Coronavirus live: UK sees daily cases rise to over 50,000; WHO warns indoor socialising driving infections

LIVE – Updated at 00:20




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A member of Russia’s emergencies ministry wearing protective gear adjusts his gas mask while disinfecting Moscow’s Leningradsky railway station.

Indoor socialising in winter behind rise in cases, WHO warns; AY.4.2 subvariant may be around 10% more infectious than the original Delta.

 

Summary

  • UK prime minister Boris Johnson resists calls to activate ‘plan B’ as daily Covid cases top 50,000. “The numbers of infections are high but we are within the parameters of what the predictions were, what Spi-M [modelling group] and the others said we would be at this stage given the steps we are taking. We are sticking with our plan,” Johnson told reporters.
  • Infections in UK at highest level since July with 52,009 new coronavirus cases. That is the highest daily total on this measure, and the first time the daily tally has topped 50,000, for more than three months.
  • Jeremy Hunt has called for the government to cut the time required between Covid vaccine doses to allow more booster jabs to be given. Relaxing six-month gap between second and third doses would speed up rollout, the former health secretary said.
  • Melbourne, Australia, ends its sixth lockdown today after spending 267 days following stay-at-home orders, thought to be the longest lockdown in the world.
  • Moscow announces a one-week nationwide lockdown as Russia Covid deaths rise. The country registered its highest daily number of coronavirus deaths and infections since the start of the pandemic.
  • UK’s neighbours criticise British Covid policies as cases begin to surge across EU.
  • Only 14% of promised Covid vaccine doses reach poorest nations, a report has revealed. Of 1.8bn doses pledged by wealthy nations, just 261m (14%) have arrived in low-income countries, according to the analysis by the People’s Vaccine alliance, a coalition of groups that includes Oxfam, ActionAid and Amnesty International.
  • WHO estimates up to 180,000 health workers may have died from Covid in the period between January 2020 to May 2021, while calling for more health workers to be fully vaccinated.

 

That’s it from our global Covid blog today and thanks for following along.

Keep up with all the latest coronavirus coverage by reading here.

We’ll join you again later today with all the key developments as they happen.

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WHO says up to 180,000 health workers may have died from Covid

The World Health Organization estimates 80,000 to 180,000 health care workers may have been killed by Covid-19 up to May this year, insisting they must be prioritised for vaccination.

A WHO paper estimated that out of the world’s 135 million health staff, “between 80,000 to 180,000 health and care workers could have died from Covid-19 in the period between January 2020 to May 2021”.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health care workers needed to be immunised against the disease first, as he slammed the global inequity in the vaccine roll-out.

“Data from 119 countries suggest that on average, two in five health and care workers globally are fully vaccinated. But of course, that average masks huge differences across regions and economic groupings.”

“In Africa, less than in one in 10 health workers have been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in most high-income countries, more than 80 percent of health workers are fully vaccinated.”

He added: “We call on all countries to ensure that all health and care workers in every country are prioritised for Covid-19 vaccines, alongside other at-risk groups.”

 

Brazil has had 451 more deaths from Covid in the last 24 hours, with an additional 16,853 cases.

The south American country has now recorded 21,697,341 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Reuters.

The official death toll has now risen to 604,679 – the third worst outbreak outside the US and India, and its second deadliest.

 

The US has now administered 411,010,650 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of Thursday morning, and distributed 498,702,405 doses – according to the country’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The figure is an increase of almost 1 million from Wednesday. According to Reuters, 219,624,445 have had at least one dose, while 189,924,447 have received both jabs.

The figures include two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson. About 11.6m people have had a booster jab.

 

Thanks for joining us for a rundown of all the top Covid stories from around the world.

I’m Samantha Lock reporting from Sydney, Australia, and I’ll be with you for the next hour or so as we go through all the latest developments.

 

Police in Toronto in Canada will be put on unpaid leave if they are unable to provide proof of being completely vaccinated against Covid by the end of November.

The move by the force, the largest in Canada, is the latest in a crackdown by professional bodies in the country, Reuters reports. It employs 5,500 officers and 2,200 staff.

It said 90% of members had disclosed their vaccine status and of those, 94% had both doses.

Other institutions, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and the country’s civil service have similar policies in place to encourage vaccination.

 

Daily Covid-19 cases have risen above 50,000 in the UK for the first time since July, as the prime minister resists calls for the government to activate its backup plan.

Official figures on Thursday put the number of positive tests at 50,009 as cases have continued to rise. The last time cases were at this level was 17 July.

Boris Johnson told broadcasters that he would not be switching to “plan B”, including homeworking and Covid-passports.

Related: PM resists calls to activate plan B as daily Covid cases top 50,000

Summary

Here is a round-up of the day’s top Covid stories from around the world so far:

