Health News at Your Fingertips

Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Tom Ambrose to bring you all the latest global developments on the coronavirus pandemic. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.

We start with the news that the Queen has cancelled her planned engagements for Tuesday as she is still experiencing mild cold-like symptoms from Covid-19, Buckingham Palace has said.

The palace confirmed on Sunday that the monarch, 95, had tested positive for coronavirus and was planning to continue carrying out “light duties” at Windsor Castle.

Royal officials said today:

As Her Majesty is still experiencing mild cold like symptoms, she has decided not to undertake her planned virtual engagements today, but will continue with light duties.

It is understood further engagements over the coming week, including her weekly conversation with the prime minister, will be decided upon nearer the time.

The announcement came after the Queen’s eldest son, Prince Charles, 73, tested positive on 10 February, two days after the pair had met each other. His wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, tested positive just days later.

A number of people have also tested positive at Windsor Castle, it is understood.

Here is a round-up of today’s top Covid headlines:

• People infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant are nearly 75% less likely to develop serious illness or die than those who contract the Delta variant, real world data released by South Korea’s health authorities showed.
• Canada’s parliament backed the decision of Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, to invoke rarely-used emergency powers to end pandemic-related protests that have blocked streets in the capital, Ottawa, for more than three weeks.
• A protester drove a car toward a New Zealand police line, narrowly avoiding officers, while other protesters sprayed personnel with a stinging substance, police said.
• Uganda plans to fine people who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid and imprison those who fail to pay, under a new public health law which lawmakers are scrutinising, its parliament said on Tuesday.
• Hong Kong authorities said they found Covid in samples taken from the packaging of imports of frozen beef from Brazil and frozen pork skin from Poland, vowing to step up inspections of imported food.
• Hong Kong reported 6,211 new confirmed Covid infections on Tuesday, and another 9,369 self-diagnosed cases.
• Meanwhile, Hong Kong will test its entire population for Covid in March, its leader said today, as the city grapples with its worst outbreak driven by the Omicron variant.
• Mask rules are set to be relaxed in Australia’s three biggest states, with authorities also considering removing isolation requirements for household contacts of Covid-19 cases as part of a “big shift” towards living with the virus.
• Also in Australia, the Nine Network has apologised after mistakenly suggesting the Queen was using the drug ivermectin after contracting Covid.
• In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon will set out her new strategic framework for dealing with coronavirus on Tuesday. The first minister will speak in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday afternoon as the Scottish government’s blueprint for managing and recovering from Covid is published, PA Media reported.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. I’ll be back tomorrow but my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be along shortly to bring you the latest coronavirus stories throughout the day.

Hong Kong will test its entire population for Covid in March, its leader said today, as the city grapples with its worst outbreak driven by the Omicron variant.

The order for citywide testing comes after mainland Chinese authorities dispatched health workers and medical resources last week to help contain the outbreak in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

Hong Kong has reported about 5,000 new daily infections since 15 February, with the number threatening to overwhelm its healthcare system.

Since the surge began at the beginning of the year, the city has recorded nearly 54,000 cases and 145 deaths.

Uganda plans to fine people who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid and imprison those who fail to pay, under a new public health law which lawmakers are scrutinising, its parliament said on Tuesday.

Although the east African country started administering jabs nearly a year ago, only about 16m jabs have been administered among a population of 45 million, with officials blaming widespread reluctance for the low coverage.

The Ugandan parliament’s health committee is scrutinising a public health bill that seeks to make coronavirus vaccinations mandatory, Reuters reported.

“According to the proposal, those who do not get vaccinated against Covid-19 will be fined 4m shillings or [receive] a jail term of six months,” said a statement on the Ugandan parliament’s website.

The statement quoted the health minister, Jane Ruth Aceng, as telling lawmakers on the committee that mandatory vaccinations would ensure enough people were vaccinated to achieve “mass immunity”. She added: “It is important that whoever is supposed to be vaccinated, is vaccinated.”

The statement did not say when the proposed law was likely to be brought before parliament for approval.

Hong Kong reported 6,211 new confirmed Covid infections on Tuesday, and another 9,369 self-diagnosed cases.

It comes as the city battles to curb a coronavirus outbreak that has overwhelmed healthcare facilities in the global financial hub.

In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon will set out her new strategic framework for dealing with coronavirus on Tuesday.

The First Minister will speak in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday afternoon as the Scottish Government’s blueprint for managing and recovering from Covid is published, PA Media reported.

When she updated MSPs on the pandemic earlier this month, she said Scotland was “through the worst” of the Omicron wave and the situation was “much more positive” than at the start of the year.

On Monday, Sturgeon said it would be “unacceptable” for public health decisions of the devolved administrations to be impacted by funding decisions taken by the UK Government.

