8.09am EDT
08:09
Hi. Caroline Davies here, back with the blog. You can get in touch on caroline.davies@guardian.co.uk
7.54am EDT
07:54
Romania reported record numbers of daily coronavirus fatalities and infections on last Tuesday, Reuters reports. The virus was killing one person every five minutes on average this month in a country where the inoculation rate is low.
The Covid death rate in Romania has risen sharply in the past few weeks. Max Roser, a researcher at the University of Oxford and founder of Our World in Data, posted the following chart. He noted the death rate is now higher than in the US or the UK during their worst waves during the pandemic.
(@MaxCRoser)
The COVID death rate in Romania.
After a very fast increase it is now higher than in the US or the UK during their worst waves in the pandemic.
[here you can find it for all countries: https://t.co/cyYwixWeP7] pic.twitter.com/kxiGfdLBFP
It comes as Reuters reports that hospitals in Romania are stretched to breaking point, with emergency beds fully occupied across the country. Morgues were also running at full capacity.
7.45am EDT
07:45
While rich countries debate booster jabs, many in the world’s poorest have yet to receive any. AP reports on the extraordinary length researchers are going to to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine to help alleviate these dire shortages:
In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to reach South Africa and most of the world’s poorest people.
The energy in the gleaming labs matches the urgency of their mission to narrow vaccine disparities. By working to replicate Moderna’s Covid-19 shot, the scientists are effectively making an end run around an industry that has vastly prioritised rich countries over poor in both sales and manufacturing.
And they are doing it with unusual backing from the World Health Organisation, which is coordinating a vaccine research, training and production hub in South Africa along with a related supply chain for critical raw materials.
It’s a last resort effort to make doses for people going without, and the intellectual property implications are still murky.
“We are doing this for Africa at this moment, and that drives us,” said Emile Hendricks, a 22-year-old biotechnologist for Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, the company trying to reproduce the Moderna jab. “We can no longer rely on these big superpowers to come in and save us.”
Some experts see reverse engineering — recreating vaccines from fragments of publicly available information — as one of the few remaining ways to redress the power imbalances of the pandemic. Only 0.7% of vaccines have gone to low-income countries so far, while nearly half have gone to wealthy countries, according to an analysis by the People’s Vaccine Alliance.
That WHO, which relies upon the goodwill of wealthy countries and the pharmaceutical industry for its continued existence, is leading the attempt to reproduce a proprietary vaccine demonstrates the depths of the supply disparities.
The UN backed effort to even out global vaccine distribution, known as COVAX, has failed to alleviate dire shortages in poor countries. Donated doses are coming in at a fraction of what is needed to fill the gap. Meanwhile, pressure for drug companies to share, including Biden administration demands on Moderna, has led nowhere.
7.18am EDT
07:18
Israel and the United Arab Emirates have signed a “green corridor” agreement allowing passengers vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel freely between the two countries, Reuters reports citing the Israeli consulate in Dubai.
7.17am EDT
07:17
Hello, I’m Aamna Mohdin and I’ll be taking over the blog while Caroline has a break. If you want to get in touch, you can email me: aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com or message me on Twitter
6.56am EDT
06:56
Melbourne, which emerged from its latest spate of Covid-19 restrictions on Friday, will see more curbs eased next week when Victoria state reaches an 80% full vaccination rate, officials said on Sunday.
Melbourne’s population of around 5 million have endured 262 days, or nearly nine months, of stay-at-home restrictions during six lockdowns since March 2020, longer than the 234-day continuous lockdown in Buenos Aires, Reuters reports.
Starting on Friday, when 80% of people across Victoria – of which Melbourne is the capital – are expected to be fully vaccinated, Melburnians will be free to travel throughout the state and masks will no longer be required outdoors.
Updated
at 7.30am EDT
6.55am EDT
06:55
Vaccines not enough as UK cases rise, says expert
Prof Adam Finn, who is on the UK‘s Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths are rising, and warned against complacency in what he said is a “worsening” situation.
