Coronavirus - 14 February 2022

Summary for Monday, 14th February 2022

Good morning

Welcome to our daily coronavirus update.

Starting off the day with a quick look at how Covid is unfolding across regions around the world:

• England has delayed the announcement of a plan to expand Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11 amid an apparent impasse between the government and its vaccinations watchdog.
  While the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) made its decision more than a week ago, Downing Street is continuing to review the verdict. A decision is now expected to be announced on 21 February, when Boris Johnson unveils the government’s long-term Covid plan.
  
  
• Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam has said an “onslaught” of Covid-19 infections has dealt a heavy blow and overwhelmed capacity to deal with the virus as daily cases surge to record highs.
  “The onslaught of the fifth wave of the epidemic has dealt a heavy blow to Hong Kong and overwhelmed the city’s capacity of handling,” she said.
  Daily infections have multiplied 13 times over the past two weeks, from about 100 cases at the start of February to more than 1,300 on 13 February, with authorities scrambling to control the deepening outbreak.
  

Europe:

• The announcement of a plan to expand England’s Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11 has been delayed amid an apparent impasse between the government and its vaccinations watchdog. While the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) made its decision more than a week ago, Downing Street is reviewing the verdict. A decision is now expected to be announced on 21 February, when Boris Johnson unveils the government’s long-term Covid plan.
  
  
• A future variant of Covid-19 could be much more dangerous and cause far higher numbers of deaths and cases of serious illness than Omicron, leading UK scientists have warned. As a result, many of them say that caution needs to be taken in lifting the last Covid restrictions in England, as Boris Johnson plans to do next week.
  
  
• France has dropped its Covid testing requirement for vaccinated travellers arriving from the UK. The French interior ministry said that from 12 February, travellers will not need to test as long as they are vaccinated according to European regulations.
  
  
• Anti-vaxxers in France are reportedly buying fake vaccine passes online to get around the country’s Covid restrictions, which are often promoted on mainstream social media platforms, research has revealed.
  
  
• Demonstrators against Covid-19 restrictions in France and the Netherlands staged protests on Saturday inspired by the “freedom convoy” demonstrations in Canada. In France police fired teargas at demonstrators on the Champs Élysées in Paris shortly after a convoy protesting against restrictions made it into the capital. A convoy of vehicles from across the Netherlands also brought The Hague’s city centre to a standstill earlier in the day.
  
  
• Germany hopes the arrival of 34m Nuvaxovid (Novavax) doses in 2022 will convince many to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Around 4m doses should be delivered in the first quarter, a spokesperson for the health ministry said.
  

Asia:

• Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam has said an “onslaught” of Covid-19 infections has dealt a heavy blow and overwhelmed capacity to deal with the virus as daily cases surge to record highs. Daily infections have multiplied 13 times over the past two weeks, from about 100 cases at the start of February to more than 1,300 on 13 February, with authorities scrambling to control the deepening outbreak.
  
• Hong Kong authorities also said supplies of vegetables and chilled poultry to the global financial hub may be temporarily disrupted after some mainland goods vehicle drivers preliminarily tested positive for Covid-19. Hong Kong imports 90% of its food, with the mainland its most important source, especially for fresh food.
  
• Vietnam will remove its Covid-19 restrictions on international passenger flights with all markets starting 15 February with no limitation on the number of flights.
  
• South Korea will begin giving out fourth doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of the month and supply millions of additional home test kits to ease shortages amid a surge in Omicron infections, authorities confirmed on Monday.
  
• Singapore has granted interim approval for Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine with the first batch of the Nuvaxovid vaccine expected to arrive in the next few months, Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said on Monday.
  
• China’s medical products regulator has given conditional approval for Pfizer’s Covid-19 drug Paxlovid to treat adults who have mild to moderate Covid and high risk of progressing to a severe condition, making it the first oral pill specifically developed to treat the disease cleared in the country.
  

Americas:

• The busiest US-Canada border crossing has reopened after protests against Covid-19 restrictions cumulated in a six-day blockade. Canadian police cleared protesters from the Ambassador bridge linking the country to the United States on Sunday allowing North America’s busiest trade route to reopen.
  

(Above summary from The Guardian)

Covid-pass protesters en route for Brussels rally

Hundreds of cars, campervans and trucks are on their way to a protest against Covid regulations in Brussels today where Belgian officials have already banned a demonstration following a weekend attempt in Paris.
Around 1,300 vehicles from across France had arrived near the French border town of Lille by late Sunday, according to police and as reported by Agence France-Presse.
Some protesters brandished French flags and chanted “We won’t give up” and “Freedom, freedom.”
Ninety-seven people were arrested at the weekend in Paris where thousands of demonstrators defied a ban on attempting to blockade the French capital. The demonstrators took aim at the “vaccine pass” required to enter restaurants, cafes and many other public venues across the country.

Hundreds of cars, campervans and trucks are on their way to a protest against Covid regulations in Brussels. Vans seen in the Heyzel ‘ parking lot on 13 February in Grimbergen, Belgium, ahead of a demonstration in Brussels for 14 February. Photograph: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

Belgian authorities have banned all demonstrations in the capital with “motorised vehicles” and said they had taken measures to prevent the blocking of the Brussels region.
Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo advised the demonstrators to abandon their plans to come to Brussels.

I say to those who come from abroad: look at the rules in Belgium. We never had rules that were too hard and we don’t have so many anymore. So complain at home.”

