Health News at Your Fingertips

The United States plans to send more than 1.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to four different African countries as part of the COVAX programme.

A White House official told Reuters that the shipment is set to include 250,320 doses of the Moderna vaccine for the Democratic Republic of Congo, 657,080 Moderna doses for Uganda, 302,400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for Guinea and 35,100 doses of the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech for Seychelles.

The doses are being delivered through COVAX, jointly run by the World Health Organization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

South Africa’s health minister Joe Phaahla has said scientists have told the government that – at this stage – the C.1.2 coronavirus variant detected is not a threat.

First identified in May, the variant has now been recorded in all of the country’s nine provinces. The Reuters news agency reports:

It contains some mutations associated in other variants with increased transmission and reduced sensitivity to neutralising antibodies, leading researchers to flag its detection to the government and the World Health Organization (WHO).

“At this stage they [scientists] have assured us it’s not really a threat, they are just watching it,” Phaahla told a news conference, adding that C.1.2 had only been detected in small numbers so far.

He said it was almost certain that the country would face a fourth wave of Covid cases towards the end of the year.

Meanwhile, in England, the prevalence of coronavirus infections was around 1 in 70 people in the week ending August 27, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figure remains unchanged from the previous week’s estimate. One in 70 is the equivalent of about 766,100 people.

At the peak of the second wave in early January, around one in 50 people in England were estimated to have coronavirus.

The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 is estimated to have increased in south-west England and the West Midlands, the ONS said.

London and the East Midlands saw a decrease, while the trend for all other regions is uncertain.

Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest proportion of people of any region likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to August 27, around one in 55.

The East Midlands, eastern England and London had the lowest estimate: around one in 85.

Some breaking news coming in from Brussels this morning.

Europe’s medicines regulator has said it is reviewing cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome after inoculation with Covid vaccines, following a report of a similar case with Pfizer/BioNTech’s shot.

The European Medicines Agency’s safety committee is also looking into cases of rare blood clots in the vein with Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine, the regulator said, adding that the issue was distinct from a rare side-effect identified earlier.

China is facing “increasingly difficult” problems in expanding its mass coronavirus vaccination effort, a health official has said.

However, it has vowed to press on with plans to inoculate more people, as well as ramping up its booster jab programme.

Zheng Zhongwei, an official at the National Health Commission, did not say what obstacles the government was facing but said those who have not been vaccinated could not rely on being protected by those who have had the shots.

It comes amid concerns over the highly transmissible Delta variant sweeping China.

“Recently, as [pushing vaccination work] came to the later stage, it has become increasingly difficult,” Zheng said at a health forum.

He said China has given full doses to about 900 million people, or more than 60% of its 1.4 billion population, but cited some experts saying China may need a vaccination rate higher than 80%.

China administered around 13 million doses per day on average in July and August, slower than June’s daily average of 19 million, according to Reuters.

An agreement has been reached between the European Union and AstraZeneca over the delivery of pending vaccine doses.

It comes after months of argument played out in public over the company’s European vaccine production and the bloc’s vaccination campaign.

Under the settlement, AstraZeneca has committed to deliver 60 million doses of its vaccine, Vaxzevria, by the end of the third quarter this year, 75 million by the end of the fourth quarter and 65 million by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

The dispute plunged the EU into crisis earlier this year as states, under pressure to speed up vaccinations, scrambled for shots.

It also caused a public relations crisis for AstraZeneca, which is led by the Frenchman Pascal Soriot, reported Reuters.

Brussels has since reduced its reliance on the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, with vaccine supplies coming from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

The EU’s executive body said that under the new agreement, member states would be provided with regular delivery schedules and if there were any delayed doses, capped rebates would be applied.

Good morning, I’m Tom Ambrose and will be keeping you abreast of all the developing Covid news throughout the afternoon.

We start with the news that, in Indonesia, an online leak of the president’s coronavirus vaccine certificate has heightened concern about information security.

It comes in the same week as a data breach affecting 1.3 million users of a government contact-tracing application, the Reuters news agency reports.