“And they will go up as the number of cases go up because the virus will reach people who are vulnerable and who may get seriously ill,” he told Trevor Phillips on Sunday on Sky News.
He said the biggest risk is among those who have not had any vaccine yet, including younger adults.
Vaccines were not going to be enough to keep the spread under control, and people need to make effort to avoid contact in order to slow transmission rates, he added.
“They do have an effect on that, but they’re not by themselves going to be enough at the present time to keep the spread of the virus under control.
“And we do need to see people continuing to make efforts to avoid contact, to avoid transmission, and to do other things as well as get vaccinated if we’re going to stop this rise from going up further.”
It was important to “stick to the science” when discussing the prospect of extending the Covid-19 booster programme to people under 50 and offering booster jabs at five months rather than six months.
He said: “Just giving more people vaccines, including people who maybe don’t actually need the vaccines yet, could actually run the risk of making things worse rather than better.
“If you boost people before they actually need the vaccine, it is in some senses a waste of vaccine, but also it means that you are immunising them earlier and they may make a smaller response to the vaccine and that response may wear off earlier.
Asked if the government should move to plan B now, he said: “Well, some kind of plan B.” He worries that the “wrong message” is being sent out to the public, he said.
“And I worry in fact that the vaccine programme itself is suffering as a consequence of this suggestion that somehow the problem’s gone and we can all go back to normal again, because that will increasingly make people jump to the conclusion that if they’ve not been vaccinated there’s no real need to do it.
“So I do think we need to see a very different kind of message coming from the government now that there is a serious problem, and we all need to continue to contribute to reducing transmission, so that we can get through the winter and the NHS can stay afloat and absolutely we can avoid lockdowns, and the disasters that those bring.
Updated
at 7.30am EDT
6.25am EDT
06:25
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the UK government should introduce its “plan B” to tackle the rising rates of coronavirus now.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Reeves was asked what Labour’s position was on reintroducing restrictions such as the wearing of face coverings and working from home.
She said: “Labour as a responsible opposition have always said that we would follow the science, and we’ve seen today that Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) are saying that some aspects of plan B, like wearing masks on public transports and in shops, and also working from home more flexibly should be introduced.
“I think the first thing is the government have got to do more to make plan A work. If the scientists are saying work from home and masks, we should do that. So get A working better because the vaccination programme has been stalling, introduce those parts of plan B.
“But there are also things not in A or B that need to be done, like paying statutory sick pay from day one and also better ventilation in public spaces.”
Asked directly whether plan B should be introduced now, she said: “Yes, but let’s not let the government off the hook with plan A either.”
Updated
at 6.30am EDT
5.46am EDT
05:46
UK A&E in ‘terrible place’ already says emergency medicine chief
Dr Katherine Henderson, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said emergency departments in the UK are in a “terrible place”.
Asked if she thinks emergency departments are going to be able to cope this winter, she told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday:
We’re already struggling to cope. This is not something that’s coming in the next couple of months. We’re already in a terrible place where we have got large queues of ambulances with vulnerable people waiting in those ambulances to be offloaded into departments and other patients at home waiting to be picked up by the ambulance.
That’s the thing that really worries me; that these are patients who have not yet received treatment that we don’t necessarily know what’s wrong with them that we’re really struggling to get into our healthcare facilities to then work out what we need to do.
Crowding was harmful to patients, she said, adding that there was already crowding in emergency departments before the pandemic.
“We didn’t go into the pandemic in a great place in emergency care. We didn’t have enough beds then. The problem is that things are worse at the moment so we need everybody to be as careful with the healthcare resources as they possibly can be, and try and minimise the need for healthcare resources.
So if we’ve got 8,000 patients in hospital who are suffering Covid, if we didn’t have those patients that would be another 8,000 beds in the system.
So every bed that gets filled by a patient with Covid in a sense is in a hospital bed with a potentially avoidable disease, and that’s what we need people to focus on if we want to get through the elective backlog.
Updated
at 6.30am EDT
5.37am EDT
05:37
China has given complete doses of Covid-19 vaccines to about 75.6% of its population as of 23 October, National Health Commission spokesperson Mi Feng said on Sunday.