Checks are planned at the border and vehicles coming to the capital despite the ban will be diverted, Belgian authorities warned.
Brussels airport also advised travellers to take precautions on Monday and come by train for fear of blocking access routes.
The self-proclaimed “freedom convoy” is one of several worldwide inspired by a truckers’ standoff with authorities in Canada over vaccine mandates.

French anti-vaxxers buying fake Covid passes online

Tom Ambrose - The Guardian
Anti-vaxxers in France are buying fake vaccine passes online to get around the country’s Covid restrictions.
These are often promoted on mainstream social media platforms, research has revealed.
Many buying the forgeries, which can be used across the European Union (EU), are being redirected from websites such as Instagram and Facebook to the Telegram encrypted messenger where they can be bought discreetly, according to a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).
The report also raised concerns that social media algorithms are automatically directing people disillusioned with the French government’s handling of the pandemic towards far-right online spaces.
ISD’s research coordinator, Zoé Fourel, who led the study, said that while some Facebook groups dedicated to the sale of fake Covid passes had about 1,000 members, there were Instagram accounts with as many as 17,000 followers.

Taiwan aims to ease its strict Covid quarantine policy from next month as it needs to gradually resume normal life and reopen to the world, the government said on Monday.
Since the pandemic began two years ago, Taiwan has succeeded in keeping reported cases of Covid below 20,000, having enforced a blanket two-week quarantine for everyone arriving on the island even as large parts of the rest of the world have ditched theirs, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a meeting with senior health officials, Premier Su Tseng-chang said that even though there could be further domestic infections the government was “quite confident” in its anti-pandemic measures.
“The government must also take into account livelihoods and economic development, gradually return to normal life, and step out to the world,” his office cited him as saying.

Bereaved families call for PM to lose say over UK Covid inquiry topics

Robert Booth - The Guardian
In the UK, families bereaved by Covid want Boris Johnson to relinquish control over which issues will be investigated in the pandemic public inquiry, alleging he is compromised by allegations of lockdown-breaking at Downing Street.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group fears the current arrangement, where Johnson has a final say over inquiry topics, could allow him to water down examination of how his own conduct and that of senior officials may have undermined public trust in infection control measures that the bereaved say cost lives.
The group, which represents more than 6,000 families, is calling on the prime minister to commit to accepting terms of reference presented by the chair to the inquiry, Lady Hallett, after a public consultation. Under the Inquiries Act it is for the minister in formal charge to set the terms of reference, in this case the prime minister.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that it’s not good enough for him to just take the chair’s recommendations for the terms of reference as advice and he needs to commit to implementing them in full,” said Hannah Brady, a member of the bereaved group.
“The fact his office is under police investigation for breaching the rules shows he is compromised and cannot be allowed to have a final say on what the inquiry looks into.”

Case numbers have dropped slightly in Germany, as the government’s Covid expert panel called for a gradual easing of restrictions in Europe’s biggest economy.
Germany reported 76,465 new daily coronavirus cases on Monday, down 20% from the same day last week. The seven-day infection incidence per 100,000 people also fell to 1,460 from 1,467 on Sunday, Reuters reported.
Germany’s expert panel said on Sunday the government needed to put plans in place for easing curbs, given the current wave of infections was expected to flatten in the coming weeks, but it warned against loosening restrictions too soon.
“Thanks to the milder course of the disease, we are entering a new phase of the pandemic, which allows prospects for gradual opening,” Hendrik Wuest, the prime minister of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, told Welt newspaper.
The German chancellor Olaf Scholz and the heads of the federal states are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss possible easing.

New Zealand protestors using "intimidation and harassment"

New Zealand’s prime minister has said protesters who oppose coronavirus mandates were using “intimidation and harassment”, as authorities appeared to take a harsher stance toward the convoy of demonstrators that has disrupted the capital of Wellington for nearly a week.
Police initially let the protesters set up tents and camp on the grounds of New Zealand’s parliament before arresting 122 people on Thursday and then backing off again. The size of the protest dropped to a few hundred last week but increased again to about 3,000 over the weekend.
Speaking with reporters, prime minister Jacinda Ardern signalled the thinning patience of authorities, the Associated Press reported.
“I very clearly have a view on the protesters and the way that they’ve conducted their protest because it has moved beyond sharing a view to intimidation and harassment of the people around central Wellington,” she said. “That cannot be tolerated.”
Parliament speaker Trevor Mallard tried to make the protesters uncomfortable last week by turning on lawn sprinklers and blasting out decades-old Barry Manilow songs and the 1990s hit Macarena on a repeat loop.
Police on Monday told protesters to move their illegally parked vehicles, offering them alternative parking at a nearby stadium.

The busiest US-Canada border crossing has reopened after protests against Covid restrictions closed it for almost a week.
The Sunday night reopening of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan came as Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.
The Detroit International Bridge company said “the Ambassador Bridge is now fully open allowing the free flow of commerce between the Canada and US economies once again”.
The crossing normally carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, and the blockade on the Canadian side had disrupted business on both sides, with carmakers forced to shut down several factories.
Police in Windsor said earlier in the day that more than two dozen people had been peacefully arrested, seven vehicles towed and five seized as officers cleared the last demonstrators from near the bridge, which links the city – and numerous Canadian car factories – with Detroit.