  • More social mixing indoors after the lifting of restrictions just as winter sets in is driving a rise in Covid infections in many countries across Europe, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency director Mike Ryan said today.
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on the world’s 20 richest nations, holding a summit next week, to step up donations of Covid doses to the global south where vaccinations lag.
  • Sweden has extended the pause of Moderna Covid vaccine for people aged 30 and younger due to rare heart-related side-effects, the public health agency said today.
  • Moscow authorities have announced a week-long closure of most non-essential services from 28 October, as Russia registered its highest daily number of coronavirus deaths and infections since the start of the pandemic.
  • In the US, the mask mandate for students in some South Florida schools could be eased by the end of October.
  • A systematic disinformation campaign in Russian media to foster doubts and misgivings about western coronavirus vaccines has backfired as the death toll in Russia rises to record daily tolls, a European Union (EU) report said.
  • Russia has reported “isolated cases” of coronavirus with a subvariant of the Delta variant that is believed to be even more contagious, the state consumer watchdog’s senior researcher said.
  • New Covid cases in France jumped 18% to 6,127 compared to a week ago after rising 8% on Wednesday, health ministry data showed today.
  • Iraq has resumed direct flights to and from Saudi Arabia after a 19-month suspension due to Covid, according to the state news agency INA.
  • Italy reported 36 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday compared with 33 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 3,794 from 3,702.
  • The decision to halt vaccinating young people with the Moderna Covid vaccine in Sweden and Denmark is being monitored by a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group.
  • Coronavirus infections and deaths in Ukraine have surged to all-time highs amid a slow vaccination rate, which is one of the lowest in Europe.
  • In Greece, hundreds of state hospital workers have marched through central Athens today as part of a 24-hour strike to protest staff shortages and compulsory coronavirus vaccinations.
  • Bulgaria today recorded 4,522 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number since the last peak of the pandemic in the country in April.
  • Belgium’s government warned today that the country could be on the cusp of another major surge in Covid cases despite its high vaccination rate.
  • Authorities in China cancelled hundreds of flights, closed schools and ramped up mass testing on Thursday to try and stamp out a new Covid outbreak linked to a group of tourists.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Harry Taylor will be taking over shortly to bring you more coronavirus news throughout the evening. I’ll be back tomorrow morning but, for now, goodnight.

French new coronavirus cases jump nearly 20% week-on-week

New Covid cases in France jumped 18% to 6,127 compared to a week ago after rising 8% on Wednesday, health ministry data showed today.

New cases had already spiked last week – after falling continuously from more than 28,000 per day on August 17 – but that was at least partially in response to the fact that free Covid testing ended last week, which encouraged more people to take a test before the deadline.

After a 36% spike following the last day of free testing, new case numbers slowed down again on Sunday and Monday, but then picked up again from Tuesday.




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Staff members tend to a patient as others gather in a corridor in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at the Lyon-Sud Hospital in Pierre-Benite, near Lyon, central-eastern France. Photograph: Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Getty Images

The total cumulative new cases now stand at 7.1 million. Hospital data – whose trend usually lags new case data by one to two weeks – continued improving with the number of Covid patients in intensive care falling by another 17 to 1,009.

France also registered 37 new deaths from the epidemic today, taking the total to 117,389.

 

18:31 Leyland Cecco

A senior health official in western Canada has made an emotional plea for people to get vaccinated against coronavirus and observe social distancing recommendations, highlighting the grief and frustration felt by health workers in a country where Covid deaths continue despite the availability of vaccines.

Saskatchewan’s chief medical officer, Dr Saqib Shahab, was brought to tears during a briefing on Wednesday, as he presented new data showing the continuing pressure on the province’s hospitals and intensive care units.

“All the evidence is out there. And it’s very distressing to see very young, unvaccinated people ending up in ICU and dying,” he said. “To see young lives lost through a vaccine-preventable disease – how can we see this in a country where we’ve had vaccines available since July?”

Saskatchewan has the highest weekly death rate in Canada – and the situation has become so dire that the province has started transferring patients thousands of kilometres away to Ontario – where active cases are 10 times lower per capita.




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Saskatchewan’s chief medical officer, Dr Saqib Shahab. Photograph: Canadian Press/Rex/Shutterstock

The vast majority of those in ICUs are unvaccinated, according to public health officials.

Tearing up during the teleconference, Shahab said the recent months had been “a very challenging time”. He apologised for the show of emotion – but has since been met with widespread support from colleagues and provincial officials.

Related: Top Saskatchewan health official moved to tears by unchecked Covid spread

 

A systematic disinformation campaign in Russian media to foster doubts and misgivings about western coronavirus vaccines has backfired as the death toll in Russia rises to record daily tolls, a European Union (EU) report said.

The EU study said Russian state broadcaster RT and other media outlets had sown mistrust about the efficacy and safety of vaccines on their European websites in a number of languages, including Russian.

“Disinformation can kill. That should be kept in mind when we see Kremlin media continue spreading lies on Covid-19 and the vaccines, even as the death tolls in Russia are surging,” said the EU study, entitled “Disinformation Review”.

The Kremlin denies all disinformation allegations by the EU, which produces regular reports and seeks to work with Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft to limit the spread of fake news, Reuters reported.

The EU has documented what it says is Russian disinformation since early on in the pandemic in January 2020, via the bloc’s foreign service EEAS. It is part of what the EU says is a broader Russian effort to weaken and divide western societies.

 

Iraq has resumed direct flights to and from Saudi Arabia after a 19-month suspension due to Covid, according to the state news agency INA.

In March 2020, Saudi Arabia suspended entry from and travel to Iraq along with eight other countries due to the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

The country said last week it was easing its Covid measures from 17 October as a result of a sharp drop in daily infections.




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Passengers arrive at King Abdulaziz International Airport in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Photograph: Amer Hilabi/AFP/Getty Images

 

17:51 Jon Henley

For the past several weeks, many western European countries have been eyeing Covid case numbers across the Channel with mounting trepidation.

“Why does Britain have more than 40,000 Covid cases a day, and why is it the European country with the most infections?” asked Spain’s ABC, while France’s L’Express criticised “disastrous myopia” in London.

“Fear returns to London,” said Italy’s Corriere della Sera after the British health secretary, Sajid Javid, suggested cases could hit 100,000 a day over the winter. “How many deaths are [the British] willing to tolerate not to renounce their liberty?”

But while infection rates in Britain continue the rapid surge they began in mid-September, western European countries with comparably vaccinated populations are now also seeing case numbers start to pick up, sparking fears of a fresh wave there.

According to OurWorldinData, the UK recorded a rolling seven-day average of 666.5 new cases per million people on Wednesday, compared with 40 in Spain, 44.5 in Italy, 80.2 in France, 146.7 in Germany, 223.3 in the Netherlands and 328.8 in Belgium.

