6.10am EST06:10
Amazon has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine and be monitored by California officials after the state’s attorney general said the company failed to “adequately notify” workers and health authorities about new Covid-19 cases.
Amazon employs about 150,000 people in California, most of them at 100 “fulfillment centers” – sprawling warehouses where orders are packed and shipped. The agreement, which must be approved by a judge, requires the Seattle-based retailer to notify its workers within a day of new coronavirus cases in their workplaces.
Amazon also agreed to notify local health agencies of new virus cases within 48 hours and will stop issuing notices that Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said do not adequately tell employees about Amazon’s safety and disinfection plan and workers’ rights related to the pandemic.
“As the company enjoyed booming and historic sales with its stock price doubling, Amazon failed to adequately notify warehouse workers and local health agencies of Covid case numbers, often leaving them unable to effectively track the spread of the virus,” Bonta told reporters in San Francisco at an event held across the street from an Amazon warehouse.
Bonta added: “This left many workers understandably terrified and powerless to make informed decisions to protect themselves and to protect their loved ones,” such as getting tested for the virus, staying home or quarantining if they’ve been notified of a potential workplace exposure.
Bonta said the judgment is the first of its kind in the United States and complies with a state “right-to-know” law that took effect last year.
Read the full story here:
6.01am EST06:01
Today so far
- A Kyiv crematorium has doubled its cremations compared with the summer months as virus deaths soar in the Ukraine capital. The news comes as Ukrainians will soon be offered a cash incentive to get double-vaccinated against Covid-19 in a bid to boost the country’s low inoculation rate.
- Russia continues to report fairly consistent numbers of Covid deaths and cases as authorities wait anxiously to see whether the week long paid shutdown at the beginning of the month has made a dent into the transmission of the virus. Today Russia announced 1,240 deaths, which is close the record high, and 36,818 new cases.
- Russia has granted approval for Pzifer to conduct clinical trials in Russia of its experimental antiviral pill to treat Covid-19.
- As Germany battles its worst infection rate since the pandemic began, some states are considering putting in place so-called 2G rules, which effectively exclude people who choose not to be vaccinated from many areas of public life. Berlin adopted the new rules on Monday. Only people who are fully vaccinated or who have recovered from Covid-19 in the past six months are permitted to eat inside restaurants or go to clubs or bars. Only children and those who have medical reasons for not being vaccinated are exempt from the rule.
- ONS figures show that the number of deaths involving Covid in the week ending 5 November was the highest in England since 19 March 2021 and in Wales the highest since 5 March 2021.
- Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS in England, has said “The guidance is clear that people should wear masks in healthcare settings” in response to questions about Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s maskless appearance in a hospital last week.
- Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds has accused the UK government of letting “its foot off the pedal” on the Covid booster jab programme, where the numbers receiving jabs are much lower than the government had predicted.
- The Czech Republic reported 11,514 new Covid-19 cases for 15 November, the fifth time daily infections have topped 10,000 in past seven days
- Cathay Pacific is bringing in new regulations for its aircrew in Hong Kong that will mean they will have to quarantine for 21 days after trips abroad. The regulations will come into force from tomorrow.
- The first person infected with Covid linked to the St Basil’s aged care home outbreak in Australia, in which 50 residents died, has spoken publicly for the first time, telling a coroner she was cleared to work despite living in a high-risk suburb with relatives experiencing “throat discomfort”.
- Vaccine mandates are taking effect in New Zealand as the nation sets another daily record for community Covid-19 infections and a new death.
- Our Science Weekly podcast this week asks why does Covid-19 make things smell disgusting?
Andrew Sparrow has the UK politics live blog today. Lucy Campbell will be here shortly to continue bringing you the latest Covid developments from the UK and around the world. I’m Martin Belam, and I will see you here again tomorrow.
5.33am EST05:33
The weekly data bulletin on deaths in England and Wales has been issued this morning by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The main findings this week are:
- In the week ending 5 November, 11,550 deaths were registered in England and Wales; 563 more deaths than the previous week and 16.8% above the five-year average, which equates to 1,659 more deaths.
