Health News at Your Fingertips

Pub-goers in London have likened the first night of outdoor hospitality to “VE Day” as lockdown restrictions eased on Monday, but added that there is “very little” social distancing.

Attila Kulcsar, a media communications manager, said the crowds on Monday felt “like a return to the ‘real’ Soho of the 1990s”.

“Tonight’s atmosphere beats the whole of last summer… it really is like how I imagine VE Day,” the 54-year-old told PA. “It’s almost like watching Hogarth paintings come to life in 2021. There is a wonderfully raucous hysteria everywhere. It’s very celebratory.”

However, Kulcsar said there was “very little social distancing” adding that there is a feeling that restrictions have ended.

“There are lots of police around Soho as well as Covid Marshalls, but there is no word from them about social distancing… if anything they seem to be joining in the festivities,” he said.

People enjoy drinks outdoors in London and Manchester on the first night since England’s coronavirus restrictions were eased:

Three Covid-19 patients died on Monday in an intensive care unit in Bucharest after the oxygen supply system failed, the emergency situations department (DSU) said in a statement reported by AFP.

“Ventilators stopped working because the oxygen level rose above the limit”, the department said in a statement, adding that an investigation had been launched into the incident at the Victor Babes hospital in the Romanian capital.

Five other patients were transferred to other hospitals in the capital. The three patients who died were elderly and went into cardiac arrest, a doctor told AFP.

“It seems to have been an accident, but an investigation already started. All those guilty must be held responsible,” prime minister Florin Citu said in a press statement.

Ireland will only administer the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to people over 60, the country’s chief medical officer said Monday, after it was linked to rare blood clotting cases, according to AFP.

The move echoes action taken by several other European countries, while the UK has limited the jab’s use to over-30s.

The European Medicines Agency puts the risk of developing a rare blot clot after receiving the jab at around one in 100,000.

Ireland’s National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) said the AstraZeneca product “is not recommended for those aged under 60 years”.

The updated recommendations would be incorporated into the vaccination programme and vaccine re-allocated, chief medical officer Ronan Glynn said.

Ireland has so far given almost 750,000 of its five million people an initial vaccine dose, according to the latest available statistics.

Almost 200 Dutch tourists have traded lockdown in the Netherlands for eight days of voluntary confinement at a Greek beach resort as part of a test to see if safe holidays can be arranged during the Covid pandemic, Reuters reports:

Authorities are rolling out surge testing in parts of south London after cases of the South African Covid-19 variant were detected.

Forty-four confirmed cases and 30 probable cases have been found in the boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth.

All identified cases are isolating or have completed their isolation, and their contacts have been traced and asked to isolate.

Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser for NHS Test and Trace, said the cluster of cases is “significant”.

“It’s really important people in the local area play their part in stopping any further spread within the local community,” she said.

“PCR testing is now available for all and I would strongly encourage everyone, whether they live, work or travel through the boroughs, to get tested even if they don’t have any symptoms of coronavirus.”

The Canadian province of Ontario is shutting schools and moving to remote learning due to rising infection levels, premier Doug Ford said on Monday. He did not say when pupils would return to in-person teaching, Reuters reports.

Canada’s most populous province imposed restrictions on non-essential retail and issued a four-week stay-at-home order last week. The hospitality industry was also shut for both indoor and outdoor dining.

The measures were brought in as occupancy levels in intensive care units shot up and hospitals began cancelling elective surgeries for the second time since the pandemic began.

Turkey’s coronavirus taskforce will recommend a tougher set of restrictions as the country battles its third wave, health minister Fahrettin Koca said on Monday in comments reported by Reuters.

Koca also told the press briefing that the country was expecting further vaccine deliveries from China’s Sinovac Biotech and Pfizer and BioNTech in the coming months.

Turkey’s daily coronavirus infection numbers have soared above 50,000. A senior government official told the news agency that president Tayyip Erdoğan is likely to order a tightening of restrictions this week ahead of the tourism season.

A scientist has described “a joyous day” as people in England enjoyed a relaxation of restrictions, but warned that people should remain cautious.

Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School, stressed that the virus and its variants is “still out there”.

“It’s a joyous day after all that we have sacrificed over the last few months,” he said, adding that the fall in infections and hospitalisations was due to both the success of the vaccine rollout and lockdown.

Young said: “So while taking the opportunity to enjoy shopping and outside hospitality, we must remain cautious – the virus is still out there and very infectious.

“We can’t ignore what’s going on in the rest of the world – every other day new variants are being reported and infection is rife.”

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has urged governments to consider imposing a “solidarity or wealth tax” on the rich who made money during the coronavirus pandemic in a bid to cut extreme inequality, Reuters reports.

“We must make sure funds go where they are needed most. Latest reports indicate that there has been a $5 trillion surge in the wealth of the world’s richest in the past year,” Guterres told a U.N. meeting on financing for development.

“I urge governments to consider a solidarity or wealth tax on those who have profited during the pandemic, to reduce extreme inequalities,” he said.

Guterres also repeated his call for Covid-19 vaccines to be made available to all countries and appealed for more money to fully fund the COVAX vaccine sharing facility.

Greece will get a first tranche of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Wednesday and will start inoculating people next week, a senior health ministry official said, Reuters reports.

The Greek statement came as the U.S. company began delivering its vaccine to countries across the EU, a few days later than initially planned due to production issues.

“We will receive the first 33,600 doses of the single-dose vaccine by Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday, April 14,” the country’s secretary general in charge of vaccinations, Marios Themistocleous, told a weekly briefing.

Greece has inoculated more than 2 million of its 11 million population with at least one shot of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines.

Along with new deliveries from those companies, Greece has said it expects 1.3 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by June.

The head of Italy’s southern Campania region said he would ignore a government order to give the elderly vaccination priority and would instead focus on workers in order to safeguard the local economy.

The central government has often clashed with the powerful presidents of Italy’s 20 regions over Covid-19 policy, with a blurred division of power hampering efforts to speed up vaccine rollout and protect the most vulnerable, Reuters reports.

Italy has administered a first shot to 66% of those aged over 80, in line with the European Union average, but only 17% of those between 70 and 79, lagging its main partners, and has been reporting around 400 deaths a day in recent weeks.

Vincenzo De Luca, the president of Campania around Naples, said: “Once the over-80s and the vulnerable are done we do not intend to proceed by age groups,” he told reporters, saying that the instructions would kill off the economy.

“Rigour is one thing, stupidity is another,” De Luca added.