Leading vaccine experts have backed the government’s decision to delay the second dose for up to three months, after doctors warned that the strategy was proving “ever-more difficult to justify”.
The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, has suggested that the UK has become “increasingly isolated internationally” by deciding that the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine can be delayed, and called for a maximum delay of six weeks. However, several prominent scientists backed the government’s plan to maximise the number of people receiving their first dose.
The Guardian’s Michael Savage, Robin McKie and James Tapper report:
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 12,257 to 2,134,936, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by 349 to 51,870, the tally showed.
Thailand on Sunday confirmed 198 new coronavirus cases, taking its total number of confirmed infections to 13,500, Reuters reports.
Seven of the new infections were imported, a coronavirus taskforce told a briefing. One additional coronavirus-related death was recorded, bringing total fatalities to 73 since the outbreak began last year.
There were no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases recorded across Australia on Sunday, while four new infections were reported in hotel quarantine in NSW and Victoria, AAP reports.
Health Minister Greg Hunt believes new immunisation figures show Australians have faith in the TGA to provide expert advice and ensure the safety and efficacy of all vaccines provided to the community.
Immunisation rates for five-year-olds are now beyond the aspirational target of 95% coverage, reaching 95.09% in the December quarter of 2020 and exceeding the World Health Organisation estimated international average of 86 per cent.
“Reaching our target of 95% supports herd immunity to stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases,” Mr Hunt said in a statement on Sunday.
“These figures show Australians have both the capacity and the will to lead the world in taking up Covid-19 vaccines, as they recognise how important vaccination is, and how it protects and saves lives.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at five years old have the highest rates of immunisation in the country at 97.25%.
At the same time, Australia’s seasonal influenza vaccination program continues to provide increasing numbers of vaccines to Australians of all ages.
A 56-year-old woman has tested positive for Covid-19 in New Zealand, after being released from government managed isolation following two negative tests.
It is the first community case in the country since 18 November. It came as neighbouring Australia, which had also been hailed for its success in battling coronavirus until a recent spate of community cases, recorded zero cases of local transmission across the country on Sunday.
The woman in New Zealand who tested positive arrived in Auckland on 30 December after travelling in Spain and the Netherlands for four months. She returned two negative Covid tests while staying in government-managed isolation at the Pullman hotel, having arrived from London.
The woman was released from the Pullman on 13 January and travelled around south Northland with her husband, visiting as many as 30 locations, including popular holiday spots, AirBnbs, and shops.
In the last week, the woman began experiencing very mild symptoms, including muscle aches. Having returned two negative tests the woman did not suspect Covid-19 until she returned a positive test late on Saturday.
Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the woman and her husband were now in self-isolation in their home south of Whangarei, and the woman did not require hospital care.
Boris Johnson has had his first call with Joe Biden since the new US president entered the White House on Wednesday. Downing Street said Johnson congratulated Biden on his inauguration and that the two leaders looked forward to “deepening the close alliance” between their nations.
After the call, the prime minister tweeted: “Great to speak to President Joe Biden this evening. I look forward to deepening the longstanding alliance between our two countries as we drive a green and sustainable recovery from Covid-19.”
Boris Johnson(@BorisJohnson)
Great to speak to President @JoeBiden this evening. I look forward to deepening the longstanding alliance between our two countries as we drive a green and sustainable recovery from COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/Y4P3G74PPz
January 23, 2021
A No 10 spokesperson said the prime minister warmly welcomed Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris agreement on climate change and the World Health Organization. “The prime minister praised President Biden’s early action on tackling climate change and commitment to reach net zero by 2050,” the spokesman said:
In the UK, ministers are at the centre of an explosive row over their failure to protect workers from Covid-19 as the Observer reveals the largest workplace outbreak of the virus has taken place at a top government organisation.
More than 500 cases have been recorded at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s offices in Swansea, where employees claim people with symptoms were encouraged to return to work while vulnerable workers have had requests to work from home turned down.
The revelation places the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, under pressure to explain how such an outbreak could have happened in an agency where the strictest workplace rules are supposed to apply:
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg insists Australia is still on track to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from February, as new figures suggest people are more than happy to get their jab, Australian Associated Press reports.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration is due to approve the Pfizer vaccine, and others Australia has signed up to, in the coming weeks.
“We are not about to cut corners,” Mr Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.
He said Australia is not in the same position as the US and UK where there are tens of thousands of cases each day with many lives lost.
“We have the virus under control here in Australia,” the treasurer said.
