Health News at Your Fingertips

Romania has reported its first case of a Covid variant first identified in India, the health ministry has confirmed.

The case was diagnosed in a 26-year-old patient who arrived in Romania about a month ago and presented light symptoms, Reuters reports.

According to the ministry, the national public health institute said the identified mutation was not the more infectious one believed to have produced the sharp rise in cases in India.

Separately, the ministry added it was monitoring an outbreak of coronavirus cases among construction workers recently arrived from India in a village in Brasov county.

Romania reported 1,850 new Covid cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 1.05m cases and 27,971 deaths.

Referring to Germany, Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, has told a news conference that the “pandemic is not over yet”, according to Reuters.

Wieler added that Covid cases remain too high and are rising among those aged under 60.

Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog until the evening (UK time). As always, feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.

• India’s attempts to ramp up vaccinations in the fight against the Covid surge afflicting the nation have got off to a rocky start, with technical and supply issues thwarting attempts to open up jabs to everybody 18 or over.
• India has prioritised imports of oxygen, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said this morning, adding that 40 countries had pledged their support. Prime minister Narendra Modi has announced that he has reviewed military preparations for assisting with the Covid surge.
• Guardian readers in India have told us what it is like living through the Covid crisis, with one saying: “It’s everywhere you look”.
• India’s health ministry on Thursday said the country had recorded 379,257 new cases and 3,645 new deaths. India’s total number of cases and deaths stood at 18.38 million and 204,832.
• Arundhati Roy says it’s hard to convey the full depth and range of the trauma, the chaos and the indignity that people in India are being subjected to, saying “We are witnessing a crime against humanity”
• The United States has advised its citizens inside India to leave as soon as it is safe.
• Ireland will press ahead with plans to reopen all retail stores, personal services and non-residential construction in May with hotels, restaurants and bars to follow sooner than expected in early June, foreign minister Simon Coveney has said.
• Covid-19 case rates in the UK have dropped below 50 cases per 100,000 people in more than 95% of local areas.
• UK health secretary Matt Hancock has posted a picture of him receiving his Covid-19 vaccine from England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam at the Science Museum in central London.
• Germany’s Spiegel magazine has today cited BioNTech’s CEO saying he expects results by September from trials testing its Covid-19 vaccine in children.
• Business leaders and a Nobel-prizewinning biologist have called upon the government to reform Japan’s vaccination programme, including allowing drive-through inoculations in mass centres. Japan has secured the largest quantity of Covid-19 vaccines in Asia, but it has inoculated only 1.6% of its population so far.
• South Korea’s drug safety ministry has said that Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and a shot developed by Novavax have been submitted for preliminary regulatory approval.
• Taiwan began moving more than 400 people to a centralised quarantine facility today from an airport hotel after a rare domestic outbreak of Covid-19.
• Australia’s disability royal commission will investigate the Covid vaccine rollout amid complaints that disability accommodation residents and care workers are facing long waits for jabs – despite being in the top priority phase 1a group.

That’s it from me, Martin Belam. If you fancy something more cheery to fill a couple of minutes, you can do our new weekly news and trivia quiz. Andrew Sparrow has our UK live blog, which is largely focussed on the scandals engulfing Boris Johnson. Yohannes Lowe will be here shortly, and this live blog will continue to concentrate on global coroanvirus news and the lead Covid news from the UK…

Covid-19 case rates in the UK have dropped below 50 cases per 100,000 people in more than 95% of local areas, new analysis by PA shows.

It is the first time since the start of September that as many as 19 in 20 areas have seen their rates plunge below such a symbolic level. Around one in 10 areas are recording rates in single figures.

It represents almost a complete turnaround from how the data looked three months ago, when the second wave of coronavirus had just peaked.

In the week to 14 January, only three of the 380 local areas in the UK had Covid-19 rates below 50 cases per 100,000 people. The latest figures, for the week to 24 April, show the number is now 364 out of 380, or 96%. The analysis has been compiled by the PA news agency from health agency data.

In Wales every local area is now recording fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 people, while in Scotland all but one local area, North Lanarkshire, has dropped below 50.

Northern Ireland has three of its 11 local areas above 50: Derry City & Strabane, Fermanagh & Omagh and Mid Ulster.

And in England only a dozen areas are still above 50, ranging from Selby on 109.2, the highest rate anywhere in the UK, to Slough on 53.5.

Three local areas, Maldon in Essex, Shetland and the Western Isles, are currently recording case rates of zero.

A quick Reuters snap here that South Korea’s drug safety ministry has said that Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and a shot developed by Novavax have been submitted for preliminary regulatory approval.

With the Olympics looming, Japan is under pressure to get its vaccination programme performing better. Eimi Yamamitsu reports for Reuters from Tokyo that Japanese business leaders and a Nobel-prizewinning biologist have called upon the government to reform the whole thing, including allowing drive-through inoculations.

Japan has secured the largest quantity of Covid-19 vaccines in Asia, but it has inoculated only 1.6% of its population so far, the slowest among wealthy countries.

Government data yesterday showed that Japan has only used about a fifth of the coronavirus vaccine doses it has imported so far, underscoring logistical hurdles such as a shortage of medical staff.

Twenty-four business leaders, including e-commerce group Rakuten’s CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, and Nobel-winning stem cell biologist Shinya Yamanaka said a bolder and coordinated effort was needed to speed up vaccinations.

“The government and local administrations must not be constrained by outdated thinking and must make effective use of private sector expertise,” they said in a statement.

They urged the government to simplify vaccine application procedures, quicken administration of vaccines by allowing them to be done using a drive-through system and large-scale facilities, and seek the cooperation of medical experts.

The proposals also called for the government to manage vaccination records to encourage residents and visitors from outside Japan who have been inoculated to resume economic activities.

Rakuten’s Mikitani, who is also the representative director of the Japan Association of New Economy, has said it was “too risky” to hold the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer, as Japan struggles with a nascent fourth wave of the pandemic.

UK health secretary Matt Hancock has just posted a picture of him receiving his Covid-19 vaccine from England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam at the Science Museum in central London.

Just a reminder that Andrew Sparrow has our UK politics live blog this morning, but there’s such a lot of non-Covid politics news around today that I’ll be picking up the main UK Covid news lines here still. Why not spoil yourself and keep following both…

Taiwan began moving more than 400 people to a centralised quarantine facility today from an airport hotel after a rare domestic outbreak of Covid-19, and will sterilise the entire hotel building.

Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control because of early and effective prevention, including largely closing its borders. Most cases have been imported from abroad, though the island has reported sporadic domestic infections in recent months.

Since last week it has reported COVID-19 infections in nine freighter pilots from Taiwan’s largest carrier, China Airlines Ltd, some of whom had been staying at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, now being evacuated. They are thought to have been infected overseas.

Health minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters that an infected hotel worker was in intensive care and that the government had decided to move all 412 people at the hotel, including pilots and staff, to a centralised quarantine facility for tests. The hotel is being thoroughly sterilised, he added.

“We are worried that other workers may also have been infected,” Chen said. China Airlines, which has had to cancel some flights while its pilots are tested, said it was fully complying with government epidemic prevention steps and stepping up vaccinations for staff.

“During the pandemic the virus is everywhere, and China Airlines will not let up for a moment,” it said in a statement, Reuter report

Taiwan’s total case numbers remain extremely small compared with those of some other parts of the world, with only 58 people being treated in hospital. It has reported 1,122 cases to date, including 12 deaths.
Taiwan holds news conferences to announce details of each individual new case.

Andrew Sparrow has launched our UK politics live blog for today – which has a strong focus on the scandals surrounding British prime minister Boris Johnson.

I’ll be continuing here with global coronavirus news and the top Covid lines from the UK.

India has prioritised imports of oxygen, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said this morning, adding that 40 countries had pledged their support.

“We are talking about close to 550 oxygen generating plants that are going to come in from different sources from all over the world,” Shringla told a news conference.

In another development, prime minister Narendra Modi has announced that he has reviewed military preparations for assisting with the Covid surge.

A statement issued by Modi said:

General MM Naravane informed the PM that medical staff of the Army is being made available to various state governments. He also briefed the PM that Army is setting up temporary hospitals in various parts of the country.

General MM Naravane informed the PM that the Army is helping with manpower for imported Oxygen tankers and vehicles where specialised skills are required to manage them.

German magazine Spiegel has today cited BioNTech’s CEO saying he expects results by September from trials testing its Covid-19 vaccine in children.

“In July, the first results could be available for the five- to 12-year-olds, in September for the younger children,” BioNTech chief executive Ugur Sahin told Spiegel. He added it takes about four to six weeks to evaluate the data.

“If all goes well, as soon as the data is evaluated, we will be able to submit the application for approval of the vaccine for all children in the respective age group in different countries,” he said.

A spokeswoman for BioNTech confirmed to Reuters the expected timeline for the trial results in younger children.

BioNTech and Pfizer asked US regulators this month to approve emergency use of their vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 15. Sahin was quoted by Spiegel as saying the company was “in the final stages before submission” to European regulators for children aged 12 and older.

Ireland will press ahead with plans to reopen all retail stores, personal services and non-residential construction in May with hotels, restaurants and bars to follow sooner than expected in early June, foreign minister Simon Coveney has said.

The government committed a month ago to reopening all shops for the first time this year in May and hotels in June if it could avoid a fourth wave of Covid-19 disease and speed up its vaccine programme – criteria that it has met.

Padraic Halpin reports for Reuters that Coveney said the plan to be signed off by ministers later today, and would permit hotels to open their doors again on 2 June with restaurants and pubs – not mentioned a month ago – allowed to serve guests outdoors from 7 June.

People will also be able to travel anywhere in the country for the first time since late December next month, he added.

“We will I hope be able to manage all of that change in a way that keeps a lid on the spread of this virus but at the same time provides for a much more hopeful and positive summer than perhaps many people were expecting even in the last few weeks,” Coveney told national broadcaster RTE.

Ireland has one of the lowest Covid-19 infection rates in Europe but is opting for a slower reopening of its economy after a relaxation of measures in December triggered a huge spike in cases.

Deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday that a plan for a phased return to international travel this summer should be agreed by the end of May.