Related: UK’s neighbours criticise Covid policies as cases begin to surge across EU

Indoor socialising driving Covid infection rise – WHO

More social mixing indoors after the lifting of restrictions just as winter sets in is driving a rise in Covid infections in many countries across Europe, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency director Mike Ryan said today.

He told a news conference:

Most of those restrictions are now not in place anymore in many countries. And we’re seeing that coincide with the winter period in which people are moving inside as the cold snaps appear.

The question remains as to whether or not we will have the same experience as last year with health systems coming once again under pressure.




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Dr Mike Ryan. Photograph: WHO/Reuters

Russia has recorded its highest daily hospital death toll from the disease in a very long time, while the week-on-week rise in coronavirus cases in Britain was less than in parts of eastern Europe, he said.

 

Italy reported 36 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday compared with 33 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 3,794 from 3,702.

Italy has registered 131,724 deaths linked to Covid since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.73 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with Covid – not including those in intensive care – stood at 2,439 on Thursday, down from 2,464 a day earlier, the Reuters news agency reported.

There were 22 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 25 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased marginally to 356 from a previous 355.

EU ‘unlikely’ to approve Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine until 2022 – reports

The EU drug regulator is unlikely to decide whether to approve Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine until at least the first quarter of 2022 because some data needed for the review is still missing.

Emilio Parodi and Polina Nikolskaya report for Reuters that according to sources with information on the matter “An European Medicines Agency (EMA) decision by the end of the year is now absolutely impossible.”

If the required data is received by the end of November, “then the regulators may well decide in the first quarter of next year”, they said.

The EMA, which launched its formal review of the Russian vaccine in March, had previously been expected to decide in May or June whether to approve use of the vaccine in the bloc.

The results of Phase III trials published in the Lancet in February have shown it is almost 92% effective. Russia said later Sputnik V is around 83% effective against the Delta variant.

The vaccine is widely used in Russia and approved for use in more than 70 countries. The source told Reuters there was no reason to doubt its effectiveness or safety.

The delay has led to a diplomatic spat, with Russian authorities accusing the EU of facilitating a delay for political reasons. EU approval would also be a major relief for Russians wanting to travel to the region as it only recognises vaccines authorised by the EMA or the World Health Organization.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) told The Guardian that its vaccine showed “superior efficacy and longer-lasting immunity compared to mRNA vaccines” and reiterated that its one-dose “Sputnik Light” vaccine could be used as a booster.

The RDIF also complained of what it called “attacks in the press” against Sputnik V based on what it said was “misleading information”.

 

Russia has reported “isolated cases” of coronavirus with a subvariant of the Delta variant that is believed to be even more contagious, the state consumer watchdog’s senior researcher said.

The researcher, Kamil Khafizov, said the AY.4.2 subvariant may be around 10% more infectious than the original Delta – which has driven new cases and deaths to a series of record daily highs in Russia – and could ultimately replace it.

However, he said this was likely to be a slow process, adding:

The vaccines are effective enough against this version of the virus, which is not so different as to dramatically change the ability to bind to antibodies.

The AY.4.2 subvariant is also on an increasing trajectory in England and had already accounted for about 6% of all sequences generated on the week beginning 27 September, a UK Health Security Agency report released this week said.

The UK’s health secretary, Sajid Javid, on Wednesday said there was no reason to believe the subvariant posed a greater threat than Delta, Reuters reported.




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A sign calling on customers to protect themselves by using face masks, gloves and hand sanitiser, at the Galereya shopping and leisure centre. Photograph: Alexander Demianchuk/TASS

Russian immunologist Nikolay Kryuchkov said Delta and its subvariants would remain dominant and might in the future adapt in some ways to vaccines, especially where vaccination rates are below or just above 50%. He added:

But it seems to me that a revolutionary jump will not happen, because the coronavirus, like any organism, has an evolutionary limit, and the evolutionary jump has already happened.

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on the world’s 20 richest nations, holding a summit next week, to step up donations of Covid doses to the global south where vaccinations lag.

“The @g20org countries must fulfil their dose-sharing commitments immediately,” WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a news briefing.

Gordon Brown, WHO ambassador for global health financing, said that if the world’s richest countries cannot mobilise for a vaccine airlift to developing countries, an epidemiological and economic “dereliction of duty will shame us all”, Reuters reported.

There is still a shortfall of 500m vaccines to reach WHO’s 40% vaccination target in all countries in mid-2022, while 240m doses are lying unused in the west, Brown said.

Video: Coronavirus in numbers: UK deaths rise by 40 people (PA Media)

Coronavirus in numbers: UK deaths rise by 40 people

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The decision to halt vaccinating young people with the Moderna Covid vaccine in Sweden and Denmark is being monitored by a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group.

The ‘pause’ follows “very rare” myocarditis identified in some who received it and a statement was expected soon, WHO’s assistant director general Mariangela Simao said today.

Work on a review of Sputnik V vaccine made by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute for possible WHO emergency use listing has restarted, after being on hold due to a “legal procedure”, she told a news briefing.




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A medical worker prepares a shot of the Moderna vaccine. Photograph: Joseph Odelyn/AP

Further inspections were planned in the next few weeks and additional clinical data was expected, Reuters reported.

 

Thailand will allow visitors from 46 countries vaccinated against Covid to skip quarantine from next month, up from 10 previously announced, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha confirmed.

The south-east Asian country is poised to introduce the new quarantine-free travel arrangements on 1 November as it seeks to revive its vital tourism industry.

Last week, Prayuth said that at least 10 countries, including Britain, Singapore, Germany, China and the United States, would be exempt from quarantine, Reuters reported.

He did not name the extra countries in a Facebook post on Thursday, but said the visitors could skip mandatory quarantine providing they arrive via air, have been fully vaccinated and have a document to show they are virus-free.

