Health News at Your Fingertips

In the UK, Downing Street has insisted that Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie complied with coronavirus rules following reports Mrs Johnson’s friend Nimco Ali stayed with them over Christmas.

Johnson’s official spokesman said:

The prime minister and Mrs Johnson have followed the coronavirus rules at all times.

Ali insisted “I did not break any rules” after a report in the US in Harper’s Magazine claimed she “spent Christmas with the couple at No 10 despite pandemic restrictions on holiday gatherings”, PA Media reported.

Italian police used water cannon and teargas to clear a sit-in at the port of Trieste, where opponents of the government’s mandatory Covid health pass have tried to block access.

The north-eastern port has been the focal point of protest in Italy over the introduction of rules last Friday that require all workers show either proof of vaccination, a negative coronavirus test or recent recovery from infection.

Police in full riot gear moved in this morning after several hundred dock workers disrupted access to one of the main gates at Italy’s largest commercial port, Reuters reported.

The crowds were pushed aside by jets of water followed by volleys of tear gas. Many of them headed towards the city’s main square to continue their protest in front of government offices.

“They attacked us. I am speechless. I never expected it,” said Stefano Puzzer, the spokesman of the port protesters. “We will sit down here. We are keeping calm. We will not give up.”

The government says the mandatory health “green pass” is needed to keep workers safe and to encourage more people to get vaccinated. Under the rule, effective until year-end, workers will be suspended without pay and face a fine of up to €1,500 if they try to work without the certificate.

Most Italians support the provision, opinion polls show.

Good afternoon, I am Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest Covid news from around the world and the UK today.

An interesting story from my colleague Mostafa Rachwani this morning, in case you missed it. In Australia, the Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, has hit back at US senator Ted Cruz who criticised the Northern Territory’s vaccine policy, telling the firebrand Texan conservative “you know nothing about us”.

The spat began when the US Republican shared a video of Gunner announcing the territory’s wide-ranging vaccine mandate for workers.

Cruz lamented the “Covid tyranny of their [Australia’s] current government,” which he said was “disgraceful and sad”.

“Individual liberty matters,” Cruz declared, adding he had considered Australia the “Texas of the Pacific”.

Gunner did not appreciate the feedback, responding on Twitter with a statement sharing a “few facts about Covid down here” and tagging Cruz. “We don’t need your lectures, thanks mate,” the chief minister began.

“Nearly 70,000 Texans have tragically died from Covid. There have been zero deaths in the Territory. Did you know that?

“We’ve done whatever it takes to protect the Territory. That’s kept us safe and free. We have been in lockdown for just eight days in 18 months. Our businesses and school are all open. Did you know that?”

Gunner went on to say that Cruz knows nothing about Australia, and criticised his stance on vaccination.

Moscow’s streets were buzzing with energy on Friday evening. At Simach, a trendy bar and nightclub in the city centre, the small, sweaty dance floor was packed and a long queue of chatty people formed outside. Looking at the crowd, it is easy to forget that Russia is at the centre of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, recording daily record deaths and infections

Russia topped the symbolic figure of 1,000 daily deaths on Saturday for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and hit a new record in infection numbers on Monday with 34,325 cases reported.

Officials say the country is quickly running out of hospital beds and Russia’s chief doctor, Denis Protsenko, described the situation on Friday as “near critical” with vaccinations at a standstill.

During the first coronavirus wave, 60% of Russian households said they had lost income as a result of the economic crisis.

Several regions re-introduced QR codes for access to public places last week as well as mandatory vaccination for certain groups, but Moscow and St Petersburg – home to by far the biggest clusters of infections – have so far opted against new measures. The two cities are among most open places in Europe.

“Russians have consistently shown more concern about the economic situation than the epidemiological one,” said Christian Fröhlich, a sociology professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics who studies public dissent.

“People have very low expectations from the government and don’t expect to receive any support during a lockdown. This helps explain why many prefer for the country to stay open despite the deaths.”

Read more of Pjotr Sauer’s report from Moscow here: ‘You reap what you sow’: Russians party despite record Covid figures

