Health News at Your Fingertips

Coronavirus vaccines may not fully prevent people from passing the virus on to others and people who have had the jab should still continue to abide by lockdown restrictions, the deputy chief medical officer for England said.

PA Media: Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said that if those who have been vaccinated begin easing off because they are protected, they are potentially putting at risk those further down the priority list who still need inoculation.

His warning came as the latest Government figures showed the number receiving the first dose of the vaccine across the UK has passed 5.8 million, with a record 478,248 getting the jab in a single day.

The Observer view on government support for low-paid to halt spread of Covid-19

Exactly a year after the Chinese city of Wuhan went into the world’s first coronavirus lockdown, the Covid-19 death toll continues to mount. In the UK, we are losing more than 1,200 people a day to the virus and the total number of people who have died is almost 100,000. Countless people have lost someone they loved to this disease. It is a national tragedy whose scale would have been unthinkable in early 2020.

Most governments have been struggling to contain this virus. The new variant circulating in the UK, thought to be 30-70% more infectious, and which scientists think might be more deadly, poses new challenges as the vaccine gets rolled out. But our government has repeatedly made serious errors that have resulted in a higher-than-necessary death toll.

The government’s consistent hesitancy in taking swift action to contain the spread of the virus has cost lives. It imposed a national lockdown too late last March, again left it too late last autumn, and went ahead with relaxing restrictions in the run-up to Christmas against the advice of many scientific experts. It should have introduced a national lockdown more quickly in light of the growing evidence that the new variant was more infectious. The prime minister’s reluctance to make difficult decisions – together with a lack of cabinet competence that has manifested itself in the shambolic roll-out of test and trace, for example – has proved lethal:

Leading vaccine experts have backed the government’s decision to delay the second dose for up to three months, after doctors warned that the strategy was proving “ever-more difficult to justify”.

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, has suggested that the UK has become “increasingly isolated internationally” by deciding that the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine can be delayed, and called for a maximum delay of six weeks. However, several prominent scientists backed the government’s plan to maximise the number of people receiving their first dose.

The Guardian’s Michael Savage, Robin McKie and James Tapper report:

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 12,257 to 2,134,936, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.

The reported death toll rose by 349 to 51,870, the tally showed.

Thailand on Sunday confirmed 198 new coronavirus cases, taking its total number of confirmed infections to 13,500, Reuters reports.

Seven of the new infections were imported, a coronavirus taskforce told a briefing. One additional coronavirus-related death was recorded, bringing total fatalities to 73 since the outbreak began last year.

There were no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases recorded across Australia on Sunday, while four new infections were reported in hotel quarantine in NSW and Victoria, AAP reports.

Health Minister Greg Hunt believes new immunisation figures show Australians have faith in the TGA to provide expert advice and ensure the safety and efficacy of all vaccines provided to the community.

Immunisation rates for five-year-olds are now beyond the aspirational target of 95% coverage, reaching 95.09% in the December quarter of 2020 and exceeding the World Health Organisation estimated international average of 86 per cent.

“Reaching our target of 95% supports herd immunity to stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases,” Mr Hunt said in a statement on Sunday.

“These figures show Australians have both the capacity and the will to lead the world in taking up Covid-19 vaccines, as they recognise how important vaccination is, and how it protects and saves lives.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at five years old have the highest rates of immunisation in the country at 97.25%.

At the same time, Australia’s seasonal influenza vaccination program continues to provide increasing numbers of vaccines to Australians of all ages.

Boris Johnson has had his first call with Joe Biden since the new US president entered the White House on Wednesday. Downing Street said Johnson congratulated Biden on his inauguration and that the two leaders looked forward to “deepening the close alliance” between their nations.

After the call, the prime minister tweeted: “Great to speak to President Joe Biden this evening. I look forward to deepening the longstanding alliance between our two countries as we drive a green and sustainable recovery from Covid-19.”

A No 10 spokesperson said the prime minister warmly welcomed Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris agreement on climate change and the World Health Organization. “The prime minister praised President Biden’s early action on tackling climate change and commitment to reach net zero by 2050,” the spokesman said:

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg insists Australia is still on track to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from February, as new figures suggest people are more than happy to get their jab, Australian Associated Press reports.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is due to approve the Pfizer vaccine, and others Australia has signed up to, in the coming weeks.

“We are not about to cut corners,” Mr Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.

He said Australia is not in the same position as the US and UK where there are tens of thousands of cases each day with many lives lost.

“We have the virus under control here in Australia,” the treasurer said.

“But we do want to roll out the vaccine, that’s why the TGA’s is going through its normal processes and we are still on track to receive this Pfizer vaccine, mid to late February.”

Calls from adults worried about a child’s welfare to the NSPCC’s helpline have jumped by 50% over the course of the pandemic, the charity has said.

PA Media: NSPCC said it was now receiving more than 30 calls a day from grown-ups worried that a child is living with domestic abuse, up 53% from pre-pandemic levels.
The charity warned the situation is likely to get worse as lockdown continues, and is calling for the UK Government to make extra provisions for child victims in its Domestic Abuse Bill.

The bill, hailed as a piece of landmark legislation, has had its second reading and is due to begin the committee stage on Monday.

The NSPCC is calling for an amendment that would legally oblige all local authorities to fund community-based recovery services for child victims.

People who experience domestic abuse in childhood can experience difficulty learning, depression, eating disorders and addiction as they go through adolescence into adulthood.

The charity fears that without a statutory obligation, budgets for community-based support could be diverted to fund services such as refuges.

When the bill becomes law, councils will have to ensure all those who become homeless as a result of domestic abuse are prioritised for emergency housing.

The NSPCC wants funding for community-based services – such as those that provide counselling to help child victims of domestic abuse to recover – also enshrined into law.
It is also calling for adequate funding for local agencies so they can meet all their obligations once the bill becomes law.

PA Media reports that, according to a group of scientists, it could be necessary in the future to vaccinate domestic animals such as cats and dogs against Covid-19 to curb the spread of the virus.

Coronavirus can infect a wide range of species including cats, dogs, mink and other domesticated species, experts from the University of East Anglia, Norwich-based research facility the Earlham Institute and University of Minnesota have said.

In an editorial for the journal Virulence, they wrote that continued evolution of the virus in animals followed by transmission to humans “poses a significant long-term risk to public health”.

“It is not unthinkable that vaccination of some domesticated animal species might… be necessary to curb the spread of the infection,” they said.

Last year, Denmark’s government culled millions of mink after it emerged that hundreds of Covid-19 cases in the country were linked with coronavirus variants associated with farmed mink.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Saturday that Egypt would start rolling out a mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign the following day with the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab, AFP reports.

“We are starting a vaccination drive tomorrow beginning with healthcare workers followed by those suffering from chronic diseases and later the elderly,” Sisi said in brief comments after unveiling several development projects in Port Said.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, received its first batch of the Sinopharm vaccines in December.

Earlier this month, Health Minister Hala Zayed said Egypt would also receive 40 million doses, mostly of the AstraZeneca/Oxford jab, via the Gavi vaccine alliance, with the aim of inoculating 20 percent of its more than 100 million strong population.

Egypt has registered over 160,000 novel coronavirus infections, including more than 8,850 deaths.

Health officials have warned that low testing rates mean the real number could be at least 10 times higher.

In Australia, the state minister for health in New South Wales has noted that Monday will mark a year since the state confirmed its first four cases of coronavirus.

Today marks a week with no new local cases confirmed in the state: