4.18am GMT04:18
Japan cabinet approves bill for tougher virus measures
Japan’s cabinet approved draft laws to toughen coronavirus restrictions on Friday, a move that could threaten rule-breakers with fines and prison sentences for the first time since the outbreak began, AFP reports.
With just six months until the virus-postponed Tokyo Olympics are due to begin, the capital and other regions are currently under a state of emergency in an attempt to quell a record spike in Covid-19 infections.
People walk past the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre in Tokyo, Japan. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP
But unlike strict lockdowns seen elsewhere in the world, the measure has no means of enforcement – with people urged rather than ordered to stay home, and no fines for businesses who ignore requests to close early.
The new laws would allow authorities to punish and even imprison people for up to a year if they test positive but refuse hospitalisation.
They would also penalise bars and restaurants that continue evening service when instructed not to with fines of up to 500,000 yen ($4,800).
The bills are expected to pass parliament next week, but reports said the opposition will push for an amendment to the section on forced hospitalisation following criticism that it impinges on civil liberties.
3.51am GMT03:51
Tokyo Olympics: Covid putting ‘real pressure’ on Japan, says Australia PM amid cancellation rumours
The pandemic is placing “real pressure” on preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, the Australian prime minister has said, after a report claimed the Japanese government had privately concluded this summer’s Games will have to be cancelled.
“The situation in Japan, right now, in terms of the spread that’s occurred there more recently, is quite different to even when I was there in November,” Scott Morrison said on Friday.
“I can understand that that’s putting some real pressure” on the Japanese prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, the prime minister said, adding that “any prime minister anywhere, has to put, I think, the health and safety of their populations first and what can be managed”.
The Guardian’s Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Sean Ingle report:
3.40am GMT03:40
Amazon Inc said on Thursday it will open a pop-up clinic in its Seattle headquarters on 24 January, Reuters reports, with an aim to vaccinate 2,000 eligible members on the first day.
Amazon Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs Jay Carney, who announced the plan in a news conference with Washington Governor Jay Inslee, said a company executive will be working with Washington State’s Vaccine Command Center.
The clinic will be hosted in partnership with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health.
The move came a day after Reuters reported that Amazon had offered to help with the United States’ efforts involving the vaccine, citing a letter addressed to President Joe Biden.
The State currently allows people aged 65 and older and people 50 and older living in a multi-generational household to get vaccinated. It has yet to grant doses for the vaccination of warehouse employees, such as Amazon’s.
The company employs more than 800,000 people in the country and more than 19,000 US workers at Amazon had contracted the virus as of September, underscoring the vaccine’s importance in keeping its staff safe and warehouses operational.
3.24am GMT03:24
More on the situation in Mexico, from AP: One video circulating on Facebook shows a Mexican couple connecting a fish-tank air pump to a hose in an effort to boost the man’s oxygen levels.
The head of civil defense for the city of Puebla, Gustavo Ariza, issued a public warning against such improvised devices, noting they do not increase oxygen concentration and simply re-circulate air.
“This is trickery. Please, people, don’t do this,” Ariza said.
A worker offloads oxygen cylinders in Queretaro, Mexico, on 21 Jan 2021. Photograph: Cesar Gomez/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell joined in the warnings. “We are concerned that people might waste time in te hope that this would work, and over the course of hours or days, very few days, the person’s condition worsens,” he said.
López-Gatell said the Mexican government is going to pass rules that would give priority to medicinal oxygen production over industrial uses to free up supplies. The government is also looking to buy oxygen tanks abroad.
3.11am GMT03:11
Mexico reports record cases and deaths
Mexico posted new one-day highs for the pandemic Thursday, with 22,339 newly confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,803 deaths from Covid recorded for the previous 24 hours, AP reports.
The recent surge in cases has swamped hospitals. Mexico City is the country’s epicentre of the pandemic, and its hospitals are at 89% capacity, while nationwide 61% of hospital beds are filled.
The difficulty in finding space in hospitals has led many families to try to treat their relatives at home, which has created spot shortages of oxygen and tanks. That has been accompanied by a jump in prices as well as an uptick in thefts targeting oxygen tanks.
The situation has also sparked home remedies, including home-made oxygen concentrators that officials warned are dangerous.
2.47am GMT02:47
The full story on South Africa paying more than double major EU countries for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine now:
2.30am GMT02:30
Beijing launches mass testing as cases dip slightly
Beijing launched mass coronavirus testing in parts of city on Friday, while Shanghai was testing all hospital staff, as China battles the worst outbreak since March 2020.
