Health News at Your Fingertips

New Zealand has reported the country’s first recorded death linked to the Pfizer Covid vaccine, after a woman died following rare side effects.

The information was released by the health ministry after a review by an independent Covid vaccine safety monitoring board.

“This is the first case in New Zealand where a death in the days following vaccination has been linked to the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine,” the ministry said in a statement, without giving the woman’s age.

The board considered that the woman’s death was due to myocarditis, known to be a “very rare” side effect of the Pfizer vaccine. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can limit the organ’s ability to pump blood and can cause changes in heartbeat rhythms.

The New Zealand Health Ministry were keen to stress however:

The benefits of vaccination with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine continue to greatly outweigh the risk of both COVID-19 infection and vaccine side-effects, including myocarditis.

You can read our latest New Zealand Covid update below:

AFP: Covid-19 has killed at least 4,500,620 people since the outbreak emerged in December 2019.

The US is the worst-affected country with 637,539 deaths, followed by Brazil with 579,308, India with 438,210, Mexico 258,165 and Peru 198,167.

The French government has extended €240 billion (£206 billion) in financial aid to businesses hammered by the pandemic since March 2020, mainly in the form of state-guaranteed loans, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced Monday.

President Emmanuel Macron vowed to protect French companies and their employees “whatever the cost” after many were forced to close during three nationwide lockdowns since the outbreak began.

“The bill for ‘whatever the cost’ stands at €80 billion in subsidies, and €160 billion in loans,” Le Maire told France Inter radio.

The public accounts minister Olivier Dussopt warned: “It’s the end of whatever it takes”. The government wants to “look at what is really being lost, rather than just what is being said”.

From today, over 1.8m French workers in service jobs in restaurants, cinemas, librairies as well as long-distance rail staff will be required to show a health pass to go to work.

Members of the public are already required to show a pass confirming they are vaccinated or have had a recent negative test or recent recovery from Covid 19 in order to eat in a restaurant, enter a library, use a public swimming pool, go to the cinema or take a high-speed, long distance train.

Senior officials at the World Health Organisation fear there could be 236,000 more Covid deaths in Europe between now and 1 December on account of stagnating vaccination rates and low uptake in poorer countries.

“Last week, there was an 11% increase in the number of deaths in the region – one reliable projection is expecting 236,000 deaths in Europe, by December 1,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told reporters.

Europe has registered around 1.3 million Covid deaths to date.

Of the WHO Europe’s 53 member states, 33 (62%) have registered an incidence rate greater than 10 percent in the past two weeks, Kluge said.

Kluge attributed the higher transmission to the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, an “exaggerated easing” of restrictions and measures, and a surge in summer travel.

While around half of people in Europe are fully vaccinated, vaccination uptake in the region has slowed, Kluge noted.

“In the past six weeks, it has fallen by 14 percent, influenced by a lack of access to vaccines in some countries and a lack of vaccine acceptance in others…The stagnation in vaccine uptake in our region is of serious concern,” Kluge said.

Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon has tested negative for Covid-19 after being identified as a close contact of a person with the virus.

Scotland’s First Minister announced on Sunday evening that she was self-isolating pending a PCR test result.

Under current regulations, double-vaccinated adults can avoid self-isolation if they are a close contact of someone with coronavirus so long as they are symptomless and provide a negative PCR test.

The First Minister had her second dose of a coronavirus vaccine in June.

A third dose ‘booster’ shot of the Covid-19 vaccination is a way to keep the most vulnerable safe and “not a luxury”, the World Health Organization has said.

Hans Kluge, head of WHO Europe, told a press briefing.

A third dose of vaccine is not a luxury booster (that is) taken away from someone who is still waiting for a first jab. It’s basically a way to keep the most vulnerable safe. We have to be a little bit careful with the booster shot, because there is not yet enough evidence.

“More and more studies show that a third dose keeps vulnerable people safe, and this is done by more and more countries in our region,” he added.

Reuter reports, Kluge urged European countries with excess vaccines to share them with other countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe and Africa.

Last week, the World Health Organisation’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, pointed out that out of ~5bn Covid vaccine doses delivered around the world, around 75% have gone to just 10 countries.

Hi there, Alex Mistlin here taking over on the Guardian’s global coronavirus live blog.

If you’ve spotted a mistake or a development I’ve missed, you can get in touch with me via Twitter: @amistlin

Hello, here’s a round-up of today’s coverage of the pandemic so far.

• Schools across Europe must stay open and be made safer for staff and children, the World Health Organization and Unicef have demanded, as a new term gets under way with the highly transmissible Delta variant still dominant in the region.
• Japan has now suspended 2.6m doses of Moderna vaccines over concerns about contamination and the deaths of two people. The vaccine rollout and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s handling of the pandemic have already been criticised, leading to his public approval hitting record lows in polls.
• Russia has reported 792 deaths 18,325 new cases.
• More than 1.8m French workers in service jobs and on long-distance rail will have to present a health pass for work. The measures come into force today after prompting weekly protests from a small but vocal minority since being announced in July.
• Malaysia’s new prime minister missed his own cabinet’s swearing-in ceremony because he was self-isolating after coming into contact with someone infected by Covid-19.
• Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, will stay in lockdown for another two weeks after another 53 cases were recorded on Monday. But one expert said the outbreak could be about to resch its peak.
• Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon is self-isolating after being identified as a close contact of someone who has Covid-19. She said she will be self-isolating pending a PCR test result.
• Hundreds of thousands of people in England have failed to come forward for their second Covid jab, official data shows. It comes as scientists warned that improving uptake among adults is more crucial than moving on to children’s vaccines or booster shots.
• New South Wales recorded its highest ever number of daily cases on Monday with 1,290 infections. A paramedic has pleaded with people to get vaccinated as the health system feels the strain.
• A recent recovery in global trade is beginning to wane, according to some early warning signs pointing to the negative effects of widespread Covid-19 outbreaks in the manufacturing centres of east Asia.
• Dozens of states in the US are reporting a big rise in Covid fatalities. Top Covid expert Anthony Fauci said as many as 100,000 new Covid-19 deaths by December was “predictable but preventable”.
• Schools in the Indonesia capital Jakarta have reopened after the governmewnt eased some Covid restrictions.

Malaysia’s new prime minister has missed the swearing-in ceremony for his cabinet because he was self-isolating after contact with someone infected by Covid-19, his office said.

Ismail Sabri Yaakob has taken office at a time when infections have been surging, with cases above 20,000 since 5 August and deaths now above 16,000.

The prime minister’s office said he would still attend National Day celebrations virtually.

The new health minister is Khairy Jamaluddin, the former science minister who was in charge of vaccinations under the previous government.

Russia has reported 792 deaths linked to Covid-19 over the past 24 hours and 18,325 new cases.

Deaths have not dropped below 700 since early July, when infections began hitting record levels, especially in the two biggest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Russia reported 19,286 and 797 deaths on Sunday.