 

Tourists vaccinated against Covid will be able to enter Israel from next month, its government announced on Thursday, further easing curbs on foreign arrivals that were imposed when the pandemic broke out.

A joint plan between the tourism and health ministries and the prime minister, Naftali Bennett, will allow the admission of foreigners who received vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and others as of 1 November.

The plan is subject to cabinet approval and “will be updated in accordance with developments and the discovery of new variants”, the joint statement said.




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Tourists walk through the Ben Gurion international airport. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Israel’s borders have largely been closed to foreigners since March 2020.

 

Coronavirus infections and deaths in Ukraine have surged to all-time highs amid a slow vaccination rate, which is one of the lowest in Europe.

Ukrainian authorities reported 22,415 new confirmed infections and 546 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest numbers since the start of the pandemic.

Authorities have blamed a spike in infections on a slow pace of vaccination in the nation of 41 million people, Reuters reported.

Ukrainians can choose between Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, but only about 15% of Ukrainians are fully vaccinated, Europe’s lowest level after Armenia.

Overall, the country has registered more than 2.7m infections and 62,389 deaths.

Ukraine has faced a steady rise in cases in the past few weeks, which has forced the government to introduce restrictions on access to public places and the use of public transport.

Starting on Thursday, proof of vaccination or a negative test is required to board planes, trains and long-distance buses.

Sweden extends ‘pause’ of Moderna jab

Sweden has extended the pause of Moderna Covid vaccine for people aged 30 and younger due to rare heart-related side-effects, the public health agency said today.

The health agency said earlier in October that data pointed to an increase of myocarditis and pericarditis among youths and young adults vaccinated with Moderna vaccine Spikevax, and paused the use for all born in 1991 or later.

The agency said on Thursday the pause would be extended beyond the original deadline of 1 December and those who had taken a first dose of the Moderna vaccine would be offered the Comirnaty vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech instead, Reuters reported.




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A healthcare worker holds a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

The European Medicines Agency approved the use of Comirnaty in May, while Spikevax was given the green light for children over 12 in July.

 

13:09 Pjotr Sauer

Moscow authorities have announced a week-long closure of most non-essential services from 28 October, as Russia registered its highest daily number of coronavirus deaths and infections since the start of the pandemic.

“The situation in Moscow continues to develop in the worst scenario … In the coming days, we will reach a historic peak in coronavirus battle,” the Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said in a statement on Thursday explaining his decision to introduce the measure.

Under the new measures, all non-essential shops, schools and gyms will be shut. Restaurants and cafes will be able to operate as takeaways, while theatres and museums will require proof of Covid-19 vaccination or recovery.

A day earlier, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, announced a weeklong nationwide paid holiday starting from 30 October to stop the spread of infections.

Russia has repeatedly surpassed all-time-high numbers of Covid deaths and infections over the last three weeks, with only a third of the country fully vaccinated.

Related: Moscow announces one-week lockdown as Russia Covid deaths rise

 

In the US, the mask mandate for students in some South Florida schools could be eased by the end of October.

It comes as local rates of Covid infections and hospitalisations continue to fall, officials said.

The number of students needing to quarantine in Miami-Dade County public schools has dropped significantly since school started in August, school superintendent Alberto Carvalho said on Wednesday.

He said the decision would be based on the latest Covid data and the advice of a task force of local doctors advising the district.

The easing of the mask policy would give parents an opt-out provision for their children, he said.

The Associated Press reported:

A parental opt out was the original back-to-school plan in Miami. But the delta variant spread rapidly across Florida during the summer, causing a spike in cases, hospitalisations and deaths. The district, which is the state’s largest, joined a handful of other districts — representing about half of Florida’s public school students — in adopting mask requirements with an opt-out only for medical reasons.

That defied an order by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose administration directed schools to allow parents to decide whether children wore masks in school. In Miami-Dade last week, less than 1,000 of the district’s 330,000 students were required to quarantine, which was an all-time low, Carvalho said. He attributed the success to the district’s Covid-19 protocols, including mask mandates and quarantine policies.

The school mask issue landed in court, and the state began imposing financial penalties on districts defying the state mandate. The penalties have included docking salaries of local school board members who voted to impose student mask mandates.




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Student Winston Wallace, nine, raises his hand in class at iPrep Academy in Miami. Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP

 

In Greece, hundreds of state hospital workers have marched through central Athens today as part of a 24-hour strike to protest staff shortages and compulsory coronavirus vaccinations.

About 500 protesters demonstrated in the city centre, heading past parliament toward the health ministry chanting slogans and holding up banners.

Unions representing the doctors, nurses and other medical staff are protesting government plans they say exacerbate staffing shortages and lead to long working hours while undermining workers’ rights.

The unions have also objected to the suspension of unvaccinated health care workers, saying this only leads to further staff shortages.

Faced with rising infections and reluctance by many to get vaccinated, the government has introduced a series of incentives and penalties to encourage Greeks to get their Covid shots.




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Healthcare workers march shouting slogans against the government and its management of the Covid-19 pandemic. Photograph: Nikolas Georgiou/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Vaccinations have been made mandatory for health care workers and those working in care homes for the elderly, with those who refuse being suspended from work. Just over 60% of Greece’s population of around 11 million people are fully vaccinated against Covid.

The unions say that while they support vaccinations, individual staff members should have the right to choose.

 

Good morning. Tom Ambrose here. I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news from around the world over the next eight hours or so.

We start with the news that the Seoul city government has filed a police complaint against members of South Korea’s main labour group who, wearing outfits of the Netflix drama Squid Game, defied Covid curbs to protest for more jobs and better work conditions.

Thousands of members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) staged a nationwide demonstration on Wednesday, according to the group, including in downtown Seoul.

Dozens of members dressed up in flamboyant jumpsuits and masks worn by actors in the smash hit show.