China reported a slight decline in new daily cases on Friday – 103 from 144 cases a day earlier.
Reuters: Of these new cases, 94 were local transmissions: northeastern Heilongjiang reported 47 new cases, while Jilin province reported 19 new cases. Shanghai reported six new cases, while the capital Beijing reported three new cases.
Residents wait in line for nucleic acid test at a COVID-19 testing site in Daxing District of Beijing, China, January 20, 2021. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock
Some districts in Beijing launched mass tests following several consecutive days of new cases in the Chinese capital, with long queues forming in certain parts of the town.
Shanghai began testing all hospital staff for the disease on Thursday after two such workers tested positive.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, rose to 119 from 113 cases a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed cases in Mainland China now stands at 88,804, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.
Updated
at 4.20am GMT
1.44am GMT01:44
Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the US, spoke on Thursday of a “liberating feeling” of being able to speak scientific truth about the coronavirus without fear of “repercussions” from Donald Trump.
The Guardian’s David Smith and Julian Borger report that Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, endured a tortuous relationship with the former president and was increasingly sidelined from public briefings.
But the 80-year-old returned to the White House podium on Thursday after Joe Biden released a national Covid-19 strategy and signed 10 executive orders to combat a pandemic that has now claimed more than 400,000 lives in the US.
“One of the things that we’re going to do is to be completely transparent, open and honest,” Fauci told reporters. “If things go wrong, not point fingers, but to correct them. And to make everything we do be based on science and evidence.
“That was literally a conversation I had 15 minutes ago with the president and he has said that multiple times.”
Asked if he would like to amend or clarify anything he said during the Trump presidency, Fauci insisted he had always been candid, noting wryly. “That’s why I got in trouble sometimes”:
1.27am GMT01:27
In the UK, the union representing firefighters hampered efforts to deploy the emergency service into potentially life-saving scenarios during the coronavirus pandemic with outdated and unnecessary practices, independent inspectors have said in a damning report.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) asked firefighters not to volunteer to support the NHS test-and-trace system and the Covid-19 vaccination programme, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services said:
1.05am GMT01:05
South African cabinet minister dies of coronavirus
South Africa’s president announced on Thursday that Jackson Mthembu had died from the coronavirus, becoming the first cabinet minister to succumb to the disease, AP reports.
The 62-year-old Mthembu in recent months had been a central figure in communicating to the public the South African government’s response to Covid. In announcing the death Thursday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called Mthembu “an exemplary leader.”
He tested positive on 11 January. Mthembu’s death comes as South Africa battles a second wave of the coronavirus that may be driven in part by a new variant of the coronavirus.
South African leaders paid trubute to Mthembu on Twitter, with former public protector Thuli Madonsela saying he “epitomised human decency.”
Prof Thuli Madonsela
(@ThuliMadonsela3)There goes a man who epitomized human decency. Heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the late Minister Jackson Mthembu and to his colleagues in the ANC and government. The Social Justice community has lost a partner. May his kind soul #RIP #RIPJacksonMthembu pic.twitter.com/HHwwfOSLL0
Updated
at 1.05am GMT
12.25am GMT00:25
More on South Africa being charged twice what EU countries are paying for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, from AFP.
AstraZeneca France told AFP in November that its shots would be capped at 2.5 euros (around $3) per dose “to provide vaccines to the widest population, with as fair access as possible”.
The pharmaceutical giant did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the health ministry’s price quote.
South Africa’s AstraZeneca vaccine order is part of 20 million secured doses to be delivered in the first half of 2021.
The WHO-backed Covax facility is expected to provide shots for 10 percent of the population between April and June.
Other vaccines will be provided via the African Union and bilateral contracts with suppliers that have not yet been disclosed.
Around 2,000 South Africans participated in Trials for the AstraZeneca vaccine in 2020.
Updated
at 12.48am GMT
12.02am GMT00:02
EU introduces ‘dark red’ travel zones for hotspot areas
Reuters reportsa that Covid hotspots the European Union will be labelled “dark red” zones, and travellers from those areas will be required to take a test before departure and undergo quarantine, citing the chief of the bloc’s executive.
“A dark red zone would show that in this zone, the virus is circulating at a very high level,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference after a meeting of EU leaders.
“Persons travelling from dark red areas could be required to do a test before departure, as well as to undergo quarantine after arrival.”
This system would apply to travel within the EU, she said.
