Health News at Your Fingertips

Patients in hospital with Covid-19 in Italy – not including those in intensive care – stood at 2,533 on Saturday, up from 2,449 a day earlier, the health ministry said.

There were 29 new admissions to intensive care, down from 32 on Friday. The total of intensive care patients increased to 288 from 277.

Some 293,863 tests for Covid-19 were carried out over the past 24 hours, compared with a previous 244,657, Reuters reports.

Italy reported 22 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday compared with 24 the day before, the country’s health ministry said.

The daily tally of new infections rose to 6,902 from 6,599.

Italy has registered 128,209 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year.

The country has reported 4.39 million cases to date, Reuters reports.

In one of several protests planned in Paris, hundreds marched from the western suburbs to the centre of the French capital, chanting “Freedom!” and “Macron, we don’t want your pass!”

In Lyon, police fired teargas to disperse protesters hurling projectiles at them, TV images showed.

From Monday, the health pass will be mandatory in order to eat in a restaurant or drink in a cafe indoors or on a terrace. It will be obligatory on intercity transport, including high-speed trains and domestic flights, but will not be needed on metro systems and suburban transport.

The pass has already been required since 21 July to visit cultural venues such as cinemas, theatres and museums. Its extension was approved by France’s constitutional council on Thursday.

UK government data up to 6 August shows that of the 86,207,851 Covid jabs given, 46,997,495 were first doses, a rise of 35,665 on the previous day.

The number of second vaccinations increased by 162,827, to a total of 39,210,356.

The UK has recorded 28,612 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total since the beginning of the pandemic to 6,042,252.

There have been a further 103 deaths, bringing the total to 130,281.

The Guardian’s Donna Ferguson has interviewed the children’s book author Michael Rosen, discussing the traumatic experience with coronavirus that inspired his latest piece of writing.

The UK’s first nightclub vaccine centre inoculated people on Saturday at the Nightingale Club, Birmingham’s oldest and largest LGBTQ+ venue.

Mark Woodcock, 33, (pictured below) was one of those who received a jab, getting his second coronavirus vaccination.

Lucinda Benton-Hawthorn, 18, (pictured below) also received a dose, getting her first coronavirus vaccination.

The news comes as cases of Covid-19 have increased across the majority of the UK, although hospitalisations have fallen. There has been a rise in Lincoln that public health officials linked to the night-time economy.

Protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday for the fourth weekend in a row to rally against a new coronavirus health pass needed to enter a cafe or travel on an intercity train, two days before the new rules come into force.

The new rules championed by the president, Emmanuel Macron, make it obligatory to have either a full course of vaccination against Covid-19, be in possession of a negative test, or be recently recovered from the virus to enjoy usually routine activities.

Macron, who faces re-election next year, hopes the new rules will encourage all French people to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and defeat the virus and its fast-spreading Delta variant.

However, opponents of the health pass, who have turned out en masse in the streets in the past weeks, argue that the rules encroach on civil liberties in a country where individual freedom is prized.

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

Police fire on Thai protesters

In Thailand, police fire teargas and rubber bullets at hundreds of protesters in Bangkok demanding political reform and calling for a change to the sluggish coronavirus vaccination programme.

Protests in France

Protesters take to the streets across France for the fourth weekend in a row against a new coronavirus health pass needed for inter-city trains and many indoor public spaces, two days before the new rules come into force.

Single-shot approval

India gives emergency approval to Johnson and Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine to ramp up its flailing immunisation campaign as fears grow of a new wave of infections.

Australia battles the virus

Australia’s state of New South Wales reports another record day of Covid-19 cases, and authorities in the country’s second city of Melbourne rush to trace the source of its outbreaks.

Unvaccinated at greater risk

Unvaccinated people are more than twice as likely to be reinfected with Covid-19 as the fully vaccinated, according to a study by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Half of Americans jabbed

Half of the US population is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the White House says, as inoculations rise in response to the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Over 4.2 million dead

The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 4,275,868 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in late 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data.

The US is the worst-affected country with 616,493 deaths, followed by Brazil with 561,762, India with 427,371, Mexico with 243,733, and Peru with 196,818.

The first death of a child aged under 15 linked to Covid-19 has been recorded in Northern Ireland.

The landmark was revealed in the latest figures provided by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Patricia Donnelly, the head of Northern Ireland’s vaccination programme, said: “I do send my sincere condolences to that family. I think it is a very stark reminder that it is not just older people who are affected by this virus.”

A weekly release by Nisra on Friday stated: “The latest week’s registration figures include the first Covid-19 related death in Northern Ireland within the under-15 age group.”

Thai riot police on Saturday used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to repel a crowd of several hundred young anti-government protestors who marched on an army base where the prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has his residence, to demand his resignation.

The demonstrators threw rocks, bottles and fireworks, and fired slingshots during the hours-long confrontation in the Din Daeng area of Bangkok, which was obscured by swirling smoke.

The rally was led by the Free Youth, a student protest group that drew tens of thousands to its protests last year. It demands Prayuth’s resignation over his handling of the coronavirus crisis, with the number of cases spiraling and the healthcare system stretched to the limit. Prayuth has been criticised for a slow vaccination programme.

Thailand reported a new high of 21,838 confirmed cases on Saturday, with 212 more deaths. Bangkok and surrounding provinces have been under lockdown, including an overnight curfew, for weeks.

According to the city’s Erawan Medical Center emergency services, five people were admitted to hospital, including three police officers. The march was called off in the early evening but disturbances continued, with protesters battling the police and hurling objects.

The protesters are also calling for part of the budget for the monarchy and the military to be redirected into the Covid-19 fight.

Drop-in clinics will begin to offer Pfizer vaccines to 16- and 17-year-olds this week, the Scottish health secretary, Humza Yousaf, has said.

Some clinics will begin to offer the vaccine to 16- and 17-year-olds from this weekend, and all Pfizer drop-in centres in mainland Scotland will be offering the vaccine to this age group from Tuesday 10 August.

The Scottish government has written to health boards to say that this age group can be vaccinated in drop-ins from Saturday, provided staff training and information resources are in place. Availability will be advertised locally before the full national rollout on Tuesday.

Six EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with a coronavirus vaccine than the UK, after the bloc’s dire initial rollout took off while Britain’s impressive early jab rate has slumped.

According to government and health service figures collated by the online science publication Our World In Data, Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.

While Britain’s hugely successful campaign was bound to slow first as it ran into harder-to-reach, more vaccine-hesitant groups, the rate of decline is dramatic: the UK is currently administering a fraction of the daily doses of some EU states.