Second booster recommended for people in Sweden aged 80 and above

Sweden’s Health Agency recommended on Monday that people aged 80 or above should receive a second booster shot of Covid vaccine, the fourth jab in total, to ward off waning immunity amid the rampant spread of the Omicron variant.
The recommendation also covered all people living in nursing homes or who receive assisted living services at home. The second booster shot should be administered at least four months after the first booster jab, the agency said in a statement.
Sweden hit record levels of infections earlier this year as Omicron spread rapidly across the country.
But authorities are banking on booster shots and the milder symptoms of the variant to ease the pressure on healthcare and removed restrictions and scaled back testing this month.

South Korea to begin giving out fourth jabs

South Korea will begin giving out fourth doses of Covid vaccines this month and supply millions of additional home test kits to ease shortages amid a surge in Omicron infections, authorities confirmed on Monday.
The surge has pushed daily cases to records, but widespread vaccination, with first booster shots received by more than 57% of the population of 52 million, has helped limit deaths and serious infections, Reuters reported.
High-risk groups will be the first to get the fourth dose, in effect a second booster shot, health minister Kwon Deok-cheol told a Covid response meeting.
“We’re planning to provide fourth shots to those who live in nursing homes and care facilities and others with declined immunisation, in light of a recent increase of infections among people aged 60 or older,” he said.
At least 44.22 million people, or 86.2% of the population, are considered fully vaccinated. Sunday’s 54,619 new cases took the tally of infections to 1,405,246, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The country’s death toll rose by 21 to 7,102.

Hong Kong will extend the suspension of face-to-face classes by two weeks until 7 March, local broadcaster RTHK said on Monday.
It comes as as the global financial hub grapples to contain a surge in Covid infections, Reuters reported.
Hong Kong reported 2,071 new daily Covid infections on Monday, a new record, with 4,500 preliminary positive cases, authorities said.

Germany's Covid restrictions are set to end as case numbers have dropped slightly, according to a draft official plan seen by Agence France-Presse.
As a first step, contact restrictions will ease to allow people to meet privately. Currently private gatherings are limited to 10 people, or two households if an unvaccinated person is present. Access to shops will no longer be dependent on vaccination status.
From 4 March, access to restaurants will no longer be restricted to people who have received a booster jab as long as an unvaccinated person shows a negative test.
Finally, “broad restrictions of social, cultural and economic life should be gradually lifted by the start of spring on March 20, 2022,” the plan states.
Rules requiring employers to allow staff to work from home if possible will also be lifted at that date. Germany will then rely on “basic protection measures” including “in particular the wearing of medical masks” in public.
The plan is expected to be approved by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the heads of the federal states on Wednesday.
Germany reported 76,465 new daily coronavirus cases on Monday, down 20% from the same day last week.

In the UK, about one in 25 people working in social care, teaching and education were likely to have been self-isolating because of coronavirus last month
According to figures published by the Office for National Statistics, on 29 January, 4.0% of social care workers were self-isolating, up from 2.3% two weeks earlier. Some 3.9% of teaching and education staff were self-isolating because of Covid-19, up from 2.0% two weeks earlier. Levels of self-isolation among health care workers rose from 2.1% to 3.6%.
The figures, reported by PA news agency, are the first of their kind to estimate the proportion of people self-isolating in different types of employment. They also show that at the peak of the Omicron wave on 3 January, nearly one in 20 – 4.7% – of the entire working-age population in England were likely to be in self-isolation.

Duchess of Cornwall tests positive for Covid-19, Clarence House announces

Clarence House has confirmed that Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating.


A Clarence House spokesperson said: “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating. We continue to follow government guidelines.”
Camilla, 74, is triple vaccinated, sources said. She carried out a string of engagements last Thursday – the day the Prince of Wales tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time.
Prince Charles tested positive last Thursday as part of a routine test, having experienced no symptoms previously.
Camilla had continued with her programme of engagements at the end of the week as she continued to test negative for the virus. She described herself as “luckily” negative on Thursday and said she had been tested “so many times”.
It is the first time the duchess has caught Covid-19, while Prince Charles has the virus for a second time.

France travel rules ease as Covid tests axed for vaccinated UK travellers

Julie Delahaye - Digital Travel editor, The Mirror
France is relaxing travel restrictions for UK travellers who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus as it follows in the footsteps of other countries like Portugal and Greece.
Brits heading on France holidays will no longer need to take a Covid test if they are fully vaccinated - and this applies to anyone aged 12 or over.
Under previous rules, fully vaccinated Brits can visit had needed either a negative PCR or antigen test result taken within 48 hours of arrival.
However this has now been scrapped, although travellers still need to meet other entry requirements such as signing a ‘sworn statement’ that they are not suffering from any coronavirus symptoms.
The country is following in the footsteps of Portugal and Greece, both of whom have also eased their travel rules and scrapped pre-departure Covid tests for vaccinated Brits.
However, it’s worth noting that France recently tightened up its rules around what counts as being fully vaccinated.
To qualify, you need to have received your full vaccination course within 270 days - or nine months - of arrival. Otherwise, you'll need to show proof of a booster jab to be considered as fully jabbed.
The rules apply to anybody aged 12 or over, but unvaccinated children can still visit.
The UK Foreign Office explains in its France travel advice: "The same measures applied to vaccinated adults are applied to any minors who are travelling with them, whether vaccinated or not."
Unvaccinated travellers will still be required to have an essential reason to travel for France as well as a negative Covid test, and will be required to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival.
Meanwhile, tourists will still be subject to strict Covid rules while in France.
This includes anyone aged 16 or over needing a ‘pass vaccinal’ to access the likes of restaurants, bars, museums and other venues.
To obtain one you need either proof of vaccination, proof of recovery, or proof of a medical exemption from vaccines from a doctor.
For children aged 12-15 there is a 'pass sanitaire' option which can be obtained with a negative Covid test result or proof of vaccination.
In recent weeks an increasing number of countries have been easing their travel restrictions, and meaning Brits' holiday options are quickly expanding.
For example New Zealand has unveiled the phased reopening of its borders, Australia is set to welcome tourists back this month, and Morocco recently lifted a travel ban it had put in place due to concerns over the Omicron variant back in December.
Travel restrictions can change quickly during the pandemic, so if you are considering a trip then you should always check the Foreign Office's latest France travel advice before booking or going on a trip.