Unionists dressed up in pink jumpsuits and masks with white circle, square or triangle symbols worn by guards in “Squid Game” were seen beating drums to loud music and dancing.




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Workers from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions wearing Netflix series ‘Squid Game’ costumes. Photograph: Yonhap News Agency/Reuters

Some held flags and signs reading ”Inequality Out” and ”Safe Youth Employment; Quality Youth Employment”, footage from the group’s YouTube channel showed.

“About 80 youth union members dressed up in costumes that parody the Squid Game, which bitterly satirises the bare face of our society,” KCTU said in a statement.

Today so far

  • Russia has again reported record highs for deaths and Covid cases in a 24-hour period. According to the government’s coronavirus information centre, Russia recorded 1,036 fatalities and 36,339 cases over the past 24 hours. It comes nine days ahead of a planned nationwide “non-working” week designed to stem the rising infections.
  • The EU drug regulator is unlikely to decide whether to approve Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine until at least the first quarter of 2022 because some data needed for the review is still missing. The Kremlin has said there were “technological differences” between Moscow and the EMA regarding the completeness of paperwork.
  • Only one in seven Covid vaccine doses promised to the world’s poorest countries by Covax have been delivered, a report reveals. Of 1.8bn doses pledged by wealthy nations, just 261m (14%) have arrived in low-income countries
  • Bulgaria today recorded 4,522 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number since the last peak of the pandemic in the country in April. There were additionally 107 deaths. Last night there were demonstrations in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, against the “green certificate” being introduced by the government, which was required for all indoor activities from midnight.
  • Ukraine registered a record daily high of new coronavirus infections and related deaths, the health ministry said today.
  • In the UK, health minister Edward Argar appears to have ruled out the mooted “plan C” which has appeared in the media overnight, of limiting household mixing over the Christmas holidays. Amid rising case numbers in England, he also this morning declined to criticise colleagues attending the enclosed space of the chamber of the House of Commons without taking the precaution of wearing a face mask.
  • Dr Chris Smith of the University of Cambridge has said half of Covid cases are asymptomatic, meaning the UK is “probably already close to 100,000 cases a day anyway, we just don’t know about lots of them”.
  • There has been continued criticism of the slow booster jab roll-out. Residents in care homes in the UK are still waiting for their jabs, the chairman of the National Care Association has said. The shadow culture secretary, Jo Stevens, said there was an “element of complacency” in health secretary Sajid Javid’s press conference yesterday, and that “It doesn’t seem that the government learned the lessons of the last 18 months.”
  • Belgium’s government warned today that the country could be on the cusp of another major surge in Covid cases despite its high vaccination rate.
  • Authorities in China cancelled hundreds of flights, closed schools and ramped up mass testing on Thursday to try and stamp out a new Covid-19 outbreak linked to a group of tourists. The latest outbreak was linked to an elderly couple who were in a group of several tourists that started in Shanghai before flying to Xi’an, Gansu province and Inner Mongolia.
  • In Paris this week there is a sign of a return to normality of sorts with the return of the International Contemporary Art Fair. One exhibit depicts French president Emmanuel Macron with the shape of a face mask carved into his face. Visitors have to be masked and be able to prove they have been vaccinated.

Andrew Sparrow has our UK live blog today, which is being dominated by Covid. Tom Ambrose will be here shortly to take over from me with all the latest global coronavirus developments. And I’m off to host the comments on our Thursday quiz. I will see you here again tomorrow.

Russia again suffers record highs for daily Covid deaths and cases

Not unexpectedly, Russia has again experienced record highs for deaths and Covid cases in a 24-hour period. Moscow Times reports that according to the government’s coronavirus information centre, Russia suffered 1,036 fatalities and 36,339 cases over the past 24 hours. They write:

Russia has repeatedly broken new all-time high numbers of Covid-19 deaths over the last three weeks amid stubbornly low vaccination rates. It is currently reporting the second-highest daily fatalities in the world after the United States.

Russia’s senior scientist warned earlier on Thursday that geneticists have detected a new and more contagious sub-variant of the Delta strain of the coronavirus, AY.4.2, in isolated cases across the country.

Thursday’s records come nine days ahead of a planned nationwide “non-working” week designed to stem the relentless spread of infections during the fourth wave of the pandemic.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday authorised regional leaders to extend these restrictions beyond the stated 7 November end date if the caseload does not shrink.

 

It has been one of the hallmarks of the pandemic that as some countries swing into higher caseloads and new restrictions, others are opening up.

In Paris this week there is a sign of a return to normality of sorts with the return of the International Contemporary Art Fair. Michaela Cabrera reports for Reuters that today it has welcomed dealers and VIPs, and tomorrow it will be open to the public – provided they wear masks and can prove they are vaccinated.

Forty-three of the 170 galleries taking part are showing their works online only – a legacy of the pandemic. But otherwise the event, in its 47th edition, is pretty much back to normal, according to organisers and attendees.




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A woman visits the 2021 International Contemporary Art Fair during today’s preview. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

“Despite the masks, we’re having a great time. And we’re really happy. Most of us haven’t seen each other for two years,” said Bellatrix Hubert, senior partner at David Zwirner Gallery. Exhibits include works by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, as well as creations of the Covid-19 era.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, delivered a speech during a ceremony on the eve of the event, and also features in one work on display – “New photo d’identite” by artist Wang Du.




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Visitors walk past “New photo d’identite” by artist Wang Du during the International Contemporary Art Fair in Paris. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters

Kremlin cites ‘technological differences’ between Moscow and EMA over Sputnik V approval delay

A follow-up here on that news earlier that the EU drug regulator is unlikely to decide whether to approve Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine until at least the first quarter of 2022 because, they say, some data needed for the review is still missing [see 7.17am].

Gleb Stolyarov reports for Reuters that the Kremlin has now said there were “technological differences” between Moscow and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) regarding the completeness of paperwork submitted for the certification of the vaccine.