During a visit to the Social Bite cafe in Edinburgh, the First Minister was asked if she was considering automatic trigger points for new restrictions. She said:

In terms of fixed automatic trigger points – we need to be a bit cautious about that.

Because we know that, if we look at the risks we may face in the future in the form of new variants for example, not all variants have the same impact.

She continued:

You need to have attention to data, to evidence.

But inevitably, there will have to be judgement applied in any given situation about the actual severity of the threat that any new risk might pose.

Canada’s parliament has backed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke rarely-used emergency powers to end pandemic-related protests that have blocked streets in the capital Ottawa for more than three weeks.

The Emergencies Act was approved in parliament by 185 to 151, with the minority Liberal government getting support from left-leaning New Democrats.

The special measures, announced by Trudeau a week ago, have been deemed unnecessary and an abuse of power by some opposition politicians, Reuters reported.

Over the weekend, Canadian police restored normalcy in Ottawa. The protesters initially wanted an end to cross-border Covid vaccine mandates for truck drivers, but the occupation turned into a broader demonstration against Trudeau and his government. Protesters blocked the busiest land crossing between Canada and the United States for six days.

Earlier on Monday, Trudeau told reporters his government still needed temporary emergency powers citing “real concerns” about threats in the days ahead. “This state of emergency is not over. There continue to be real concerns about the coming days,” Trudeau said. The act grants authorities broader powers.

Police spent two days clearing protesters from downtown Ottawa, making 191 arrests and towing 79 vehicles by the time the operation ended on Sunday.

Hong Kong authorities said they found Covid in samples taken from the packaging of imports of frozen beef from Brazil and frozen pork skin from Poland, vowing to step up inspections of imported food.

The global financial hub deploys a “dynamic zero Covid” strategy similar to mainland China’s, aiming to eradicate any outbreaks at all costs. Authorities have been on high alert as a new wave of infections is proving harder to control, Reuters reported.

Daily infections numbers have risen sharply this year, reaching a record 7,533 cases on Monday, overwhelming the government’s testing, hospital and quarantine capacities.

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) took 36 samples for testing from a batch of around 1,100 cartons of frozen beef, weighing a total of 29 tonnes, imported from Brazil by sea. It found one outer packaging and two inner packaging samples tested positive.

It also collected 12 samples from a batch of around 300 cartons of frozen pork skin, weighing around 7 tonnes, imported from Poland via sea. One inner packaging sample tested positive for Covid.

“The CFS has ordered the importers concerned to dispose the beef and pork skin of the same batches,” the government said in a statement late on Monday. “In addition, the CFS will step up the sampling of similar products for testing.”

A protester drove a car toward a New Zealand police line, narrowly avoiding officers, while other protesters sprayed officers with a stinging substance, police said.

It comes as they tightened a cordon around a convoy that has been camped outside Parliament for two weeks.

The clashes in the capital of Wellington came a day after police reported that some of the protesters had thrown human faeces at them, the Associated Press reported.

Police Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters the actions of some of the protesters, who oppose coronavirus vaccine mandates, were unacceptable and would be dealt with assertively.

“Our focus remains on opening the roads up to Wellingtonians and doing our absolute best to restore peaceful protest,” Chambers said. “The behaviour of a certain group within the protest community is absolutely disgraceful.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said protesters had taken things too far and needed to return home. “What’s happening in Wellington is wrong,” she said.

The latest clashes began after about 250 officers and staff arrived at dawn and used forklifts to move concrete barriers into a tighter cordon around the encampment, where hundreds of cars and trucks remain blocking city streets. Police have used the barriers this week to allow protest cars to leave but none to enter.

Video posted online shows a white car driving the wrong way down a one-way street toward a group of officers who quickly get out of the way while people shout. The vehicle comes to a stop at the police line and several officers climb inside and pull out the driver.

Police said the officers had been lucky to escape injury after the car stopped just short of colliding with them. They said they had arrested one person for driving in a dangerous manner and two others for obstructing police.

Chambers said the three officers who were sprayed with the unknown stinging substance had been treated at a hospital and were recovering well.

Hello. Tom Ambrose here and I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news over the next four hours.

We start with news that people infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant are nearly 75% less likely to develop serious illness or die than those who contract the Delta variant, real world data released by South Korea’s health authorities showed.

A study by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) of some 67,200 infections confirmed since December showed the Omicron variant’s severity and death rates averaged 0.38% and 0.18%, respectively, compared with 1.4% and 0.7% for the Delta cases.

The KDCA classed severe cases as people who were hospitalised in intensive care units, Reuters reported.

Around 56% of 1,073 people who died over the past five weeks were either unvaccinated or had received only one dose, the study showed, with people aged 60 or older accounting for 94% of deaths.

More than 86% of South Korea’s 52 million population have been double vaccinated and nearly 60% have received a booster shot.