Coronavirus - 28 January 2022

• Restrictions are easing in Wales, with nightclubs being allowed to open and the "rule of six" being ditched for pubs and restaurants
  
• In Scotland, social distancing reverts to one metre in indoor settings, and adults taking part in organised activities with under-fives won't need a face mask
  
• The Metropolitan Police have confirmed they want "minimal reference" in the Sue Gray report to events they're investigating at Downing Street and Whitehall
  
• But they say they are not behind the delay to the report's publication, which had been expected this week
  
• The timing of the positive Covid test that tennis star Novak Djokovic used to enter Australia is in doubt according to data gathered by the BBC
  
• Scientists are warning that more dangerous variants could emerge if more is not done to help people in poorer countries get vaccinated
  

Good morning and welcome

What’s happening this morning

• Nightclubs can reopen and the rule of six is lifted for pubs and restaurants in Wales as part of a raft of changes to rules brought in to slow the Omicron variant
  
• In Scotland, rules on physical distancing and the wearing of face masks in certain circumstances are being relaxed
  
• Doubts have emerged over the timing of the positive Covid test tennis star Novak Djokovic used to enter Australia to try to compete in the Australian Open
  
• Scientists have warned the government that allowing large numbers of people in lower-income countries to go unvaccinated is "reckless" and could lead to new Covid variants
  
• And Barnard Castle had its "best ever" year for tourists in 2021 after the town was thrust into the media spotlight amid the Dominic Cummings lockdown row
  

Here’s a quick recap of all the international Covid developments:

• England is going back to its “Plan A” Covid strategy by lifting virus restrictions, with commuters back to the office, masks no longer required in enclosed places and vaccine passports shelved.
  
• The EU’s drug regulator gave the green light to Pfizer Inc’s antiviral Covid-19 pill for treating adults at risk of severe illness.
  
• Booster shots could reduce future hospitalisations in Europe by at least half a million, the EU’s public health agency said.
  
• Finland will begin gradually easing restrictions from 1 February instead of mid-February as initially planned.
  
• The head of the Paris hospitals system has set off a fierce debate by questioning whether people who refuse to be vaccinated should continue to have their treatment covered by public health insurance.
  
• Spain’s north-eastern Catalonia region drops the need for a Covid passport to enter restaurants, bars and gyms.
  
• Sweden’s health authority says it will not recommend Covid-19 jabs for all five to 11 year olds, the country again choosing a different Covid policy to much of Europe.
  
• Many more Covid restrictions are being lifted on Friday in Wales, allowing nightclubs to reopen and some rules on social distancing to be scrapped.
  

• Hong Kong will shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement to 14 days for incoming travellers starting from 5 February.
  
• New Delhi ends a weekend curfew, reopens restaurants and allows markets to operate at full capacity, as the Omicron variant outbreak slows.
  

• Canadian truck drivers are meeting in Ottawa to protest a federal government vaccine mandate.
  
• Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau says he has been exposed to Covid-19 and will isolate for five days, in accordance with health rules for vaccinated people.
  
• The US government’s main health agency is failing to meet its responsibilities for leading the national response to public health emergencies, including the coronavirus pandemic, a federal watchdog said Thursday.
  

• A United Arab Emirates medical convoy of one million Covid-19 vaccines reached the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing, state news agency WAM said.
  
• Morocco will reopen its airspace for international flights starting Feb. 7, the state news agency (MAP) reported on Thursday.
  
• Covid-19 boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said.
  
• China’s Walvax Biotechnology has recruited most of the 28,000 participants needed for a large clinical trial of its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine candidate, a senior company official said.
  

Nightclubs reopen in Wales as rules eased

Further rules easing in Scotland as situation improves

Sue Gray report update

Does Met statement explain Sue Gray report delay?

Will Met request see Sue Gray report watered down?

Omicron's fall has levelled off - should we worry?

Barnard Castle sees a post-lockdown boom

Confusion in Whitehall but clarity expected later

Doubts cast over Djokovic's positive Covid test

Partner of unvaccinated Covid patient warns of risks

Morocco to reopen airspace after Omicron-prompted closure

Vulnerable patients missing out on quick access to Covid treatment

Debate over cost of care for unvaccinated ignited in France

When free and efficient drugs are available, should people be able to renounce it without consequences ... while we struggle to take care of other patients?”