Some 1.068 billion people have been inoculated with the required dosages, out of a population of 1.412 billion, Mi told a news briefing.
The country has administered a total of 2.245bn doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of 23 October, official data showed.
China is giving people whose last dose was given at least six months ago a booster shot, with priority groups including essential workers, older people and those with weaker immune systems.
Updated
at 6.33am EDT
5.34am EDT
05:34
UK chancellor says not time to move to Covid plan B ‘immediately’
The UK chancellor Rishi Sunak said data did not suggest it was time to move to plan B.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme: “The prime minister has just said we are looking at the data all the time, as you would expect us to. We’re monitoring everything, But at the moment the data does not suggest that we should immediately be moving to plan B.
“But, of course, we’ll keep an eye on that.”
The best protection was vaccine and the booster rollout, he said.
Asked if he might reintroduce furlough if restrictions were reimposed, he said: “Of course, we should always be humble in the face of this virus. That’s obvious given what we have experienced.
“But we have confidence in the vaccine, have modelled all the scenarios, and we have said the winter will be challenging. The ‘plan B’ that we have set out does not involve the same type of very significant economic restriction that we saw previously, so that won’t be necessary.”
“I think we are in a very different place, because of the vaccine rollout.”
He added: “There is a fallback, There is a plan B. The data suggests it isn’t needed today. But if that changes then of course the government will be read to act. That’s why those plans are there”.
On encouraging people to work from home, Sunak said “depending on the circumstances, if we have to move forward on that, that’s what we will do. But again, I would reiterate so people are reassured, the data at the moment doesn’t suggest that that is immediately necessary, and our emphasis should be on making sure that everyone get their booster jab”.
On the possibility of vaccine passports, he said: ‘There’s a range of things we have set out in plan B.`And then there’s degrees of vaccine certification. Those debates have been had in parliament about where’s the appropriate boundary or place to introduce vaccine certification.
He added: “But right now, data does not suggest we need to move to plan B”.
Asked if MPs should lead by example and wear masks in the House of Commons, he said “every work place is slightly different” and he did wear a mask depending on the circumstances.
Updated
at 6.32am EDT
4.52am EDT
04:52
Which protects you most against Covid – vaccination or prior infection? Here, the data is examined by David Spiegelhalter, chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge, and Anthony Masters, statistical ambassador for the Royal Statistical Society.
Updated
at 6.32am EDT
4.45am EDT
04:45
Hillary Clinton, speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, said it was “imperative” that Boris Johnson “do what he can to stop the rise in Covid in the UK”.
He did not need to “shut society down”, said the former US secretary of state, who is in the UK to promote her novel.
But Johnson does need to mandate vaccines – introduce vaccine passports for clubs restaurants and employers, she said.
Part of what we’ve done in New York is all of the big health systems, hospitals and the like, they have mandated vaccines. For example, one very large one, 77,000 employees, 1,000 refused to get vaccinated. They were fired.
And I think you have got to make it clear, we’re not going to go back to lockdown, that is not going to happen. But, if you don’t get vaccinated and if you don’t have proof of vaccination when you go into a club or restaurant, and employers don’t enforce vaccines, we may see some problems here in the UK as the weather gets colder and people are forced back inside again.
Updated
at 6.32am EDT
4.21am EDT
04:21
India reported 15,906 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to government data on Sunday.
The nationwide tally of infections has reached 34.17 million since the start of the pandemic, according to the health ministry.
The country reported 561 deaths overnight, taking the overall tally to 454,269 fatalities, Reuters reports.
4.08am EDT
04:08
Parents in England are now able to book Covid vaccinations online for children aged between 12 and 15.
Just over 2.5 million letters will arrive with parents and guardians from Monday inviting them to book a jab online through the National Booking Service.
There are almost 100 sites offering jabs to this age group with hundreds more expected to join them in the coming weeks.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy lead for the NHS vaccine programme, said she would urge families to “book in to give children and their loved ones crucial protection ahead of winter”.
