Health News at Your Fingertips

An oral Covid antiviral drug from Merck may not be granted EU approval over “problematic data”, the Financial Times reports.

The drug, molnupiravir, has been authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but the paper says the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is unlikely to grant conditional marketing authorisation to the drug.

A person familiar with the approval process told the FT that it was “possible” that molnupiravir would not receive approval at all. The EMA declined to comment on its ongoing review.

The EMA’s review of Merck’s pill, developed with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, has been delayed after trial data published in November showed the drug was significantly less effective than previously thought.

Early data from a late-stage trial suggested the drug cut the risk of hospitalisation and death in half, but a subsequent analysis found its efficacy is at 30%.

More on Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that all children aged between five and 11 in Scotland will be offered Covid vaccinations.

The UK’s Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is yet to publish official guidance on giving jabs to all youngsters, but advised all four nations more than week ago that the vaccination programme should be expanded to younger children. As the Guardian has reported, the UK government delayed announcing its decision.

Today, Sturgeon said the Scottish government has received draft advice recommending the “universal vaccination” of children.

The new advice does not affect children in this age group who are already being vaccinated due to medical conditions which place them at greater risk from the virus.

It comes after the Welsh government announced earlier this week that it will offer Covid vaccinations to all five- to 11-year olds.

Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Tom Ambrose to bring you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.

We start with the news that the number of new coronavirus cases globally fell by 19% in the last week while the number of deaths remained stable, according to the World Health Organization.

In its weekly report on the pandemic, the UN health agency said just over 16m new Covid-19 infections and about 75,000 deaths were reported worldwide last week.

The Western Pacific was the only region to report a rise in new weekly cases, an increase of about 19%. The biggest drop was in south-east Asia, where new weekly cases fell by 37%.

The biggest number of new Covid cases was seen in Russia. Cases there and elsewhere in Eastern Europe have doubled in recent weeks, driven by a surge of the Omicron variant.

The number of deaths rose by 38% in the Middle East and by about one-third in the Western Pacific.

WHO’s Africa director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said last week there was “light at the end of the tunnel” for the continent and that even despite low vaccination rates, Africa was transitioning from the acute pandemic phase.

Her comments contrasted sharply with warnings from WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has said repeatedly the pandemic is not over and is premature for countries to think that the end might be imminent.

Children between the ages of five and 11 in Scotland are to be offered a Covid-19 vaccination, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Ministers have accepted draft recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

The first minister said:

Although it has yet to be published officially by the JCVI, like colleagues in Wales we have received advice from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which recommends Covid-19 vaccination for all children aged five to 11-years-old.

I can confirm that ministers have considered this draft advice and are content to accept its recommendations.

Work is under way to determine how best to deliver vaccinations to children, Sturgeon said. In the meantime, parents and carers of children aged five to 11 do not need to do anything.

Here is a round-up of today’s top Covid news stories so far:

• Russia reported an increase in Covid infections on Wednesday, with a total of 179,284 new infections and 748 deaths reported over the last 24 hours.
• China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told Hong Kong’s leaders that their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control a worsening Covid outbreak, pro-Beijing media reported, as infected patients lay in beds outside overwhelmed hospitals.
• South Korea has once again reported a daily record of 90,443 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, as numbers nearly doubled within a week amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
• A Japanese government delay in rolling out Covid booster shots left it more vulnerable than other rich countries when the Omicron variant brought a surge of deaths, say experts, local governments and a former vaccine czar.
• About 3,000 British volunteers are being sought to take part in a study for Moderna’s Omicron booster vaccine.
• South Korea will distribute free coronavirus rapid test kits at elementary schools and nursing homes starting next week.
• British ministers’ plans to scale back free PCR Covid tests could weaken the UK’s defences if a new variant of the virus emerges that results in “significant new waves” of cases, a group representing local public health chiefs has warned.
• Italian doctors will take part in a two-day strike from 1 March against what they called an “unbearable workload” amid the Covid pandemic, Italy’s news agency ANSA reported.
• The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organising Committee said on Wednesday that two new Covid cases were detected among Games-related personnel on 15 February.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. I’ll be back tomorrow but my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be along shortly to take over the global Covid live blog. Goodbye for now.

Russia reported an increase in Covid infections on Wednesday, with a total of 179,284 new infections and 748 deaths reported over the last 24 hours.

It follows a three-day decline in case numbers.

Meanwhile, Russians will be able to take an antibody test to obtain a coronavirus health pass from 21 February, its health ministry confirmed yesterday.

QR codes will be issued to Russians who test positive for Covid antibodies, regardless of their vaccination status, according to The Moscow Times.

Russia has confirmed 14,659,880 cases of Covid and 342,383 deaths, according to reports.

South Korea will distribute free coronavirus rapid test kits at elementary schools and nursing homes starting next week.