Australia records deadliest day of pandemic

As we have seen during the two years of the pandemic, the number of deaths associated with those cases stay higher for a longer period. There is a delay in the number of deaths. Sadly, we have seen quite a number of deaths.

Philippines will grant entry to vaccinated visitors from 10 February

Russia’s daily Covid-19 cases surged to 98,040 on Friday

Japan's deputy chief cabinet secretary has tested positive for Covid

• that there are fewer than 10,000 new cases per day
  
• that the fatality rate is no higher than 0.1% of those who are admitted to the hospital with an infection
  
• and that more than 80% of at-risk people have had at least two vaccinations
  

The Omicron coronavirus now accounts for nearly all new infections in Italy

Germany says Omicron surge 'under control' despite record infections

Today so far …

• Russia’s daily Covid-19 cases surged to 98,040 on Friday, a new record high for the eighth consecutive day as the Omicron variant continued to spread, the government’s coronavirus task force said.
  
• The Philippines will grant quarantine-free entry to visitors from more than 150 countries provided they are vaccinated against Covid from 10 February, its government has said, in an effort to boost the tourism sector.
  
• Australia has recorded its deadliest day ever of the Covid pandemic, with 98 deaths recorded, as the first cases of the BA.2 descendant of the Omicron variant have been recorded in NSW.
  
• Australia’s medical regulator has sounded the alarm on companies allegedly trying to bring unapproved rapid antigen tests (RATs) into the country, with federal police investigating claims one firm forged the authorisation of health minister Greg Hunt on forms.
  
• In the UK, Scotland Yard has said it has asked for references to matters it is now investigating to be removed from Sue Gray’s report into parties held in breach of lockdown restrictions at Downing Street.
  
• A group of scientists have warned the UK government that allowing poorer countries to remain unvaccinated is a “reckless approach to public health”, meaning Covid variants are more likely to develop.
  
• Nightclubs will be allowed to reopen in Wales from today as Covid restrictions are eased further. “Alert level zero” came into effect from 6am this morning.
  
• The head of the Paris hospitals system has questioned whether people who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid should continue to have their treatment covered by public health insurance.
  
• The Omicron variant now accounts for nearly all new infections in Italy, the National Health Institute said, accounting for almost 96% of cases in a flash survey.
  
• The European Union ombudsman has criticised the European Commission for not disclosing text messages that the head of the EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen, exchanged with Pfizer chief, Albert Bourla, before sealing a Covid-19 vaccine deal.
  
• India detected over 250,000 new infections today, but health officials said there were signs of Covid infections plateauing in some parts of the country.
  
• Japan’s deputy chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihiko Isozaki, has tested positive for Covid.
  
• Health authorities in Thailand have approved new guidelines outlining the parameters for declaring the coronavirus pandemic an endemic disease.
  

UK and EU approve Covid antiviral pill Paxlovid

UK records another 277 deaths and 89,176 cases

Wrangling inside Cabinet Office over report, say sources

'My spoof Gray report was motivated by anger', says Joe Lycett

:Left Quotes: [My best friend] died, at the start of lockdown, and I wasn't there because I was following the rules, and we had a tiny insufficient funeral, because we were following the rules, and I drove his kids away from that funeral back to Birmingham without any sort of wake, because we were following the rules, and it felt unnatural and cruel and almost silly, but we did it because we followed the rules.

BA.2, the newly detected version of Omicron, is not a cause for alarm, scientists say

Experts say there’s no reason to panic over BA.2, which was first detected mid-November and has since spread to 49 countries including the United States. “Among all the lineages of Omicron, this is the one showing a higher increase of cases. But we have to be careful in interpreting that, because higher increases from a very low number are easier to observe,” said Ramon Lorenzo-Redondo, assistant professor of medicine for infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
Like the more familiar version of Omicron, BA.2 has a large number of changes – about 20 – concentrated in the spike protein, the part of the virus that’s targeted by vaccines.
Unlike Omicron, however, it doesn’t cause a certain signature on lab tests called an s-gene target failure, meaning it can look like other SARS-CoV-2 variants on a first screen. That has some calling it ‘the stealth variant’.
But Lorenzo-Redondo says that nickname has caused people to think that it can’t be detected in lab tests, which isn’t the case.
“There has been confusing messaging about this subject. Both FDA-approved lab-based and at-home tests should detect this lineage, as well as the other Omicron (sublineage), BA.1,” he said.
In Denmark, BA.2 now accounts for about half of all new Covid-19 cases, according to a recent statement from Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute.On Thursday, Dr Sujeet Kumar Singh, director of India’s National Centre for Disease Control, said that BA.2 had become the dominant strain there.