Von der Leyen said that with infections rising and contagious variants of the virus spreading fast, non-essential travel should be “strongly discouraged” within the EU but essential workers and goods must be able to cross borders smoothly.
Updated
at 12.49am GMT
12.00am GMT00:00
France introduces mandatory PCR tests for arrivals
French President Emmanuel Macron told his European Union counterparts France would make PCR tests compulsory for all travellers into France from Sunday, including from fellow EU countries, his office said on Thursday.
Reuters: Cross-border workers and land transportation will be exempt from that obligation, the French presidency added. The test will have to be carried out no later than 72 hours before departure, it said after a video summit of EU leaders.
Updated
at 12.48am GMT
11.59pm GMT23:59
South Africa to pay 2.5 times more than EU for virus vaccine
South Africa will buy doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine at a price 2.5 times higher than most European countries, the health ministry said Thursday.
The continent’s worst virus-hit country has ordered at least 1.5 million shots of the vaccine from the Serum Institute of India, expected in January and February, AFP reports.
A senior health official on Thursday told AFP those doses would cost $5.25 (4.32 euros) each – nearly 2.5 times the amount paid by most European countries.
“The National Department of Health confirms that the price $5.25 is what was quoted to us,” deputy director-general of health Anban Pillay said via text message, without explaining the price difference.
European Union (EU) members will pay just 1.78 euros ($2.16) for AstraZeneca’s shots, according to information leaked by a Belgian minister on Twitter last month.
Bilateral deals between wealthier governments and coronavirus vaccine manufacturers have raised concern over price hikes and lack of supply for low- and middle-income countries.
The World Health Organization last year warned against “vaccine nationalism” and “price gouging” once a successful shot was found.
11.51pm GMT23:51
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
I’m on Twitter @helenrsullivan and email at [email protected]
South Africa will buy doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine at a price 2.5 times higher than most European countries, the health ministry said Thursday.
The continent’s worst virus-hit country has ordered at least 1.5 million shots of the vaccine from the Serum Institute of India, expected in January and February.
A senior health official on Thursday told AFP those doses would cost $5.25 (4.32 euros) each – nearly 2.5 times the amount paid by most European countries.
Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron told his European Union counterparts France would make PCR tests compulsory for all travellers into France from Sunday, including from fellow EU countries.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- Biden warns Covid will ‘get worse before it gets better’ as he unveils strategy. Joe Biden began his first full day as president confronting a host of major crises facing his fledgling administration, starting with a flurry of actions to address his most pressing challenge: the raging Covid-19 pandemic. At a White House event on Thursday afternoon, Biden unveiled a new “wartime” strategy to combat the coronavirus, vowing “help is on the way.”
- PM Johnson raises fears of lockdown in England continuing into summertime. Boris Johnson raised fears that tough Covid restrictions could continue well into the spring and beyond as ministers refused to be drawn on plans for any potential easing of lockdown.
- France to recommend wearing of surgical masks in public. The French government will recommend that people wear surgical masks in public because fabric masks do not provide enough protection from Covid-19 transmission, health minister Olivier Véran said.
- No way to hold Rio carnival in July, the city’s mayor says. It will not be possible to host carnival celebrations in July, Rio de Janeiro’s new mayor has said, as Brazil’s second wave of coronavirus infections spreads, and with vaccine supplies still scarce.
- Hungary breaks ranks with EU to license Russian vaccine. Hungary has licensed Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, breaking ranks with other EU countries and ignoring calls to stick to a common European vaccine policy.
- Portugal bans all UK flights to tackle rapid spread of new Covid-19 variant. Portuguese prime minister António Costa said all flights to and from Britain will be suspended from Saturday onwards as Portugal scrambles to tackle the rapid spread of the new variant of the coronavirus.
- Austrian mayors who got leftover Covid vaccines accused of ‘queue-jumping’. Local government officials in Austria have been accused of jumping the queue for Covid-19 vaccinations at care homes for elderly people, prompting a clarification of guidelines for handling leftover doses.
- Pfizer cuts vaccine deliveries to some EU countries in half. Pfizer has slashed in half the volume of Covid vaccines it will deliver to some EU countries this week, government officials said, as frustration over the US drugmaker’s unexpected cut in supplies grows.
- Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa tests positive to Covid-19 at Australian Open. Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa has become the first player to test positive to Covid-19 while in hard quarantine ahead of the Australian Open.
Updated
at 11.52pm GMT
Source by www.theguardian.com
