Health News at Your Fingertips

France has recorded 171 new Covid-related deaths in hospitals in the last 24 hours, with the number of new, confirmed cases up by 20,177, health ministry data indicates.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country stands at 2,767,312, while the total number of deaths stands at 67,599.

The country has the seventhbiggest Covid death toll in the world.

Too many children are returning to school despite the national lockdown, a union has warned, as scientists say tougher restrictions are needed.

Dr Patrick Roach, the NASUWT’s general secretary, said “further steps” were needed to “strongly” encourage parents to keep their children at home.

In a statement, he explained:

Reducing the spread of the virus in the community is critical if we are to ensure that all schools can remain open safely. However, the failure to ensure strict adherence to the national lockdown measures means that some schools are already reporting that the majority of parents are demanding places for their children during the current restrictions. That means we have many more children and adults mixing in schools than would be expected under this national lockdown and the risk of the virus being transmitted to others on their journeys to and from schools and during the school day remains high.

Police forces across the country have promised to impose stricter enforcement of lockdown rules amid calls from experts for even harsher curbs to stem the number of Covid infections and deaths.

The NHS could vaccinate the entire population in five days but is being hampered by bureaucracy, a leading immunologist has said.

Read the full story here:

Jordan is set to start its Covid vaccination programme within days, the health minister has said, with priority being given to the elderly, health sector workers and those with underlying conditions.

The state news agency cited Nathir Obeidat as saying the rollout would begin on Wednesday following the expected arrival of the first batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Monday.

Obeidat has previously said the government intends to roll out a free inoculation programme for more than 20% of the country’s 10 million population.

Jordan, which has seen a sharp drop in infections since a second wave peaked in November, had recorded a total of 305,959 cases as of Saturday, with 4,009 deaths.

Twelve people have been arrested for breaching Covid-19 restrictions during an anti-lockdown protest in south-west London, the Metropolitan Police said.

A crowd of about 30 people marched down Clapham High Street on Saturday afternoon, chanting “take your freedom back” while being heckled by members of the public.

Dozens of officers were deployed to Clapham Common to try and contain the demonstration, which was organised by the group StandUpX.

The small group of protestors eventually returned to Clapham Common park before being dispersed by police.

Pope Francis has said he plans to have a Covid vaccination as early as next week and urged everyone to get a shot in order to protect lives.

In an interview with Italian TV station Canale 5, the Pope, 84, said:

I believe that ethically everyone should take the vaccine. It is an ethical choice because you are gambling with your health, with your life, but you are also gambling with the lives of others.

The Vatican City, the smallest independent country in the world, has said it will shortly launch its own vaccination campaign against the virus, with the pope adding: “Next week, we will start doing it here, in the Vatican, and I have booked myself in. It must be done.”

Vatican City last week said it expected to receive enough Covid vaccine doses in the following days to inoculate all of its residents and its workers who live beyond its walls in Rome.

Cuba has signed an accord with Iran to transfer the technology for its most advanced Covid vaccine candidate and carry out last-stage clinical trials of the shot in the Islamic Republic.

Soberana (Sovereign) 2 will be tested in Phase III trials in around 150,000 people in Havana after it has completed Phase II trials which started on 22 December, officials have confirmed.

Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute said late on Friday it has signed an accord with Iran’s Pasteur Institute to collaborate on testing of the vaccine.

“This synergy will enable both countries to advance more rapidly in the immunization against the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” it said on its Twitter account.

Twenty-one people in Marseille have tested positive for the new variant of Covid initially found in England, the southern French city’s police department said on Saturday.

Officials added that the new cases of the variant had been discovered within a family cluster.

The news comes as Marseille joins Strasbourg and Dijon in having its curfew moved forward to 6pm from 8pm, running through to 6am the following morning.

The tighter restrictions form part of the government’s response to halt the spread of the virus.

In the UK, 1,035 more people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, according to government data, bringing the total to 80,868.

The government said that, as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 59,937 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, meaning the total number of cases has now exceeded three million.

Friday saw the highest number of UK deaths– 1,325- reported on a single day since the outbreak began.

There were 59,937 people in the UK that tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, down from 68,053 the previous day.

See the official release here.