UK reports 89,176 new cases and 277 Covid-linked deaths

What’s happening to new Omicron variant BA.2?

Norway’s Foreign Minister tests positive for COVID hours after meeting the Norwegian royals

“With all my heart, I wish I did not test positive on the same day as I had an audience with King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon. I tested myself early today, and it was negative, but I tested myself again when I got an acute headache this afternoon. The Royal Court was notified immediately. Like everyone else, I am afraid of infecting others. Moreover, of course, I sincerely hope that I have not infected His Majesty the King, Queen or Crown Prince even though I wore a mask and kept my distance.”

King Harald of Norway takes sick leave just hours after Covid contact

Two deaths, 2,587 people test positive on Friday

Raymond Blanc spent four weeks in intensive care battling Covid in Christmas 2020

What's happened today?

• What now for Gray inquiry? There's confusion about the fate of Sue Gray's report into lockdown parties, after the police asked for some details to be kept out of it. This has not gone down well with opposition figures, who want to see the report soon. Meanwhile, Labour's Sir Keir Starmer says the "whole government is paralysed" because of the police probe.
  
• Restrictions ease: In Wales and Scotland, Covid rules are being rolled back. Nightclubs can open again in Wales, and Scotland sees social distancing reverting to one metre for indoor places.
  
• UK Covid cases fall (but only slightly): Daily figures reveal a slight dip in infections, with 87,176 confirmed cases. The number of cases over the past seven days has fallen by 2.7%. The BBC's Nick Triggle asks what we should make of the fact we're no longer seeing a huge drop in cases.
  
• Germany said the Omicron surge is ‘under control’ despite record infections. On Thursday, new daily cases topped 200,000 for the first time. On Friday, the infection rate reached another record of 1,073 new cases per 100,000 residents in a week.
  
• The UK reported 89,176 new cases and 277 Covid-linked deaths. That compares with 96,871 cases and 338 deaths recorded a day earlier. Since early January, the number of confirmed Covid cases had been falling in the UK. But in recent days, the caseload has plateaued, with daily tallies hovering at about 90,000 cases.
  
• England’s R number has dipped to between 0.7 and 0.9. Last week, the figure was estimated to be between 0.8 and 1.1, while it was 1.1-1.5 in the week before that.
  
• Hong Kong’s government has offered to compensate pet shops after ordering a cull last week of more than 2,000 hamsters for Covid reasons. The city’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said it would offer them a one-off payment of up to HK$30,000 (£2870).
  
• Italy has reported 143,898 Covid-related deaths today, compared with 155,697 the day before, the health ministry said. The number of deaths fell to 378 from 389.
  
• Scientists have said Boris Johnson’s failure to take enough action to get jabs to the 3 billion unvaccinated people worldwide means new variants will put thousands of lives at risk in the UK.
  
• Sweden has decided against recommending Covid vaccines for children aged five to 11, the country’s health agency said, arguing that the benefits did not outweigh the risks.
  
• Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said on Friday six lab studies showed that their experimental oral Covid-19 drug, molnupiravir, was active against the Omicron variant. The UK became the first country to approve the antiviral molnupiravir in November last year.
  
• The NHS is set to prescribe the antiviral pill Paxlovid for high-risk Covid patients from next month. This is a valuable breakthrough for people with weakened immune systems, who may not get maximum protection from vaccines. High-risk patients include those who are immunocompromised, cancer patients and those with Down’s syndrome.
  
• Theresa May has broken her silence on ‘partygate’ to express her anger and expectation of full accountability. In a letter to her local newspaper, the Maidenhead Advertiser, she wrote: “It is vital that those who set the rules, follow the rules … This is important for ensuring the necessary degree of trust between the public and government.
  
• Claims shared on social media, including by the former Brexit secretary David Davis, that the true number of deaths in England and Wales caused by Covid could be 17,000 have been debunked as “spurious” and factually incorrect by the Office for National Statistics.