Health News at Your Fingertips

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Ukraine has exceeded 3 million with more than 70,000 deaths, the health ministry said today.

Pavel Polityuk reports for Reuters that the ministry said it had registered a record daily high of 27,377 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, exceeding the previous high of 26,870 on 29 October. Ministry data also showed 699 new coronavirus-related deaths.

Ukraine has registered record-high rates of new cases and deaths from the coronavirus in recent weeks, and the government has imposed strict lockdown restrictions to curb new infections.

Several thousand people blocked traffic in the centre of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday in a protest against coronavirus restrictions and mandatory vaccinations.

Vaccines have become mandatory for some state workers, and in “red” zone areas including Kyiv only vaccinated people or those with negative COVID test results are allowed into restaurants, gyms and on public transport

It is Martin Belam here in London taking over from Samantha Lock in Sydney. I’ll bring you any quotes from UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng doing the early morning media round in the UK for the government if he talks about coronavirus, although I suspect Cop26 and Tory sleaze will be the dominant themes. Here’s the latest Covid numbers for the UK.

Indians across the country began celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, on Thursday amid concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and rising air pollution.

Diwali is typically celebrated by socialising and exchanging gifts with family and friends. Many light oil lamps or candles to symbolise a victory of light over darkness, and fireworks are set off as part of the celebrations.

Last year, celebrations in India were upended by a renewed spike in Covid infections, but festivities this year seem to be back, AP reports. Even though the government has asked people to avoid large gatherings, markets have been buzzing ahead of Diwali, with eager crowds buying flowers, lanterns and candles.

As dusk fell on Wednesday, over 900,000 earthen lamps were lit and kept burning for 45 minutes in the northern city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state, retaining the Guinness World Record it set last year. As part of the Diwali celebrations, the city last year lit 606,569 oil lamps.

The festival is being celebrated at a time when India’s pandemic crisis has largely subsided, however some experts have warned that the festival season could bring a renewed spike in infections if health measures are not enforced.

China is on high alert at its ports as strict policies on travel in and out of the country are enforced to reduce Covid risks amid a fresh domestic outbreak, Reuters reports.

The National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on Thursday it would continue to guide citizens not to go abroad for non-urgent and non-essential reasons.

China aims to ensure no outbreaks among people arriving from overseas for the Winter Olympics, according to a recent state television report, citing Huang Chun, an official on the Beijing organising committee for the event.

Authorities will strive to avoid failures in virus control for the Games that would then disrupt the event or lead to clusters among residents, Huang said.

Hello and thanks for joining us back on our global Covid blog.

I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be reporting from Sydney, Australia, to bring you all the latest developments from around the world.

In promising news as the world looks towards vaccinating all its citizens, The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted an emergency use license to a coronavirus vaccine developed in India, offering reassurance for a shot that was authorised by the country’s regulators long before advanced testing was completed to prove it was safe and effective.

Covaxin, the Indian domestically developed Covid vaccine, was rolled out as part of India’s vaccination drive.

A recent study found a record prevalence of Covid in England throughout October. Researchers at Imperial College London warn the virus is spreading from schoolchildren into more vulnerable age groups, noting that rates had doubled in older groups compared to September, a concerning sign as the government races to give booster shots to the most vulnerable.

“We did see a doubling in that group, and clearly that’s the worry,” Paul Elliott, the Imperial epidemiologist who leads the programme, told reporters.

• The Covid pandemic has caused the loss of 28m years of life, according to the largest-ever survey to assess the scale of the impact of the pandemic. The enormous toll was revealed in research, led by the University of Oxford, which calculated the years of life lost (YLL) in 37 countries.
• Germany is enveloped in a “massive” pandemic of the unvaccinated, health minister says. Jens Spahn has warned: “The pandemic is far from over. We are currently experiencing a pandemic of the unvaccinated, which is massive. There would be fewer coronavirus patients on intensive care units if more people would let themselves be vaccinated.”
• The US has administered 425,272,828 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Wednesday morning and distributed 525,071,855 doses, the CDC said.
• Turkey will begin administering booster shots to people who have received two doses of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, its health minister Fahrettin Koca said.
• France reports highest daily cases since mid-September. Health authorities reported 10,050 daily new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, the first time the tally has topped 10,000 since September 14.
• The UK recorded another 41,299 Covid cases, and a further 217 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, in the latest 24-hour period. This is compared to 293 deaths and 33,865 positive infections reported a day prior.
• UK launches trial of drug to tackle fatigue in long Covid patients. The first trial of a drug, called AXA1125, is set to target the fatigue and muscle weakness experienced by more than half of people with long Covid/ The drug targets cellular power plants called mitochondria, which it is thought could be dysfunctional in the subset of long Covid patients with severe fatigue.
• The US is set to begin giving Covid vaccines to children aged five to 11, with roughly 28 million school-age kids eligible for the shots that provide protection against the illness.