The NHS said parents and guardians are asked to attend vaccination sites with their children if they want them to be vaccinated outside school hours and consent will be sought on the day.
Dr Kanani said: “Millions of parents will be receiving letters from tomorrow inviting their children to get a Covid vaccine through the National Booking Service – this provides an additional way for 12 to 15-year-olds to get their vaccine following the rollout in schools that has seen more than a half million vaccinated already.”
4.01am EDT
04:01
Coronavirus cases in eastern Europe will soon surpass 20 million, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the region grapples with its worst outbreak since the pandemic started and inoculation efforts lag.
Countries in the region have the lowest vaccination rates in Europe, with less than half of the population having received a single dose, the agency reports.
Hungary tops the region’s vaccination rates with 62% of its population having had at least one shot, whereas Ukraine has given just 19% of its residents a single dose, according to Reuter’s Our World in Data.
New infections in the region have steadily risen and now average over 83,700 new cases per day, the highest level since November last year, Reuters data through Friday showed. Although it has just 4% of the world’s population, eastern Europe accounts for roughly 20% of all new cases reported globally.
According to a Reuters analysis, three of the top five countries reporting the most deaths in the world are in eastern Europe – Russia, Ukraine and Romania.
3.40am EDT
03:40
The Observer is reporting today new evidence has emerged that the government is paving the way to implement “plan B” measures in England to combat the spread of Covid-19, amid warnings from health chiefs that a “vortex of pressures” is encircling the NHS.
It reports
“In the clearest sign to date that Whitehall is actively considering additional measures, the Observer has learnt that the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contacted local authorities on Friday to canvass their level of support for the “immediate rollout of the winter plan – plan B”.
“The disclosure comes as senior doctors warn that operations are already being cancelled due to NHS staffing shortages and scientists warn of “a triple whammy” of respiratory illnesses this winter, with Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes cold-like symptoms but can be serious for children and older adults.
You can read the full report here:
3.38am EDT
03:38
Also in the UK, the prime minister and senior health chiefs are calling on the nation to get vaccinated against Covid-19 amid mounting concern over rising infection levels ahead of Christmas.
Boris Johnson said vaccines will get the country through the winter and out of the pandemic, while NHS England’s national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said getting a booster will “protect the freedom and Christmas that we have all earned”.
The repeated calls for people to get jabbed comes as Johnson resists pleas from health leaders for tighter restrictions despite the rising number of cases.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said this week that new cases could reach 100,000 a day, but Downing Street insisted there was still spare capacity in the NHS and that Plan B would only be activated if it came under “significant pressure”.
Plan B includes working-from-home guidance and the mandatory use of face masks.
Johnson, who has said there are no plans for another lockdown, said:
Vaccines are our way through this winter.
We’ve made phenomenal progress but our job isn’t finished yet, and we know that vaccine protection can drop after six months.
To keep yourself, your loved ones, and everyone around you safe, please get your booster when you get the call.
We can and will beat this virus but only if we listen to the science and look out for each other.
This is a call to everyone, whether you’re eligible for a booster, haven’t got round to your second dose yet, or your child is eligible for a dose – vaccines are safe, they save lives, and they are our way out of this pandemic.”
3.29am EDT
03:29
Hi. Caroline Davies here in London. In the UK, as from 4am today, the coronavirus rules have been relaxed for travellers returning to England who are fully vaccinated in what has been hailed by the government as a “huge boost” for the travel industry.
Just in time for half-term, fully vaccinated people arriving in England from a non-red list country can use a lateral flow test rather than the more expensive PCR version on or before day two.
Lateral flow tests for international travel must be purchased from a private provider as NHS test and trace lateral flow tests cannot be used for international travel.
Bookings for lateral flow tests opened on Friday and can be purchased through the private providers listed on GOV.UK.
As of Saturday afternoon, there were 25 providers on the government website and prices ranged from GBP19 to GBP39.
You can get in touch on caroline.davies@guardian.co.uk.
Updated
at 3.36am EDT
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