Health officials on Wednesday reported the country’s highest daily jump in coronavirus infections with 90,443 new cases, shattering the previous one-day record set on Tuesday by more than 33,000 cases. Some experts say South Korea could see daily cases of about 200,000 in March.

While Omicron has so far seemed less likely to cause serious illness or death compared to the Delta variant, which rattled the country in December and early January, hospitalisations have been creeping up amid the greater scale of outbreak, according to the Associated Press.

The prime minister, Kim Boo-kyum, Seoul’s second official behind the president, Moon Jae-in, said officials will start distributing free rapid test kits at kindergartens, elementary schools and nursing homes next week to strengthen protection for unvaccinated children and high-risk groups.

The education minister, Yoo Eun-hye, said schools will get enough kits for students to use twice a week, but added that tests won’t be mandatory.

“We ask for students to be tested at home with the rapid antigen test kits on the evenings of Sunday and Wednesday before coming to school,” Yoo said during a briefing. “When testing positive from those tests, please visit the local health office to get PCR tests.”

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organising Committee said on Wednesday that two new Covid cases were detected among Games-related personnel on 15 February.

One of the cases was found among new airport arrivals, according to a notice on the Beijing 2022 official website.

Another case was among those already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates all event personnel from the public, the notice said.

A Japanese government delay in rolling out Covid booster shots left it more vulnerable than other rich countries when the Omicron variant brought a surge of deaths, say experts, local governments and a former vaccine czar.

The issue could mean political trouble for prime minister Fumio Kishida as nearly 30% of the population is aged 65 or older, and so at greater risk from the coronavirus without the protection of the booster, Reuters reported.

Kishida’s predecessor stepped down after widespread criticism of his handling of the pandemic and the prime minister’s ruling party faces an important test with an upper house election this year.

On Tuesday, Japan saw 236 new fatalities, its worst ever one-day toll from Covid. Although Japan was comparatively slow to launch its initial vaccination campaign, it ramped it up quickly and by November had the highest vaccination rate within the G7.

About 3,000 British volunteers are being sought to take part in a study for Moderna’s Omicron booster vaccine.

The jab, which is one of the world’s first to tackle the variant, will be trialled at sites across the UK thanks to a partnership between Moderna and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Led by a team based at St George’s, University of London, the study will see half the volunteers receive the new Moderna Omicron variant vaccine and the other half vaccinated with the regular Moderna jab, PA Media reported.

It is already known that people’s immunity wanes several months after Covid booster doses, meaning clinical trials are needed to determine whether people may need a fourth booster dose.

The trial will also seek to recruit people who have had just two doses of a vaccine and have not yet had a booster.

A separate COV-Boost sub-study will also run to compare using Moderna’s Omicron variant vaccine as a fourth dose with a standard dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told Hong Kong’s leaders that their “overriding mission” was to stabilise and control a worsening Covid outbreak, pro-Beijing media reported, as infected patients lay in beds outside overwhelmed hospitals.

The directive ramps up pressure on the Hong Kong chief executive, Carrie Lam, a day after she said her government’s response to the outbreak had been unsatisfactory, with hospitals and medical staff unable to cope.

Xi instructed Chinese vice-premier Han Zheng to relay to Lam his “concern about the pandemic situation” and his care for local residents, according to front page stories in newspapers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao.

Health authorities in the global financial hub reported a record 1,619 confirmed new infections on Tuesday, and another 5,400 preliminary positive cases. The daily tally of Covid infections is now more than 20 times the level at the start of February, and worse is to come.

Broadcaster TVB said at least 4,285 new infections are expected to be reported on Wednesday, more than double the previous record, and there are another 3,000 preliminary positive tests.

Xi said the government “must mobilise all power and resources to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and health of the Hong Kong people and ensure the stability of the society,” according to the newspapers.

Hello and welcome to the global Covid live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest coronavirus news over the next few hours.

We start with the news that South Korea has once again reported a daily record of 90,443 new coronavirus cases for Wednesday, as numbers nearly doubled within a week amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant.

The record count for Tuesday marked a drastic surge from 57,177 a day before and brought total infections in the country since the pandemic began to 1,552,851. Deaths remain comparatively low, though, with 39 fatalities on Tuesday and a total of 7,202 so far, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The country of 52 million population has largely been a Covid mitigation success story, thanks mainly to widespread wearing of masks, social distancing and aggressive testing and tracing, the Reuters news agency reported.

But authorities have shifted testing and tracing policy, in line with the less fatal Omicron variant’s spread, toward self-monitoring and diagnosis and at-home treatment starting this month.

The prime minister, Kim Boo-kyum, said the government was considering easing strict distancing curbs that include a 9pm curfew for restaurants, cafes and bars, and a ban on gatherings of more than six vaccinated people.

More than 86% of South Koreans have been fully vaccinated and 58% have received a booster shot, KDCA data showed.