President Joko Widodo’s vaccine records were accessed using the app, PeduliLindungi, and shared widely on social media.

Digital analyst Ismail Fahmi said the leak showed how easy it was to view or potentially use another individual’s vaccination certificate. He said:

If there was protection, there would be an investigation into why this problem persists, why personal records can be easily mined.

But there is no such protection.

The health minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has since confirmed officials’ records could no longer be accessed.

Summary

Here’s a brief roundup of the last few hours of coronavirus news:

• The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said he wants to work with the government in Pakistan to see if the country can come off the red travel list.
• Children’s rights groups have called for an end to Covid regulations that restrict family visits and access to education in the youth detention system.
• As schools return after summer across Europe, some countries with lower vaccination rates have decided to postpone reopening. Rates are particularly low in some Balkan countries including Kosovo and Albania.
• UK ministers are reported to be preparing to extend emergency Covid legislation this autumn.
• Covid jab technology will help fight cancer, scientists have revealed.
• Parental consent could be required, it is being reported, as the UK independent vaccine body JCVI weighs up whether to say 12- to 15-year-olds should get vaccinated.

That’s it from me Harriet Grant, I’m handing over to my colleague Tom Ambrose.

The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said he wants to see Pakistan come off the government’s red list for travel restrictions.

He told a press conference in Pakistan – where he is in talks about the future of Afghanistan – that he would work with the government to “find a way through”.

Raab said: “We do understand that this is a sensitive issue and a difficult issue. We base our decision on the technical evidence. I understand that is often contested, which is all the more reason why it’s good that the Pakistan special adviser to Prime Minister Khan will be holding expert level talks with UK public health authorities.

“We want to find a way through, no one wants Pakistan off the red list more than I do, but we take these decisions at a technical level. I think the smart thing for us to do is work together to enable that to happen as soon, as safely and as responsibly it can be done.”

Call to end Covid restrictions on young people in custody

Rights groups have written to the UK justice secretary, Robert Buckland, asking him to end harsh Covid regulations that restricted family visits and access to education for young people in prison.

In a letter published this morning the groups Article 39 and the Howard League say children in custody have “suffered greatly” during the pandemic.

They write: “[L]egal protections for children in custody were last year watered down overnight without any consultation or parliamentary debate. With the majority of coronavirus restrictions lifted within the community, vaccinations now available for teenagers aged 16 and 17, and schools reopening, we write to ask that the statutory instruments made in May and July 2020 be revoked, and children’s entitlements to education and family visits be reinstated. Children in prison have suffered greatly during the pandemic and should be guaranteed to receive the statutory minimum requirement for education from now on.”

They go on to note that children in custody already have far lower levels of literacy than the general population.

They also criticise the government for allowing the solitary confinement of under-18’s during lockdown.

Some Balkan countries with low vaccination rates are delaying the start of the school term. In a report looking at different approaches to Covid protection in schools around Europe, Associated Press reveals that both Kosovo and Albania have postponed the beginning of the school year.

The weekly average of new cases rose by tenfold between July and August in Kosovo where children have a delay of two weeks before they can get back to the classroom. In Albania teachers are now facing mandatory vaccination. Only a third of the population there has been vaccinated with rates even lower in Kosovo.

Across the world, authorities are taking a variety of approaches to try and keep children in school and avoid another academic year of disruption. The UK has ended the system of isolation of Covid contacts for children while other countries including France will keep the measure.

Earlier this week the World Health Organization and Unicef warned of the “catastrophic” disruption that Covid has caused to children’s learning. They listed precautionary measures that they hoped would let all European schools remain open including better ventilation and regular testing.

Sajid Javid has said the delivery of 4m vaccines from the UK to Australia will help the country “supercharge” its vaccine rollout.

Earlier we reported that the doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines were sent in a swap deal. The UK health secretary said: “Vaccines have built a strong wall of defence in the UK and we want to support nations around the world in recovering from Covid-19 and improving access to vaccines.”