 

Authorities in China cancelled hundreds of flights, closed schools and ramped up mass testing on Thursday to try and stamp out a new Covid-19 outbreak linked to a group of tourists, report Agence France-Presse.

Beijing has maintained a relentless zero-Covid approach with strict border closures and targeted lockdowns. Domestic outbreaks have officially largely been eliminated, but as China logged a fifth straight day of new cases – mostly in northern and north-western areas – authorities beefed up coronavirus controls.

The latest outbreak was linked to an elderly couple who were in a group of several tourists. They started in Shanghai before flying to Xi’an, Gansu province and Inner Mongolia.

Dozens of cases have since been linked to their travel, with close contacts in at least five provinces and regions, including the capital Beijing.

In response, local governments have introduced mass testing and closed scenic spots and tourist sites, schools and entertainment venues in affected areas, and also imposed targeted lockdowns of housing compounds.

Some regions including Lanzhou – a city of about 4 million people in north-west China – have told residents not to leave unless necessary.

 

Amid rising case numbers that are effectively the biggest single day of new infections since the pandemic began [see 8.43am], last night there were demonstrations in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, against the “green certificate” being introduced by the government. Here’s how state media BNT reported it:

Members of the public gathered in the evening for a protest organised on Facebook. According to the protesters, the measures are discriminatory and are a violation of human rights. Shortly after 7pm, protesters blocked traffic at Eagles’ Bridge in Sofia. Half an hour later, the blockade moved to the crossroads in front of Sofia University.

The “green certificate”, which came into effect in Bulgaria from midnight, can be issued to those who have been vaccinated against Covid, or who can demonstrate a negative test or a recovery from Covid. It will apply to all indoor activities.




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Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against the mandatory Covid-19 “Green Certificate” for indoor access. Photograph: Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

 

Here’s a quick graphic view of the state of play for Covid infection rates across Europe at the moment. As you can see the UK is somewhat of an outlier in the west of the continent, while there appears to be a steady surge building from Serbia and Bulgaria up to the Baltic states in the east.

 

Amid rising case numbers in England, the health minister Edward Argar has this morning declined to criticise colleagues attending the enclosed space of the chamber of the House of Commons without taking the precaution of wearing a face mask. PA Media quote him saying:

I come back to my point which is it’s about colleagues, everyone in society, considering the guidance and forming an informed view.

I know colleagues will weigh up a number of factors. But that’s a judgment, the whole purpose of where we got to in July was that this is about people, individuals, not just colleagues but people … to be considering the factors and forming their own judgment, and trusting to their judgment and their common sense.

That’s why it’s not mandated because we believe that people are best placed to make those judgments with the information.

Here are those latest UK numbers, by the way …

NHS booster jab booking site changed to drop requirement of contact from GP

Just a quick note that the NHS website has been changed this morning when you go to book a booster jab. It is no longer telling you that you have to wait to be contacted by your GP, as it was yesterday when ministers were urging people to come forward for booster jabs, which the system was telling them they were not eligible for unless their doctor had said so.

UK care home residents still waiting for booster jabs – chair of National Care Association

Residents in care homes in the UK are still waiting for Covid-19 booster jabs, the chairman of the National Care Association has told the BBC.

PA Media quote Nadra Ahmed telling Radio 4’s Today programme that the situation is “either (to do with) the availability, or the actual rollout isn’t as smooth as the previous one”.

She said that “people are unsure”, and added: “Some teams are coming in and doing the flu jab, because we have got both running together, but not having enough booster vaccine to bring that in as well.”

Ahmed told the programme that “the entire methodology of getting this booster in is not quite mirroring what we did last time to get the vaccine in” and care homes were “waiting to be contacted; if they are contacting GPs, the GPs are saying ‘Well, you need to contact the NHS, it might not be them that are dealing with it.’”

She added: “We have got some homes who are telling us they have not been contacted at all, which is really worrying because they know that they are in the cohort to be having it. They are worried.

“There is a concern because obviously the six-month gap is getting bigger and bigger so the efficacy of the vaccine is reducing.

“We have infection rates that are rising so, for both staff and residents, there is this fear. We are still having visitors coming in who don’t have to be vaccinated to come into our service.”

 

09:33 Ian Sample

One question modellers are keen to answer is how much Scotland can tell us about what might happen in England. When secondary schools in Scotland opened in mid- to late August, the percentage of students testing positive rose sharply. Depending on the age group, the rates peaked at 8-10% before cases started to fall. At the same time, in early September, national cases fell sharply. Daily cases in Scotland more than halved in a month.

England may follow suit in the weeks ahead, but there is uncertainty. Scotland was faster to vaccinate schoolchildren, so their immunity before returning to school may have been higher than for children in England. If the tide has started to turn in teenagers in England, the first sign may be a slowing of infections in the ONS data this Friday.

Not that that will be the end of it. Vaccines are good at preventing severe disease but do far less to stop the virus from spreading, and immunity is steadily waning, especially in vulnerable people. Meanwhile, children are the only ones close to pre-epidemic levels of contact with others. Adults have not returned to anything like previous levels of mixing, though it is starting to increase. To top it all, as Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, would say, “winter is coming”. All could drive further waves in infections.

Read more of our science editor Ian Sample’s analysis here: Deep within the UK’s shocking Covid data, there may be reasons for optimism

Related: Deep within the UK’s shocking Covid data, there may be reasons for optimism

 

Belgium’s government warned today that the country could be on the cusp of another major surge in Covid cases despite its high vaccination rate.

Though the government recently relaxed the mandatory use of facemasks, it is again starting to encourage the population to use them to counter a rise in cases reminiscent of the first three surges of the past one-and-a-half years.

“We are clearly in a fourth wave,” the health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, told the VRT network. “We will see a major increase in infections and, unfortunately, hospital admissions.”

Associated Press reports that the government this month loosened some restrictions, including allowing for more indoor events and dropping requirements for customers to wear masks in bars.

Belgium, a nation of 11 million people, again has more than 3,000 infections a day, an increase of 50% compared to the previous week. Hospital admissions are at 80 a day, an increase of over 40%.

Bulgaria records over 4,500 new cases, highest total since April

A quick numbers update from Bulgaria here via the Bulgarian National Television news service. They report there were 4,522 new cases in the last 24 hours.

They say there are 68,776 active cases, of which 6,494 patients are in hospitals, 567 of them being in intensive care. There were 107 Covid-19 related deaths in the last day, taking the total death toll to 22,719.

The 7-day rolling average of new cases is approaching the same level that the country saw in previous two peaks of infection. 3,669 was the highest the average reached in March 2021. It currently stands at 3,421.

Today’s total of 4,522 cases represents the second highest total since the pandemic began. However, the record total of 7,560 in April came after a day when zero new cases were officially recorded due to a data issue, suggesting that today probably has set the real record.

 

Just a quick quote via PA Media here from virologist Dr Chris Smith of the University of Cambridge. Speaking to the BBC he said half of Covid cases are asymptomatic, meaning the UK is “probably already close to 100,000 cases a day anyway, we just don’t know about lots of them”.

He said “the trend at the moment in cases is upwards, but the more reassuring trend for the moment is how many people are becoming severely unwell, how many people are losing their lives and that number, thankfully, does remain very, very low, and that’s a direct testimony to the performance of the vaccines.”

Labour: ‘doesn’t seem UK government learned the lessons of last 18 months’

In the UK Labour’s shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens – she is MP for Cardiff Central – has been on Sky News, and has been highly critical of the government’s approach to rising Covid numbers in the UK, accusing the health secretary Sajid Javid of an “element of complacency” in his press conference yesterday. She said:

It’s a serious situation we’re in. Rising infection rates, rising hospitalisation rates, and suddenly rising death rates. And what we want to see and have pressed the government to do is to demonstrate their plan for dealing with this ahead of the winter situation.

The NHS is under pressure.

So, things that could have been done – which the prime minister abandoned – like mask wearing indoors like we do in Wales, for example, and extra ventilation support for businesses.

The booster programme needs a real push and those school children who are eligible for a vaccine. We need to get the rate of that right up. We were struck yesterday that there was an element of complacency in the press conference from the health secretary.

More needs to be done, it needs to be done now. That’s the advice to the government, and it is frustrating and disappointing they don’t seem to want to take that advice.

It doesn’t seem that the government learned the lessons of the last 18 months. The government is in charge of the rollout, and I don’t think it is fair to blame the public for a slow rate of vaccination. If the capacity is there, if the jabs are there, then they need to make sure that people are being given the jabs as quickly as possible.

Only 14% of promised Covid vaccine doses reach poorest nations

07:48 Andrew Gregory

Only one in seven Covid vaccine doses promised to the world’s poorest countries have been delivered, a report reveals.

Of 1.8bn doses pledged by wealthy nations, just 261m (14%) have arrived in low-income countries, according to the analysis by the People’s Vaccinealliance, a coalition of groups that includes Oxfam, ActionAid and Amnesty International.

Nearly a year after vaccines first became available, only 1.3% of people living in the poorest parts of the world are fully vaccinated.

The UK vowed to send poorer nations 100m doses but has so far delivered 9.6m, fewer than 10%, the report says. Canada has delivered 3.2m (8%) of the 40m doses it pledged. The US has delivered the most doses – nearly 177m. However, this is still less than a fifth (16%) of the 1.1bn jabs promised.

Meanwhile, of 994m doses promised to Covax, a global vaccine distribution system, by Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Pfizer/BioNTech, only 120m (12%) have so far been delivered, according to the report.

Read more of our health editor Andrew Gregory’s report: Only 14% of promised Covid vaccine doses reach poorest nations

Related: Only 14% of promised Covid vaccine doses reach poorest nations

UK minister – ‘plan C’ to limit household mix at Christmas ‘isn’t something that is being actively considered’

Yesterday UK government minister Kwasi Kwarteng ruled out any return to lockdown in England this year, and this morning health minister Edward Argar appears to have ruled out the mooted “plan C” which has appeared in the media overnight.

The Telegraph reported last night that it had learned that officials in the Cabinet Office’s Covid taskforce were drawing up plans to limit contact between households during the Christmas season in order to dampen down transmissibility. They reported:

One Whitehall source said: “The focus is very much on measures that can be taken without a major economic impact, so keeping shops, pubs and restaurants open but looking at other ways to reduce the risks.”

The measure is under consideration amid concern that people are most likely to experience prolonged exposure to Covid within the home, while high prevalence of the virus among teenagers and children could feed through into the older adult community. Half of Covid infections are now in the young.

The measure would allow Boris Johnson to shield the economy from the most extreme measures, by allowing businesses to stay open.

In his Sky News interview this morning, Argar slapped this down saying:

Well I have to say I saw that story on my way over this morning. That’s not something I’m aware of. I checked it out, and I’m told that is not a story with foundation. Of course, as a government, you look at, as we’ve done with our plan B, alternatives and ways that you might, if you needed to, start easing that pressure. But the specifics of that and what was mooted in it, as I understand it, about limiting household mix and things like, is that it isn’t something that is being actively considered.

UK minister: ‘we are not seeing unsustainable pressure’ on the NHS

UK minister of state for health Edward Argar of the Conservatives has been on Sky News first thing this morning. One of the issues he was asked about was pressure on the country’s NHS, and the current high rates of Covid infection in England and the rest of the UK.