“But we do want to roll out the vaccine, that’s why the TGA’s is going through its normal processes and we are still on track to receive this Pfizer vaccine, mid to late February.”
Calls from adults worried about a child’s welfare to the NSPCC’s helpline have jumped by 50% over the course of the pandemic, the charity has said.
PA Media: NSPCC said it was now receiving more than 30 calls a day from grown-ups worried that a child is living with domestic abuse, up 53% from pre-pandemic levels. The charity warned the situation is likely to get worse as lockdown continues, and is calling for the UK Government to make extra provisions for child victims in its Domestic Abuse Bill.
The bill, hailed as a piece of landmark legislation, has had its second reading and is due to begin the committee stage on Monday.
The NSPCC is calling for an amendment that would legally oblige all local authorities to fund community-based recovery services for child victims.
People who experience domestic abuse in childhood can experience difficulty learning, depression, eating disorders and addiction as they go through adolescence into adulthood.
The charity fears that without a statutory obligation, budgets for community-based support could be diverted to fund services such as refuges.
When the bill becomes law, councils will have to ensure all those who become homeless as a result of domestic abuse are prioritised for emergency housing.
The NSPCC wants funding for community-based services – such as those that provide counselling to help child victims of domestic abuse to recover – also enshrined into law. It is also calling for adequate funding for local agencies so they can meet all their obligations once the bill becomes law.
PA Media reports that, according to a group of scientists, it could be necessary in the future to vaccinate domestic animals such as cats and dogs against Covid-19 to curb the spread of the virus.
Coronavirus can infect a wide range of species including cats, dogs, mink and other domesticated species, experts from the University of East Anglia, Norwich-based research facility the Earlham Institute and University of Minnesota have said.
In an editorial for the journal Virulence, they wrote that continued evolution of the virus in animals followed by transmission to humans “poses a significant long-term risk to public health”.
“It is not unthinkable that vaccination of some domesticated animal species might… be necessary to curb the spread of the infection,” they said.
Last year, Denmark’s government culled millions of mink after it emerged that hundreds of Covid-19 cases in the country were linked with coronavirus variants associated with farmed mink.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Saturday that Egypt would start rolling out a mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign the following day with the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab, AFP reports.
“We are starting a vaccination drive tomorrow beginning with healthcare workers followed by those suffering from chronic diseases and later the elderly,” Sisi said in brief comments after unveiling several development projects in Port Said.
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, received its first batch of the Sinopharm vaccines in December.
A man wearing a protective mask walks along the bank of the Nile river amid the coronavirus outbreak in Cairo, Egypt. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters
Earlier this month, Health Minister Hala Zayed said Egypt would also receive 40 million doses, mostly of the AstraZeneca/Oxford jab, via the Gavi vaccine alliance, with the aim of inoculating 20 percent of its more than 100 million strong population.
Egypt has registered over 160,000 novel coronavirus infections, including more than 8,850 deaths.
Health officials have warned that low testing rates mean the real number could be at least 10 times higher.
In December, the UK reported a Covid-19 variant of concern, commonly referred to as the B117 variant, which appeared to be more transmissible. Since then, scientists have established that B117 is somewhere between 50% to 70% more transmissible than other variants. If more people are getting sick, there is more pressure on health systems, and in the UK health services are so overloaded a country-wide lockdown has been enforced.
While many scientists say B117 does not appear more deadly, researchers on the UK government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group found it may increase the death rate by 30% to 40%, though their sample size was small and they said more research is needed. With B117 now detected in more than 50 countries, understanding the variant is urgent.
But other variants of concern have also been identified, including in California, South Africa and Brazil.
So exactly what is a variant, and how many are there? And why are some variants of more concern than others?
Answers at the link below:
And what a year it has been. In just over a month’s time, I will have been liveblogging international developments in the coronavirus pandemic for eight hours a day, every day on the global blog – which has been running non-stop around the world almost uninterrupted for more than a year.
This time last year, I was living in Beirut, having just returned from reporting on the bushfires in Australia.
Where were you at the end of January 2020? Let me know on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
In Australia, the state minister for health in New South Wales has noted that Monday will mark a year since the state confirmed its first four cases of coronavirus.
Today marks a week with no new local cases confirmed in the state:
Brad Hazzard(@BradHazzard)
Tomorrow is one very challenging year since NSW had first 4 Covid19 cases. But today, with incredible support of our community (testing)& stellar work of front line @NSWHealth (inc⭐️Tracers),@nswpolice @NSWHPathology it is one week since our last local transmission of Covid19.