A brief round-up of today’s top Covid news stories so far today:

• South Korea will begin giving out fourth doses of Covid vaccines this month and supply millions of additional home test kits to ease shortages amid a surge in Omicron infections, authorities confirmed on Monday.
  
• The busiest US-Canada border crossing has reopened after protests against Covid restrictions closed it for almost a week. The Sunday night reopening of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan came as Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.
  
• Anti-vaxxers in France are buying fake vaccine passes online to get around the country’s Covid restrictions. These are often promoted on mainstream social media platforms, research has revealed. Many buying the forgeries, which can be used across the European Union (EU), are being redirected from websites such as Instagram and Facebook to the Telegram encrypted messenger where they can be bought discreetly, according to a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).
  
• In the UK, families bereaved by Covid want Boris Johnson to relinquish control over which issues will be investigated in the pandemic public inquiry, alleging he is compromised by allegations of lockdown-breaking at Downing Street.
  
• Coronavirus case numbers have dropped slightly in Germany, as the government’s Covid expert panel called for a gradual easing of restrictions in Europe’s biggest economy.
  
• Moderna is reportedly in late stage talks with the UK government about investing in research and manufacturing and collaborating with the NHS on clinical trials, the Financial Times reports.
  
• New Zealand’s prime minister has said protesters who oppose coronavirus mandates were using “intimidation and harassment”, as authorities appeared to take a harsher stance toward the convoy of demonstrators that has disrupted the capital of Wellington for nearly a week.
  
• Sweden’s health agency recommended on Monday that people aged 80 or above should receive a second booster shot of Covid vaccine, the fourth jab in total, to ward off waning immunity amid the rampant spread of the Omicron variant.
  
• Hundreds of cars, campervans and trucks are on their way to a protest against Covid regulations in Brussels today where Belgian officials have already banned a demonstration following a weekend attempt in Paris.
  
• Hong Kong will extend the suspension of face-to-face classes by two weeks until 7 March, local broadcaster RTHK said on Monday.
  
• Taiwan aims to ease its strict Covid quarantine policy from next month as it needs to gradually resume normal life and reopen to the world, the government said on Monday.
  
• Japan’s government said on Monday it has agreed to buy an additional 10m doses of Covid vaccine from Pfizer to be delivered in March.
  

Factories in Vietnam are expected to continue production despite record Covid infections, marking a change in the government’s earlier policies of sweeping lockdowns.
One of the world’s major garment makers, Vietnam reported more than 26,000 infections on Sunday – about double the peak last year, when factories supplying brands such as Nike, Zara, Apple and Samsung were closed for months.
This time, however, millions of factory workers have been vaccinated against the virus. More than 76% of Vietnam’s population has received at least two vaccine doses, up from 3.3% early in September last year, according to figures by the health ministry.
“The risk of widespread lockdowns is very low this year as Vietnam has successfully carried out its Covid-19 vaccination campaign,” Dang Duc Anh, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, told Reuters.
On Sunday, the government announced it will remove its Covid-19 restrictions on international passenger flights from 15 February with no limitation on the number of flights.

French Covid ‘freedom convoy’ heads for Brussels despite police warning

Kim Willsher - Paris correspondent, The Guardian
Hundreds of vehicles taking part in France’s so-called freedom convoy were heading for Brussels on Monday, despite warnings they would be prevented from entering the Belgian capital.
The protest against Covid restrictions and high energy prices shifted its focus to the symbolic heart of the EU after police prevented most of the estimated 3,000 vehicles from entering Paris at the weekend.
About 100 managed to get past the police and converged on the Champs Élysées, where they were eventually dispersed with teargas on Saturday evening.
Belgian police said they had deployed forces along several motorways and stopped about 30 vehicles heading for the capital.
The mayor of the city of Brussels, Philippe Close, said police were directing vehicles to a parking and rest area just outside the city, capable of accepting up to 10,000 vehicles, and warned demonstrators this was the only place they would be allowed to converge and protest.
He said protesters might be allowed to enter Brussels on foot, but they would not be allowed to “take the capital hostage”. The Brussels authorities have banned any demonstrations in the city on Monday.
Read more.

