Health News at Your Fingertips

Finland will begin gradually easing Covid restrictions from 1 February instead of mid-February as initially planned as the burden on its hospitals eases, the government said late on Thursday.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin had said Finland would begin scaling back restrictions from mid-February, but signs of stabilisation in the infection rate caused by the Omicron variant of the virus led the government to alter its plan.

“The burden on intensive care units has taken a turn in a better direction,” Finland’s minister for health and social affairs Hanna Sarkkinen told reporters.

The government decided to start the cautious easing by loosening restrictions on the hours restaurants can remain open to 9 p.m. from a mandatory 6pm closure currently in place, Sarkkinen said.

It also recommended local authorities allow reopening of cultural and sports venues such as gyms, swimming pools and theatres from the beginning of February.

A United Arab Emirates medical convoy of one million Covid vaccines reached the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday, state news agency WAM said on Thursday.

The report said the Sputnik shots were the biggest medical support convoy from the UAE to the Palestinian strip since the start of the pandemic.

Hello. Tom Ambrose here, I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news over the next couple of hours.

Let’s begin with news from France that the head of the Paris hospitals system has set off a fierce debate by questioning whether people who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid should continue to have their treatment covered by public health insurance.

Under France’s universal healthcare system, all Covid patients who end up in intensive care are fully covered for their treatment, which costs about 3,000 euros per day and typically lasts a week to 10 days.

“When free and efficient drugs are available, should people be able to renounce it without consequences … while we struggle to take care of other patients?” Paris AP-HP hospitals system chief Martin Hirsch said on French television on Wednesday.

Hirsch said he raised the issue because health costs are exploding and that the irresponsible behaviour of some should not jeopardise the availability of the system for everyone else.

Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today so far:

• Covid boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said. The UKHSA said that around six months after a second dose of any of the Covid vaccines, protection against death with Omicron was around 60% in those aged 50 and over. However, this increased to around 95% two weeks after receiving a booster vaccine dose. UKHSA added that data continued to show high levels of protection against hospitalisation from the booster. Effectiveness against hospitalisation was around 90% for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot , dropping to 75% 10-14 weeks after the booster.For Moderna, effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90-95% up to 9 weeks after the booster. “The evidence is clear – the vaccine helps to protect us all against the effects of Covid-19 and the booster is offering high levels of protection from hospitalisation and death in the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at UKHSA. [see 5.17pm.].
• The UK recorded another 96,871 new cases of Covid and a further 338 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government’s coronavirus dashboard.
• Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that Covid infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing. “We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks,” the health minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement. He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs. Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.
• India’s capital announced the end of a weekend curfew and eased other stringent Covid restrictions on Thursday, with government data suggesting the country’s recent Omicron variant outbreak had slowed. Local officials in Delhi decided to reopen restaurants, allow markets to operate at full capacity and lift an all-weekend curfew imposed at the start of January that kept nearly all residents confined to their homes. “In view of the decline in positive cases, it was decided to gradually ease restrictions while ensuring adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour,” Delhi lieutenant governor, Anil Baijal, said. “In the last five to seven days there is an early indication of Covid cases plateauing … but we need to observe and take precautions,” the health ministry official Lav Agarwal told a Thursday press conference. An overnight curfew will remain in effect for all the capital’s residents except essential workers.
• The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has gone into isolation for five days after being exposed to someone with Covid. “I feel fine and will be working from home. Stay safe, everyone – and please get vaccinated,” Trudeau tweeted, adding that a rapid test result had come back negative.
• More than half of all patients with Covid-19 in hospital trusts in England are being treated primarily for something else. New figures show that of the 13,023 patients reported as having the virus on 25 January, 6,767 (52%) were not being treated principally for Covid. This is the highest proportion since these figures were first published in June 2021, and is up from 26% at the start of December. All hospital patients who have tested positive for Covid need to be treated separately from those who do not have the virus, regardless of whether they are in hospital primarily for Covid or not. But the growing proportion of patients who are in hospital “with” Covid rather than “for” Covid is another sign that the current wave of the virus has not led to the same sort of pressure on critical care as in previous waves. [see 1.27pm.].
• Booster shots could reduce future hospitalisations in Europe by at least half a million, the European Union’s public health agency said, even as the Omicron variant spreads at an unprecedented pace. “The current uptake of a booster dose achieved by early January may reduce future Omicron hospital admissions by 500,000-800,000 [in Europe],” the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) said. The figures cover the 27-nation EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Currently about 70% of the EU’s population of 450 million has had two doses of a Covid vaccine and half of them have received a booster.“ Extending the booster programme to all previously vaccinated individuals could reduce admissions by another 300,000-500,000,” the ECDC said. [see 12.53pm.].