• The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has issued a statement this morning that the European Union has exported over 1bn doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the last 10 months. She said “Together with President Biden, we aim for a global vaccination rate of 70% by next year” and promised to pressure world leaders at the Rome G20 summit next week on the issue.
• Russia has again set a new record daily caseload, recording 34,325 new cases in the last 24 hours. That’s up just slightly on the previous day’s 34,303. There were 998 further deaths. The population of Russia is around 144 million people.
• The UK recorded 45,140 new daily cases on Sunday – a significantly higher figure than is usually seen at the weekend, where test reporting tends to tail off, and is the highest jump in positive Covid cases since mid-July.
• Take-up of a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine among young teenagers is below 10% in just over a third of the main local authorities in England, latest figures show.
• This compares unfavourably to Scotland, where take-up is already over 50% in half of local authority areas.
• Cases of psychosis have soared over the past two years in England as an increasing number of people experience hallucinations and delusional thinking amid the stresses of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• French pharmaceutical firm Valneva has reported positive results from its Covid-19 trial. CEO Thomas Lingelbach said: “We are committed to bringing our differentiated vaccine candidate to licensure as quickly as possible and continue to believe that we will be able to make an important contribution to the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.”
• India’s vaccination campaign has slowed despite amassing record stockpiles of vaccine, health ministry data shows, as authorities maintain a wider-than-usual gap between doses in a strategy that has boosted coverage.
• Thousands of students in New South Wales, Australia, put on uniforms and packed their lunches for the first time in months on Monday, as kindergarten, year 1 and year 12 students returned to face-to-face learning.
• Melbourne, Australia is set to lift stay-at-home orders this week, ending what is considered to be the world’s longest lockdown. About 5 million people living in Australia’s second-most populous city have spent more than 260 days under six lockdowns since March of 2020.
• Australia’s Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, has hit back at US senator Ted Cruz who criticised the Northern Territory’s vaccine policy, telling the Texan conservative “you know nothing about us”.

That is all from me today, I will be back tomorrow. Tom Ambrose will be here shortly to continue bringing you the latest coronavirus developments from the UK and all around the world.

Take-up of a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine among young teenagers is below 10% in just over a third of the main local authorities in England, latest figures show.

In some areas the rate is as low as 5%, while only 15 authorities have managed to give a first jab to at least a quarter of 12- to 15-year-olds. The picture is very different in Scotland, where take-up is already over 50% in half of local authority areas.

First doses of Covid-19 vaccine began to be rolled out to all the UK’s 3.2 million 12- to 15-year-olds nearly a month ago.

But Ian Jones reports for PA Media that figures for England and Scotland – the two nations currently publishing daily statistics on take-up – show wide variations across the countries.

In 55 of the 149 upper tier local authorities in England, or 37% of the total, fewer than one in 10 children aged 12 to 15 are estimated to have received a first dose. Barking & Dagenham has the lowest take-up (3.5%), followed by Newham and Lewisham (both 5.2%), all of which are in London.

Take-up is also likely to have been affected by the level of infection circulating in the community. A first dose of vaccine cannot be delivered to someone if they are within four weeks of testing positive for Covid-19, waiting for the results of a coronavirus test, or self-isolating.

Around one in 10 children in England in school years 7 to 11 were likely to have tested positive for Covid-19 in the week to 9 October – the highest rate for any age group – according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has issued a statement this morning about the EU reaching a vaccine milestone. She says the bloc has exported over 1bn vaccine doses worldwide. She says:

We have reached an important milestone in the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to the world. The European Union has exported over 1bn vaccine doses worldwide, over the past ten months. Vaccines produced in the EU have been shipped to more than 150 countries. We delivered around 87m doses to low- and middle-income countries through Covax. Very clearly, the European Union is the largest exporter of Covid-19 vaccines.

In parallel, the EU has enabled the vaccination of our citizens. And more than 75% of adults in the EU are now fully vaccinated. Together with President Biden, we aim for a global vaccination rate of 70% by next year. The EU-US Agenda for Beating the Global Pandemic will help us achieve that. On top of our exports, the EU will donate in the next months at least 500 million doses to the most vulnerable countries. But other countries need to step up, too.

Von der Leyen goes on to say that she will be pressing world leaders at the G20 summit in Rome next week on the issue.

Russia has again set a new record daily caseload, recording 34,325 new cases in the last 24 hours. That’s up just slightly on the previous day’s 34,303.

The official death toll was raised by 998, with the numbers continuing to hover close to 1,000 deaths per day.

About a third of adults in the country have had at least one Covid vaccine shot. The population of Russia is around 144 million people

French pharmaceutical firm Valneva has reported positive results from its Covid-19 trial.

In new phase 3 results reported today, Valneva said its vaccine showed superior neutralising antibody titer levels compared with the comparator vaccine from AstraZeneca. The company also said its vaccine – VLA2001 – induced broad T-cell responses, a part of the immune system believed to be involved in long-term immunity.

PA Media reports that the phase 3 trial recruited 4,012 people across 26 trial sites in the UK.

Thomas Lingelbach, the chief executive officer of Valneva, said: “We are committed to bringing our differentiated vaccine candidate to licensure as quickly as possible and continue to believe that we will be able to make an important contribution to the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Last month, the UK government scrapped a deal for Valneva’s vaccine, with health secretary Sajid Javid telling MPs it had been “clear” the vaccine “would not get approval” by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK.