 773 at the start of December – and well below the 3,736 recorded at the peak of the second wave on 24 January last year.
Separate figures published on Thursday show that nearly one in five patients (18%) arriving at hospitals in England by ambulance last week waited at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E departments.
This is unchanged from the previous week, but is down from 23% of arrivals delayed for half an hour or more in the week to 9 January.
About 7% of arrivals took more than 60 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams – also unchanged on the previous week.
A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance.
They may have been moved into an A&E department, but staff were not available to complete the handover.
Analysis of the NHS England data by the PA news agency shows that both University Hospitals Bristol & Weston and University Hospitals Plymouth reported the highest proportion of ambulance handovers that were delayed by at least 30 minutes last week (54%), followed by North West Anglia and Shrewsbury & Telford (both 53%) and Gloucestershire (51%).
Bristol & Weston and Plymouth also topped the list for the proportion of arrivals that were delayed by more than an hour (37%), followed by University Hospitals of Leicester (33%), Gloucestershire (31%) and North Bristol (29%).
There were 85,467 arrivals at A&E by ambulance in the week to 23 January, up almost 2,000 on the previous week and the busiest seven days since the start of December, NHS England said.
Ambulance handover delays are likely to have been influenced by the volume of patients who were medically fit but who were not able to be discharged.
On average more than half of inpatients (59%) fit to be discharged each day last week did not leave hospital, for reasons such as a lack of space in care homes or pending an agreement with local social services over levels of support.
On 23 January, the most recent date for which figures are available, out of 18,075 patients in England who were medically fit to leave, 12,984 (72%) were still in hospital.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, the body that represents health trusts in England, said the figures showed hospitals were “operating under sustained pressure”, despite the recent fall in the Covid cases. She said:

We continue to be concerned about the strain in urgent and emergency care, with the number of ambulances arrivals hospitals the highest so far this winter.
We know that success in reducing delayed discharges is dependent on having enough staff to facilitate discharges and support patients once they are ready to return home or to other community settings.
That’s why we are pleased to see that the number of staff absences due to Covid-19 is now decreasing after the Omicron peak, although it’s important to recognise that the total number of staff absences remains high.

An average of 30,375 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were ill with coronavirus or having to self-isolate each day in the week to 23 January – down 15% on the previous week, but still nearly double the level just before Christmas.

The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has gone into isolation for five days after being exposed to someone with Covid.
“I feel fine and will be working from home. Stay safe, everyone – and please get vaccinated,” Trudeau tweeted, adding that a rapid test result had come back negative.
The news means Trudeau, 50, will miss the reopening of parliament next Monday. Trudeau, who has been prime minister since November 2015, was reelected for a second time last September.
Trudeau went into isolation for two weeks in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic after his wife, Sophie, tested positive for Covid.
Several Canadian cabinet ministers, including the foreign minister Mélanie Joly, have tested positive in the last few months.

Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that Covid infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing
Reuters reports:
The country last month forced bars, nightclubs and restaurants to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, following a surge of cases over the Christmas holidays due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
“We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks,” the health minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement.
He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs.
Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.
Greece reported 19,712 new cases on Thursday. Infections have been easing since a record high of around 50,000 in early January.
A total of 23,083 deaths linked to Covid have been reported since February 2020 and 1,867,935 cases out of a population of 11 million people.

Kuwait’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, Sheikh Hamad Jaber al-Ali al-Sabah, has contracted Covid, the Gulf state’s army said on Thursday.
He was self-isolating at home and working remotely, it added.

Spotify keeps Joe Rogan, dumps Neil Young in response to Covid ultimatum

Sean Selai - The Washington Times
Spotify has chosen to keep Joe Rogan and remove Neil Young from its streaming platform after the folk-rocker demanded that it choose between them over his objections to the podcaster’s COVID-19 vaccine skepticism.
Rolling Stone reported this week that Mr. Young accused “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast of spreading COVID-19 misinformation in a now-deleted open letter on his website, asking Spotify to remove his music if the Swedish-owned streaming app would not stop “spreading false information about vaccines.”
“They can have Rogan or Young,” the 76-year-old Canadian-American musician wrote in the letter to his manager and record label. “But not both.”
A Spotify spokesperson said in a statement emailed Wednesday to the media it was choosing Mr. Rogan, the app’s most popular podcast at 11 million listeners, but it regrets Mr. Young’s decision and hopes to “welcome him back soon.”
“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users users,” Spotify said in the statement. “With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.”
Spotify reportedly paid $100 million for the exclusive rights to host Mr. Rogan’s show.
Young, whose music was still available Thursday morning on Spotify, said in a statement on his website that he stands to lose 60% of his streaming income from the decision but that he encourages other musicians to boycott Spotify. The original link to his open letter, titled “A-Message-to-Spotify,” now leads to a blank page.
“Misinformation about COVID cannot be accepted,” Mr. Young wrote in the statement posted Wednesday. “I sincerely hope that other artists can make a move, but I really can’t expect that to happen.”
Mr. Rogan has not made any statement to the media on the dispute.
The 54-year-old former reality television star, standup comic and mixed martial artist has frequently shared his skepticism about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines on the air.
YouTube recently removed an episode of the show that featured guest Richard Malone, an “anti-vaxxer epidemiologist” banned from Twitter, comparing current U.S. health policies to those of Weimar Germany.