- Of the deaths registered, 995 mentioned “novel coronavirus (Covid-19)” on the death certificate. That is 8.6% of all deaths, an increase from 7.8% the previous week.
- The number of deaths involving Covid was the highest in England since 19 March 2021 and in Wales the highest since 5 March 2021.
5.26am EST05:26
Cathay Pacific is bringing in new regulations for its aircrew that will mean they will have to quarantine for 21 days after trips abroad. The regulations will come into force from tomorrow.
Crew have been told that for the first three days after an overseas trip they must stay at home except for a small number of exemptions like solo exercise and the purchase of essential food and medicines. For the next 18 days they are then told they must avoid all unnecessary social contact.
Hong Kong still has a strict set of travel precautions in place, with most arrivals to the city having to spend 14 or 21 days in hotel quarantine.
4.54am EST04:54
Russia continues to report fairly consistent numbers of Covid deaths and cases as authorities wait anxiously to see whether the week long paid shutdown at the beginning of the month has made a dent into the transmission of the virus.
Today, Russia announced 1,240 deaths, which is close the record high, and 36,818 new cases. This is slightly down on yesterday’s figure. The highest caseload recently was on 6 November, when new cases breached 40,000. The seven-day average has been trending slightly downwards for 10 days now.
Updated
at 5.59am EST
4.50am EST04:50
There’s a committee session in parliament in the UK about to begin looking at global vaccine access. The all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus is running the session from 10am-11.30am in London, and those giving evidence include:
- Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid-19.
- Dr Ayoade Alakija, co-chair of the Africa Union Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance.
- Dr Nicaise Ndemb, chief science adviser to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director.
- Anna Marriott, health policy adviser for Oxfam.
If you fancy watching that, it is being broadcast live on their YouTube channel and starts in about 10 minutes’ time.
Updated
at 6.00am EST
4.25am EST04:25
There is a slight return this morning of the row over British prime minister Boris Johnson’s recent visit to Hexham General hospital on 8 November, where he was photographed not wearing a face mask.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS in England, was asked about it on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning. “The guidance is clear that people should wear masks in healthcare settings,” she said.
PA Media reports that pressed on whether she would have told Johnson to put a mask back on, she added: “I wasn’t on the visit. So I’m afraid I don’t know the ins and outs of exactly what happened there. I’m sure my colleagues did encourage everybody there to follow the appropriate guidance.”
Updated
at 4.43am EST
4.19am EST04:19
The Covid pandemic does generate a few good news stories, and Ngouda Dione and Cooper Inveen report for Reuters this morning that quieter beaches in Senegal have been a boon to the local turtle population.
Increased fishing, tourism and construction have left fewer safe nesting grounds for Senegal’s turtles, which are listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Only two or three turtles have laid their eggs in Guereo in recent years, while dozens did a generation ago, Djibril Diakhate said. The 47-year-old barkeeper patrols this beach up to 75 nights a year to keep predators from their nests until the eggs are ready to hatch.
“I have always been affected by the birth of these turtles,” he said. “The first time I witnessed a hatching, I cried at these creatures of God.”
Saliou Mbodji, president of the nearby Somone Marine Protection Area, attributes the change to Covid-19 restrictions that halted local fishing and tourism for much of 2020.
“There were not many people at the beaches or the hotels,” Mbodji said. “There was less light, so more turtles came to lay their eggs on the beaches.”
This year, however, the number of nests has again diminished as restriction begin to life.
4.05am EST04:05
Russia approves clinical trials of Pzifer antiviral pill
Polina Nikolskaya reports for Reuters that Russia has granted approval for Pzifer to conduct clinical trials in Russia of its experimental antiviral pill to treat Covid-19, a state registry of medicines showed on Tuesday.
The trials conducted on 90 people located in home-like conditions with someone who has symptomatic Covid-19 began on 12 November and will continue until March 2023, the registry’s website said.
Pfizer said earlier this month the experimental antiviral pill cut by 89% the chance of hospitalisation or death for adults at risk of severe disease. It hopes to make the pill available globally as quickly as possible. The pill has the brand name Paxlovid.