He was keen to stress the difference between current caseloads leading to hospitalisations and deaths in this current wave. Argar said:

If you just take a data point from a few days, I think about the 15th is the data off the top my head, where we had about 450 infections per 100,000 in our population. And you saw about 700 people I think admitted to hospital on that day, and sadly just shy of 100 deaths.

If you then look at when we last had that level of infections, which is about the back end of last year, you were talking about 3,000 people being admitted to hospital, and considerably more deaths, around 600 deaths, so that’s the difference.

He also insisted that the pressure being exerted on the health service was sustainable, saying:

If we didn’t have a Covid pandemic I suspect you’d have me on normally to talk about winter pressures on the NHS and flu. Now we see that coming with Covid, and a resurgence of flu and other seasonal infections. So we are seeing pressure in the system, but we’re not seeing unsustainable pressure.

Taken hospital beds, just as an example, we’ve probably got at the moment around 95,000 hospital beds in our system, smaller than it has been because of infection prevention measures. About 7,000 or so those are occupied by Covid patients, but we’ve still got around 6,000 that are currently unoccupied. Now, they’re unevenly distributed, but we have got that capacity.

This, of course, is in some contrast to the pleas from healthcare professionals including Matthew Taylor the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, and the British Medical Association, that the time to act is now.

Read more here: British Medical Association says ‘time is now’ for Covid plan B

Related: British Medical Association says ‘time is now’ for Covid plan B

Ukraine sets record Covid caseload and daily deaths

Ukraine registered a record daily high of new coronavirus infections and related deaths, the health ministry said today.

Ministry data showed 22,415 new cases over the past 24 hours, exceeding the previous high of 20,341 on 3 April.

Reuters report there were also 546 new deaths, surpassing the 19 October record of 538.

 

Good morning from London. It is Martin Belam here taking over from Samantha Lock in Sydney. It is health minister Edward Argar doing the media round for the government in the UK this morning – I’ll have some choice quotes from that in a moment.

India administers its one billionth Covid-19 vaccine dose

06:43 Hannah Ellis-Petersen

India has administered its one billionth Covid-19 vaccine dose, a key milestone for a country hoping to have all 944 million adults fully vaccinated by the end of the year.

India had a faltering and mismanaged start to its Covid vaccination rollout nine months ago, with severe shortages of shots nationwide and an export ban imposed on covid vaccines made in India to cope with the shortfall. However, in recent months, stocks have gone up and the take-up of the vaccine began to ramp up significantly. Vaccine hesitancy, an impediment in many rural areas, has also diminished. The country is now administering an average of five million shots per day, though at its peak, as part of a vaccine push on prime minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, 25 million were given in one day in September. Eight states have now administered a first dose to 100% of adults.

India is the second country after China to administer a billion shots of the covid vaccine. The government hailed what it described as their “vaccine century”.

“Gratitude to our doctors, nurses and all those who worked to achieve this feat,” tweeted prime minister Narendra Modi.

However, Indian health officials warned there was still a way to go in terms of getting the whole country inoculated. Though the first dose of the vaccine has been given to 75% of adults, there are still millions who have not had a shot, and only 30% of the country is fully vaccinated.

The majority of Indians have been vaccinated with Astrazeneca, which is produced in India under the name Covishield but another Indian-made vaccine, produced by domestic pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech, has also been rolled out. However, Bharat Biotech’s vaccine does not have emergency approval from the World Heath organisation (WHO) and this week the WHO said they were seeking more information before being able to give it the green light.

As well as the government’s end of year deadline for complete vaccination, the country is also racing to vaccinate as many people before the predicted third wave of the virus hits the country. The second wave, which devastated India in April, brought the healthcare system to its knees and led to shortages of hospital beds, oxygen and medicines. The official death toll from Covid in India is 452,000 but there has been evidence of widespread undercounting and the true figure has been calculated to be up to four million.

 

Welcome back to our live coverage of all coronavirus news happening around the world.

I’m Samantha Lock reporting from Sydney, Australia, bringing you all the latest developments for the next few hours.

  • New Zealand Covid daily cases pass 100 for first time since pandemic began. The nation’s director general of health says the country is following a similar trajectory to the UK, with vast majority of hospital cases being unvaccinated.
  • The British Medical Association says the “time is now” for the government to enact ‘plan B’ in England to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed by growing numbers of coronavirus cases. The doctors’ trade union believes not taking action over England’s growing Covid cases is “wilfully negligent”.
  • Excess AstraZeneca vaccines may go to waste in Australia. None of the current 7m surplus doses has been earmarked for foreign aid, with the volume of supply available to Pacific neighbours declining to just 26,500 last week. Former AMA president, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, condemned “a very good vaccine going to waste”, as declining public take-up causes stock held by suburban GPs to pass expiration dates.
  • Lithuania’s biggest news portals said they were switching off public comments on their articles about Covid-19 vaccines in an effort aimed at curbing conspiracy theories.
  • Poland is facing an explosion of coronavirus cases that may need drastic action, the health minister has said after the country recorded more than 5,000 daily new infections for the first time since May.
  • The UK health secretary says daily Covid cases could hit as high as 100,000. Sajid Javid said the government always knew that winter would bring problems and that Covid hospitalisations are already approaching 1,000 a day.
  • New York city announces all municipal workers – including refuse workers, police officers and firefighters – must be vaccinated or be put on unpaid leave.
  • Hundreds of anti-vaccine protesters took to the streets of Sofia today to demonstrate Bulgaria’s new Covid pass requirement.

    US children aged five to 11 years old are expected to be offered the Covid vaccine within weeks. Laying out plans for its distribution, the White House said the age group would soon be able to get the vaccine at their doctor, pharmacy or maybe at school.

  • Latvia is the first country to reimpose lockdown in Europe’s new Covid wave. The Baltic state once seen as coronavirus success story announced a month of restrictions including curfew.

Source: Thanks msn.com