Health News at Your Fingertips

All households in England with school or college aged children will be offered two rapid Covid tests per person per week to support the government’s priority to get young people back in the classroom, the health ministry said on Sunday, Reuters reports.

Last week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out a phased plan to end England’s latest Covid lockdown, offering a “cautious” approach to try to prevent a return to wholesale restrictions that have hobbled the economy.

He said the first stage would prioritise schools returning on 8 March when only minimal socialising outdoors would be allowed.

The health ministry said rapid test kits would be made available to collect from Monday at more than 500 locations, or through workplace testing and local community testing services.

Secondary school and college students will be tested twice a week, receiving initial tests at school or college before moving to home testing.

Primary school children without symptoms will not be tested at school but parents will be encouraged to test their children at home.

“We know that one in three people with Covid don’t have any symptoms, so targeted, regular testing will mean more positive cases are kept out of schools and colleges,” said health minister Matt Hancock.

The prevalence of Covid infections in England is falling, with 1 in 145 people infected in the week ending 19 February, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday.

Ireland’s premier has slammed the “thuggish behaviour” and attacks on Irish police as anti-lockdown protesters stormed Dublin city centre, PA Media.

Up to 20 people were arrested after hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police as they marched through the city centre and attempted to make their way to St Stephen’s Green park.

There was a heavy police presence around the city centre ahead of the protest, which started at around 2pm, and police used batons to push protesters away from the park.

Videos of the protest show a demonstrator point a firework at gardaí before it went off, while other missiles and items were thrown at the police:

The US Justice Department said on Saturday it will appeal a judge’s ruling that the nationwide eviction moratorium during the Covid pandemic is unlawful, Reuters reports.

The measure authorised by Congress and issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covers most residential evictions in an effort to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. A federal judge in Texas ruled on Thursday that Congress did not have the power to authorise the moratorium under the US Constitution.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said in a statement in addition to the health benefits, the moratorium “protects many renters who cannot make their monthly payments due to job loss or health care expenses.”

Siding with a group of landlords and property owners challenging the evictions freeze, US District Judge J Campbell Barker ruled Congress exceeded its authority under two provisions of the Constitution.

Boynton noted that the judge’s ruling only applies to the plaintiffs who sued in that particular case meaning that the moratorium remains in effect everywhere else.

The moratorium order was issued in September under President Donald Trump and extended on 21 January, the day after President Joe Biden took office, to run at least another two months.

More than 20 million people in the UK have received at least a first dose of coronavirus vaccine, with under 4% of those given as second doses.

Government data shows that of the 20.5m jabs given in the UK up to 26 February, 19.6m were first doses.

About 770,000 of the doses given were second jabs, an increase of nearly 33,000 on figures released the previous day.

This means just over 1.1% of the UK population have been fully vaccinated with two doses.

A total of 17.25m Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between 8 December and 26 February, according to provisional NHS England data, a rise of just under 470,000 on the previous day’s running total:

President Joe Biden cheered an announcement on Saturday that the US Food and Drug Administration has authorised Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid vaccine, but cautioned Americans to not let their guard down as new variants spread.

“Though we celebrate today’s news, I urge all Americans: keep washing your hands, stay socially distanced, and keep wearing masks,” Biden said in a statement.

“As I have said many times, things are still likely to get worse again as new variants spread, and the current improvement could reverse.”

The Auckland lockdown has complicated several high-visibility sporting events planned in Auckland, Reuters reports. The organisers of the America’s Cup yacht race are reviewing plans for the head-to-head final between Italy and New Zealand.

New Zealand’s fourth Twenty20 International cricket match against Australia has been shifted to Wellington where it will be played behind closed doors on Friday.

New Zealand and neighbouring Australia have been highly successful in keeping the coronavirus pandemic from spreading through border closure, aggressive contact tracing and high community compliance with swift public health orders.

New Zealand, with a population of 5 million, has recorded just over 2,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and 26 deaths.

Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, woke up on Sunday morning to a second lockdown in a month as health authorities try to rein in a coronavirus cluster of the more contagious UK variant.

Reuters: The seven-day lockdown, announced late Saturday by prime minister Jacinda Ardern, follows a three-day stay-at-home order in mid-February after a local emergence of the UK variant of the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

Genomic sequencing of a new case recorded on Saturday, which prompted the lockdown, was linked to the existing cluster, health authorities said on Sunday, bringing it to 13 cases.

“It’s unlikely we wouldn’t see more cases,” Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins told the state-owned television network TVNZ on Sunday. “How many cases at this point we simply don’t know.”

The new case has been considered infectious for a week. The person, a 21-year-old student, visited a number of public spaces during that time.

The new lockdown, with level 3 restrictions, allows people to leave home only for essential shopping and essential work. Public venues will remain closed.

Restrictions in the rest of the country will be tightened to level 2, including limits on public gatherings.

Hello and welcome to today’s live global coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

I’m Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours.

As always, you can say Hi or Gah! or Will this pandemic ever end?! on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for emergency use, making it the third vaccine available to the US public.

Meanwhile Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, woke up on Sunday morning to a second lockdown in a month as health authorities try to rein in a coronavirus cluster of the more contagious UK variant.

Here are the other key recent developments:

• The UK recorded the lowest number of new cases in nearly five months on Saturday, although it still reported 7,434 new infections.
• Brazil for the fifth consecutive day registered over 1,300 deaths and 60,000 coronavirus cases on Saturday.
• The Australian state of Victoria has recorded no new Covid cases for the second day in a row.
• Wales has relaxed its coronavirus restrictions to allow households with a baby below the age of one to bubble with one other household.
• Three Irish police officers were injured in today’s anti-lockdown protest in Dublin, and up to 20 people were arrested.
• Schools in the occupied West Bank will shut down for 12 days in an effort to stop a sharp rise in coronavirus variant infections, Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Saturday.