Although wearing a face mask was no longer a legal requirement in England, many travellers and shoppers in London and Birmingham chose to continue covering up as they went about their morning business on Thursday.

Commuters at Birmingham New Street committed to widespread mask-wearing, with almost half still wearing them around the station and many saying they would put one on when they got on a train.

Of 100 people passing through the station entrance on Thursday morning, 48 were wearing masks, with a variety of different reasons for doing so – on the day not wearing one stopped being an offence in England.

“I think I’ll keep wearing one for the foreseeable. The number of colds and coughs I’ve had over the past couple of years has gone right down, and wearing a mask is not that bad,” said salesman Stuart Whitman, 50.

Jessica Murray and Georgina Quach report: ‘I’ll wear one for the forseeable’: masks abound despite England rule change

Covid boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said on Thursday.

The UKHSA said that about six months after a second dose of any of the Covid vaccines, protection against death with Omicron was about 60% in those aged 50 and over. However, this increased to around 95% two weeks after receiving a booster vaccine dose.

UKHSA added that data continued to show high levels of protection against hospitalisation from the booster. Effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90% for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot , dropping to 75% 10-14 weeks after the booster.

For Moderna, effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90-95% up to 9 weeks after the booster.

“The evidence is clear – the vaccine helps to protect us all against the effects of Covid-19 and the booster is offering high levels of protection from hospitalisation and death in the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at UKHSA.

The UKHSA also issued an initial analysis of vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron sub-lineage called BA.2, which is growing in the UK and Denmark, finding a similar level of protection against symptomatic disease.

“After two doses effectiveness was 9% and 13% respectively for BA.1 and BA.2, after 25+ weeks,” the UKHSA said. “This increased to 63% for BA.1 and 70% for BA.2 from two weeks following a booster vaccine.”

A very quick snap from Reuters.

Kuwait’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, Sheikh Hamad Jaber al-Ali al-Sabah, has contracted Covid, the Gulf state’s army said on Thursday. He was self-isolating at home and working remotely, it added.

The UK has recorded another 96,871 new cases of Covid and a further 338 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the government’s coronavirus dashboard.

That compares with 102,292 infections and 346 fatalities reported in the 24 hours prior.

Greece will allow music in restaurants and bars again and extend their operating hours as it lifts some of the restrictions imposed last month now that Covid infections and the pressure on hospitals are easing, Reuters reports.

The country last month forced bars, nightclubs and restaurants to close at midnight, with no standing customers and no music, following a surge of cases over the Christmas holidays due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

“We have decided to scale back the restrictions, taking into consideration the course of the pandemic in terms of cases which have been declining in recent weeks,” the health minister Thanos Plevris said in a televised statement.

He said that despite ongoing pressure on the health system, the rate of hospital admissions and discharges and a shorter duration and less severe illness for the Omicron variant compared to Delta allowed authorities to ease the curbs.

Capacity restrictions will remain in place for sport events, while a double mask is mandatory in supermarkets and transport.

Greece reported 19,712 new cases on Thursday. Infections have been easing since a record high of around 50,000 in early January.

A total of 23,083 deaths linked to Covid have been reported since February 2020 and 1,867,935 cases out of a population of 11 million people.