Couple's paternal rights stripped for refusing vaccinated donors' blood for their son

Lorenzo Tondo - The Guardian
A court in Bologna has temporarily stripped the paternal rights of a couple after they refused blood from Covid-vaccinated donors for their son in need of an urgent blood transfusion before undergoing delicate heart surgery.
Last week, the couple had informed Bologna’s Sant’Orsola Hospital that they were “adamant that our child will only get unvaccinated blood.”
The hospital replied to the request with a note, saying “the surgery cannot be postponed” and that it was “necessary to proceed urgently given the severity of the boy’s pathology.”
A judge eventually turned down the parents’ appeal, citing that there were “guarantees of absolute safety in using blood from vaccinated donors.”
The parents’ lawyer told Italy’s news agency ANSA that the couple had requested non-vaccinated blood for “religious reasons.”
Over the weekend a court in Bologna stripped the couple of their paternal rights and the local social services were appointed legal guardians of the child.

Afternoon summary

Léonie Chao-Fong - The Guardian
Here’s a quick roundup of what’s been happening so far:

• The Duchess of Cornwall, 74, is self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus. The announcement by Clarence House follows that made on Thursday disclosing Prince Charles, 73, had tested positive for the virus.
  
• Covid restrictions in Germany are set to end as case numbers have dropped slightly, according to a draft official plan seen by Agence France-Presse. The plan is expected to be approved by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the heads of the federal states on Wednesday.
  
• Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has said an “onslaught” of Covid-19 infections has dealt a heavy blow and overwhelmed capacity to deal with the virus. Daily infections have multiplied by a factor of 13 over the past two weeks, from about 100 cases at the start of February to a record 2,071 on 14 February
  
• The busiest US-Canada border crossing has reopened after protests against Covid restrictions closed it for almost a week. The Sunday night reopening of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan came as Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.
  
• A court in Bologna has temporarily stripped the parental rights of a couple after they refused blood from Covid-vaccinated donors for their son in need of an urgent blood transfusion before undergoing delicate heart surgery. The couple had reportedly requested non-vaccinated blood for “religious reasons”.
  
• Hundreds of vehicles taking part in France’s so-called freedom convoy were heading for Brussels. The protest against Covid restrictions and high energy prices shifted its focus to the symbolic heart of the EU after police prevented most of the estimated 3,000 vehicles from entering Paris at the weekend.
  
• Families bereaved by Covid in the UK want Boris Johnson to relinquish control over which issues will be investigated in the pandemic public inquiry, alleging he is compromised by allegations of lockdown-breaking at Downing Street.
  
• New Zealand’s prime minister has said protesters who oppose coronavirus mandates were using “intimidation and harassment”, as authorities appeared to take a harsher stance toward the convoy of demonstrators that has disrupted the capital of Wellington for nearly a week.
  
• Taiwan aims to ease its strict Covid quarantine policy from next month as it needs to gradually resume normal life and reopen to the world, the government said on Monday.
  
• South Korea will begin giving out fourth doses of Covid vaccines this month and supply millions of additional home test kits to ease shortages amid a surge in Omicron infections, authorities confirmed on Monday.
  

Richard Morris: Former ambassador suffering from 'extreme stress' while working on government's COVID taskforce, inquest told

Richard Morris, who was the ambassador to Nepal, went missing in May 2020 near his home in Hampshire. His body was found three months later.

Richard Morris went missing from his home on 6 May 2020

A British diplomat who was found dead in a forest vanished from his home after suffering extreme stress while working for the governments COVID taskforce, an inquest has heard.
Richard Morris, who was the ambassador to Nepal, helped coordinate briefings to ministers during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.
On Monday, his widow Alison Morris fought back tears as she told an inquest that he had been "totally unprotected" from the demands of the coronavirus taskforce.

Mr Morris' body was found three months after he went missing near his home in Hampshire

Ms Morris said her husband feared there was not enough time to process information in the fast-moving period and if any error got past him the government "would be torn apart in the press".
She said he was "desperate" to keep on top of his work, working every day with "no real time off".
Mr Morris was last seen running near his home in Hampshire on 6 May 2020 and his body was found three months later.
Addressing the coroner during the inquest in Winchester, Ms Morris said her husband was a "quiet extrovert" who "thrived on interactions with others".
"He was genuinely interested in people.

Mr Morris had been working on the government's COVID task force. Pic: FCO

"His kindness and compassion shone through even when there was a language barrier."
After several years living in Nepal, the couple returned to the UK, where Mr Morris worked for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in London ahead of their expected posting to Fiji.
Ms Morris told the inquest that her husband was "proud" to work with the FCDO and that he "enjoyed his work".
"He found it varied, stimulating and compelling," she said.
The inquest heard that Mr Morris found returning to London difficult, and he was assigned to Harry Dunn's case, who was a 19-year-old killed when a car crashed into his motorbike outside RAF Croughton in Northampton, which sparked a diplomatic incident.

Mr Morris's body was found in Alice Holt Forest.

"On top of that, the potential fallout from any error he might make was likely to be very public.
"If any information error got passed him, the government or the Civil Service would be torn apart in the press," she said.
On 6 May 2020, Mr Morris went for a run near his house, something he often did to relieve stress but did not return.
The inquest heard that police were called and extensive searches were carried out.
On 31 August, his body was discovered in Alice Holt Forest.
The inquest continues.

Covid-pass protest arrives in Brussels

About 500 cars and campervans have arrived in Brussels, mainly from France, in a convoy to protest against Covid-19 restrictions.
The vehicles were barred from the city. Police directed them to a parking place on the outskirts of Brussels, from where protesters continued on foot to a square in the city centre and the area housing European Union institutions.
Reuters reporters saw around 150-200 protesters in the city centre and a similar number in the European quarter.
Brussels mayor Philippe Close said.told Belgian LN24 television the protest, inspired by “Freedom Convoy” demonstrators who have gridlocked the Canadian capital with trucks, had no permit from the Brussels authorities, no leader and had made no demands.
Philippe, a French protester from the city of Valenciennes who had earlier protested in Paris, told reporters pandemic restrictions were only part of his problems.
“I came particularly for our children’s future. I don’t see how my children can live in the world as it is now. Freedom is swept aside, there’s more and more poverty. Even when you work, when the 15th of the month comes round, you haven’t got enough to live on,” he said.
He said he was also protesting against the rise in energy prices and the cost of living.
A protest convoy breached police defences and drove into central Paris on Saturday, snarling traffic around the Arc de Triomphe and on the Champs Elysees.

A Turkish man who is still trying to shake off a Covid-19 infection after 14 months and 78 straight positive tests continues to be in high spirits, joking about his predicament.
When Muzaffer Kayasan first caught the virus he thought he was destined to die since he was already suffering from leukemia, but he is still alive despite being in and out of hospital since November 2020
The AFP news agency reports that Kayasan, 56, has Turkey’s longest recorded continuous Covid-19 infection, doctors say, possibly due to a weakened immune system from the cancer.
“I guess this is the female version of Covid – she has been obsessed with me,” Kayasan joked last week as he found out that his latest PCR test was, yet again, positive.
Nine months in hospital and five months mostly alone in his flat have separated him from much of the outside world, including his granddaughter, Azra, who stays in the garden while visiting, talking through the glass back door.
“I will play with you when I get well,” he told her through a mask after giving her a plastic toy telephone.
Coronavirus patients with immunosuppression are at risk of prolonged infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome, according to a study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine. Another by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society shows one in four blood cancer patients do not produce detectable antibodies even after receiving two vaccine shots.

Muzaffer Kayasan has taken 78 Covid-19 tests and every one has come back positive. Photograph: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters

(3:30pm) - Activists and others have been assembling in the centre of Brussels as the first vehicles from the European “Freedom Convoy” trickle into the outskirts of the Belgian capital.
Riot police are present in considerable numbers, with water cannon in reserve.

Protesters during a protest against Covid measures in central Brussels on Monday. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock


Belgian riot police face participants of the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ (Convoi de la Liberte) during an unauthorised demonstration in the centre of Brussels on Monday Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

Boris Johnson's pledge to scrap legally enforced isolation "flies in the face" of basic infectious disease management

A leading public health expert who has advised the Scottish government says that a pledge by the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, to scrap legally enforced isolation for people in England with Covid-19 “flies in the face” of basic infectious disease management, which involves avoids infecting other people when one is infectious.
Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, says in a piece she has written for the Guardian:

We all want our pre-Covid-19 lives back: the question is what the cost of this is. That’s the debate we should be having as a society, without avoiding the difficult realities of the situation.
The UK has faced an average of 200 deaths a day now for weeks, while the US is heading towards the million death mark.
The media no longer report these deaths widely, as they did at the start of the pandemic: there seems to be a certain acceptance of this as the cost of somewhat normal life to continue. The morality of that is questionable.

UK records 41,648 new cases and 35 Covid-linked deaths
The UK recorded 41,648 new Covid cases on Monday, government figures showed, and a further 35 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. That is compared to 41,270 infections and 52 fatalities in the 24 hours prior.
Cases over the last seven days are down 30% on the previous week, with weekly deaths down 27.2% compared to the previous seven days.

1,203 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the Kurdistan Region: ministry
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Health announced on Monday (February 14) it officially recorded 1,203 new cases of coronavirus infection over the past 24 hours.
[color=#993300]NRT Digital Media
There were 548 new cases in Duhok governorate, 509 in Erbil, 122 in Sulaimani, twelve in Garmian administration, eight in Raparin administration, and four in Halabja.
On July 26, the Region recorded its highest single-day total with 3,559 infections. The ministry also said four patients had died from the disease, while 1,538 others recovered.
According to the health ministry, there have been 422,918 officially-recorded cases of coronavirus infection in the Kurdistan Region.
An official tally of 400,993 patients have recovered from COVID-19 and 7,304 have died from it. The numbers are almost certainly an undercount.

Jamaica has recorded 11 more COVID-19 fatalities, moving the tally to 2,750.
The Jamaica Gleaner
The health ministry says the persons died between August 2021 and February 2022.
One more case has been recorded as a coincidental death, pushing the total to 219.
And three more fatalities are under investigation, moving that figure to 411.
Meanwhile, there were 109 new cases with ages ranging from four months to 92 years, pushing the total to 127,163.
A total of 1,801 tests were conducted.
The country's positivity rate stands at 15%.
In the meantime, there were 24 more recoveries, increasing the total to 47,389.
Some 323 persons are in hospital with 59 being moderately ill, 39 severely ill and 16 critically ill.
And 12,498 persons are in quarantine at home.

Cook Islands detects first Covid case

RNZ
The Cook Islands has detected its first case of Covid-19.
Prime Minister Mark Brown said this case was not connected to the visitor who tested positive for Omicron after leaving Rarotonga and arriving back in New Zealand last Monday.

Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

He said this person - who is currently isolated and under observation at their private holiday accommodation - arrived in Rarotonga last Thursday.
They were a close contact of a family member in Auckland who tested positive on Sunday in New Zealand.
Brown said as a precaution this person got tested, and was asymptomatic, but she returned a positive result in just a few hours later.
The woman is travelling with two others, and they will all remain in isolation until they no longer test positive for Covid-19.
Brown said it was helpful that the person was staying in private holiday accommodation, not a resort or motel.
The woman was double vaccinated and had returned a negative PCR test prior to boarding their flight from New Zealand.
In his nationwide address Brown had pertinent advice for Cook Islanders: "Our extremely high vaccination rate is another factor in our favour, as it slows the spread of transmission and reduces the health impacts in those who do contract this virus.
"I can also tell you that from the moment Te Marae Ora confirmed this person as testing positive for Covid-19, our contact tracing team swung into action to trace their movements since arriving in Rarotonga and to start identifying any potential close contacts."
Brown said locations of interest would be available on the Covid-19 website and the TMO Facebook page.
"As each new piece of information is gathered and confirmed, we will also be keeping you all as up-to-date as possible as any new places of interest and potential close contacts are identified.
"Those people deemed to be close contacts of this case are currently being contacted by TMO and will be advised to get tested."

Gov't to Cut Quarantine Time to Three Days for People With Booster Vaccine

Jakarta Globe
Jakarta. The government has decided to reduce the quarantine period for overseas travelers to three days from five days for those who had received their booster vaccine doses against Covid-19, starting next month, a top official said on Monday. 
The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that despite the recent spikes of Covid-19 spread in Indonesia driven by the omicron variant, the overall pandemic handling improved. 
"Going forward, if the situation continues improving and vaccinations continue to increase, the government plan to cut the quarantine period to three days on March 1, or even sooner," Luhut said in a virtual press conference. 
The decision was part of a more significant move by the government to ease restrictions in the major metropolitan areas across Indonesia as it projected the third wave of Covid-19 would peak this week. 
Luhut said the government decided to allow offices in Java and Bali to operate at 50 percent of capacity from 25 percent last week. In addition, the arts, cultural and social activities in public facilities and tourism destinations can also operate at 50 percent of the maximum capacity.
"That way, roadside vendors, ranging from fried food vendors, meatball vendors to art workers, such as wayang performers and drama actors can continue to carry out their activities and do not need to lose their jobs due to the government policy," Luhut said.
Indonesia reported 36,501 new cases on Monday, down from 55,209 new cases a day earlier, which was the second-highest tally during the pandemic. Still, the most populous country in Southeast Asia reported 145 deaths, the highest toll since last September. 
Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said he believed the peak daily death toll during the current Omicron wave would not exceed the Delta's wave last July. Indonesia saw 2,069 deaths from Covid-19 in a day at the peak of the previous wave.
"There is an increase [in the death toll in the past few days]. Based on our experience, the death number lags about two weeks behind the new cases figure," Budi said. 
"But, I think the death toll won't reach 500 or 1,000 in a day now. That's just improbable," he said. 
The minister also said there were signs that the Covid-19 spread in Jakarta, Banten, West Java, and Bali, the four provinces that currently have the most Covid-19 cases, had been slowing down. 
"[The number of new cases in] Jakarta most likely would move past its peak this week and begin to decline. The hospital occupancy ratio there is also low, about 40-50 percent below that of during Delta," Budi said.

Memorial benches for pandemic and Stardust victims

Laura Hogan - RTÉ
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has unveiled two new memorials to honour the memory of those who died with Covid-19 and also the victims of the Stardust tragedy.
The benches, designed by artist Robert Ballagh, are on the grounds of the former Richmond hospital, which is now an education and event centre.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin spoke at the event, as well as journalist and activist Charlie Bird.
Many of the victims from the Stardust fire on 14 February 1981 were treated at the Richmond hospital.
The INMO said the memorial for the 48 young people was to "acknowledge the connection with the Richmond hospital" and give families affected by the tragedy a "place to attend in remembrance".
The INMO said the second bench commemorates those who lost their lives during the pandemic, particularly the healthcare workers who died due to Covid.
The organisation said it would "honour the extraordinary contribution of nurses and midwives over the past two years".
INMO president Karen McGowan spoke at the event.
She said: "We remember how our frontline workers came together to treat patients both during the Stardust tragedy 41 years ago today and all throughout the pandemic.
"Nurses who worked during the Stardust tragedy tell us that they never experienced anything of that magnitude in their career before and it has stayed with them for their careers.
"Many nurses in the last two years have said the same about the profound impact Covid-19 has had on both their careers and personal lives", she said.
Covid: 3,494 PCR-confirmed cases, 3,609 antigen tests
Meanwhile, the Department of Health has been notified of a further 3,494 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19, as well as 3,609 positive antigen tests logged through the HSE portal.
As of 8am today, 665 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of whom 67 are in intensive care.
Three days of daily data - accounting for Saturday, Sunday and today - has been released.
Yesterday, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre was notified of 4,331 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 2,950 people registering a positive antigen test through the HSE portal.
Saturday's data showed 4,940 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 3,650 people registering a positive antigen test.
In Northern Ireland, another 2,465 cases and two deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.

This week, the wearing of masks in primary schools is among the topics to be discussed by the National Public Health Emergency Team.
Primary school children from third class upwards are still required to wear masks.
The National Parents Council Primary has said that while parents have varying views on their children wearing masks, many are querying why the directive is still in place, given that most restrictions have been lifted.

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

• About 500 cars and campervans have arrived in Brussels, mainly from France, in a convoy to protest against Covid-19 restrictions. The vehicles were barred from the city. Police directed them to a parking place on the outskirts of Brussels, from where protesters continued on foot to a square in the city centre and the area housing European Union institutions.
  
• The UK recorded 41,648 new Covid cases on Monday, government figures showed, and a further 35 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. That is compared to 41,270 infections and 52 fatalities in the 24 hours prior.
  
• More than 60 charities, campaigners and non-governmental organisations have accused Moderna of attempting to derail World Health Organization (WHO) plans to manufacture more Covid-19 vaccines in Africa. In an open letter, they urged Moderna to “act in the interests of people, not profits” by withdrawing patents and patent applications in South Africa.
  
• The Duchess of Cornwall, 74, is self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus. The announcement by Clarence House follows that made on Thursday disclosing Prince Charles, 73, had tested positive for the virus.
  
• Covid restrictions in Germany are set to end as case numbers have dropped slightly, according to a draft official plan seen by Agence France-Presse. The plan is expected to be approved by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the heads of the federal states on Wednesday.
  
• Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has said an “onslaught” of Covid-19 infections has dealt a heavy blow and overwhelmed capacity to deal with the virus. Daily infections have multiplied by a factor of 13 over the past two weeks, from about 100 cases at the start of February to a record 2,071 on 14 February
  
• The busiest US-Canada border crossing has reopened after protests against Covid restrictions closed it for almost a week. The Sunday night reopening of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan came as Canadian officials held back from a crackdown on a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa.A court in Bologna has temporarily stripped the parental rights of a couple after they refused blood from Covid-vaccinated donors for their son in need of an urgent blood transfusion before undergoing delicate heart surgery. The couple had reportedly requested non-vaccinated blood for “religious reasons”.
  
• Families bereaved by Covid in the UK want Boris Johnson to relinquish control over which issues will be investigated in the pandemic public inquiry, alleging he is compromised by allegations of lockdown-breaking at Downing Street.
  
• New Zealand’s prime minister has said protesters who oppose coronavirus mandates were using “intimidation and harassment”, as authorities appeared to take a harsher stance toward the convoy of demonstrators that has disrupted the capital of Wellington for nearly a week.
  
• Taiwan aims to ease its strict Covid quarantine policy from next month as it needs to gradually resume normal life and reopen to the world, the government said on Monday.
  
• South Korea will begin giving out fourth doses of Covid vaccines this month and supply millions of additional home test kits to ease shortages amid a surge in Omicron infections, authorities confirmed on Monday.
  

Kuwait’s cabinet has lifted many Covid-19 restrictions including a ban on foreign travel, a move that will also apply to those who are not vaccinated
Reuters reports:
Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah said the unvaccinated will still have to get a PCR test 72 hours before boarding a flight to the Gulf Arab state and quarantine for seven days after arrival, while those who are vaccinated would not be required to do so.
Some of the restrictions lifted from next week would include allowing the unvaccinated to enter the likes of shopping centres, and attend cinemas, theatres if they present a negative PCR test.

Italy has reported a rise in daily Covid-19 related deaths with 281 registered, the health ministry said.
This compares with 191, the previous day.
A further 28,630 Covid-19 daily related cases were logged compared with 51,959 the day before, reports Reuters.
Italy has registered 151,296 deaths linked to Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic - the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world.
The country has reported 12.1 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 16,050 on Monday, down from 16,060 a day earlier.
There were 63 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 66 on Sunday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 1,173 from a previous 1,190.
Around 283,891 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 462,881, the health ministry said.

Renters more likely to have higher cost from home working, ONS study finds
Richard Partington - The Guardian
People with children and renters are more likely to have seen their spending on utility bills increase while working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, official figures suggest.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that almost half of people who worked from home had spent less than they would have normally, with reduced costs for travel and food offset by an increase in spending on gas, electricity and internet access.
However, it said the change in spending patterns was more pronounced for some people in the survey of more than 3,000 adults in Great Britain undertaken by government statisticians last month.

Israelis mount their own Covid-19 'Freedom Convoy'

Hundreds of vehicles drove along the main highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday to converge on parliament in protest against Covid-19 curbs in a convoy inspired by demonstrations in Canada.
Reuters reports that other protesters assembled as the so-called “Freedom Convoy” passed by, with banners and Israeli and Canadian flags flying from the vehicles.
One sign read: “Freedom doesn’t look like this” showing a picture of a girl in a mask.
Outside parliament, protesters sounded horns and beat drums, and called for pandemic restrictions to be lifted.

Children hold signs which read “freedom doesn’t look like this” before heading to Jerusalem as part of an Israeli “Freedom Convoy” to protest against Covid-19 restrictions. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

Protester Jonathan Deporto, 39, said: “We are all gathered here for freedom. Because for two years already, all this world is going mad because of all the mandates and all the things that don’t let us live as free as we are born.”
In recent weeks, Israel has eased Covid-19 restrictions including the requirement to show proof of vaccination at restaurants, cinemas, gyms.
However, masks are still mandatory in public indoor spaces, including schools, shops and medical institutions.
Last month the “Freedom Convoy” protests started in the Canadian capital Ottawa led by truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers.
Similar protests took place in France over the weekend.