Pfizer Covid-19 pill approved by European Medicines Agency
AP reports:
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended that Pfizer’s coronavirus antiviral drug be authorised for use in the 27-nation European Union, the first time the agency has recommended a pill for treating Covid-19.
In a statement on Thursday, the EU drug regulator said giving the green light to Pfizer’s Paxlovoid could help people infected with Covid-19 avoid more serious disease and being admitted to hospital.
The EMA’s expert committee recommended the pill be given to adults who do not require oxygen and who are at higher risk of severe disease.
The drug was cleared by regulators in the US and the UK in late December, although authorities noted that supplies would be extremely limited.
An antiviral pill from Merck is also expected to be authorised, but Pfizer’s drug is all but certain to be the preferred option because of its mild side effects and superior effectiveness as suggested by studies, including a nearly 90% reduction in hospital admissions and deaths among patients most likely to become severely ill.
The pills from Pfizer and Merck are expected to be effective against the Omicron variant because they do not target the spike protein where most of the variant’s mutations reside.
Pfizer has 180,000 treatment courses available worldwide, with roughly 60,000 to 70,000 allocated to the US. The company said it expects to have 250,000 available in the US by the end of January.
The EMA said its decision was based on a review of the drug’s use in people who were mostly infected with the Delta variant, but they believed it would also be helpful in curbing the surge caused by the ultra-contagious Omicron variant.
“Based on laboratory studies, Paxlovid is also expected to be active against omicron and other variants,” the regulator said. It said the drug’s safety profile was “favourable” and that side effects were generally mild.
Peter Liese, the European Parliament’s spokesperson for health, called the decision a “real ray of hope” for a return to normality after the pandemic, but he cautioned that there were no guarantees from the European Commission or member countries that the drug would be delivered quickly.
In a statement, he said he had recently sent Pfizer’s chief executive “an urgent appeal” following EU negotiations to obtain the drug.

What's happened today?

Here's a recap of today's developments:

• Easing rules in care homes in England: There will be fewer restrictions in adult care settings in England from Monday, including no limits on visitor numbers. The health secretary says this is thanks to the vaccine programme and falling Omicron rates.
  
• Beginning of the end for masks? It's no longer a legal requirement to wear face coverings in indoor places in England. But some shops such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and John Lewis will still be asking customers to do so. That's also the case on trains, as well as London transport generally.
  
• Not a Gray day: We're yet to see that long-awaited report by Sue Gray into lockdown parties. The PM, while out and about in Wales, told reporters he's "absolutely not" delaying it, and said it would be published in full. Here, our correspondent Iain Watson looks at some of the things that might be holding it up while our political editor Laura Kuenssberg says Boris Johnson is coming out fighting.
  
• Covid boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said. The UKHSA said that around six months after a second dose of any of the Covid vaccines, protection against death with Omicron was around 60% in those aged 50 and over. However, this increased to around 95% two weeks after receiving a booster vaccine dose. UKHSA added that data continued to show high levels of protection against hospitalisation from the booster. Effectiveness against hospitalisation was around 90% for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot , dropping to 75% 10-14 weeks after the booster.For Moderna, effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90-95% up to 9 weeks after the booster. “The evidence is clear - the vaccine helps to protect us all against the effects of Covid-19 and the booster is offering high levels of protection from hospitalisation and death in the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at UKHSA.
  
• The UK recorded another 96,871 new cases of Covid and a further 338 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
  
• Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that Covid infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing. “We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks,” the health minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement. He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs. Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.
  
• India’s capital announced the end of a weekend curfew and eased other stringent Covid restrictions on Thursday, with government data suggesting the country’s recent Omicron variant outbreak had slowed. Local officials in Delhi decided to reopen restaurants, allow markets to operate at full capacity and lift an all-weekend curfew imposed at the start of January that kept nearly all residents confined to their homes. “In view of the decline in positive cases, it was decided to gradually ease restrictions while ensuring adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour,” Delhi lieutenant governor, Anil Baijal, said. “In the last five to seven days there is an early indication of Covid cases plateauing … but we need to observe and take precautions,” the health ministry official Lav Agarwal told a Thursday press conference. An overnight curfew will remain in effect for all the capital’s residents except essential workers.
  
• The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has gone into isolation for five days after being exposed to someone with Covid. “I feel fine and will be working from home. Stay safe, everyone – and please get vaccinated,” Trudeau tweeted, adding that a rapid test result had come back negative.
  
• More than half of all patients with Covid-19 in hospital trusts in England are being treated primarily for something else. New figures show that of the 13,023 patients reported as having the virus on 25 January, 6,767 (52%) were not being treated principally for Covid. This is the highest proportion since these figures were first published in June 2021, and is up from 26% at the start of December. All hospital patients who have tested positive for Covid need to be treated separately from those who do not have the virus, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for Covid or not. But the growing proportion of patients who are in hospital “with” Covid rather than “for” Covid is another sign that the current wave of the virus has not led to the same sort of pressure on critical care as in previous waves.
  
• Booster shots could reduce future hospitalisations in Europe by at least half a million, the European Union’s public health agency said, even as the Omicron variant spreads at an unprecedented pace. “The current uptake of a booster dose achieved by early January may reduce future Omicron hospital admissions by 500,000-800,000 [in Europe],” the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) said. The figures cover the 27-nation EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Currently about 70% of the EU’s population of 450 million has had two doses of a Covid vaccine and half of them have received a booster.“ Extending the booster programme to all previously vaccinated individuals could reduce admissions by another 300,000-500,000,” the ECDC said.