Health News at Your Fingertips

The estimated range of England’s Covid reproduction “R” number has risen to between 0.8 and 1.1, returning to its value of two weeks ago, the UK Health Security Agency said on Friday, adding that the number of cases each day could be rising.

An R number between 0.8 and 1.1 means that for every 10 people infected, they will on average infect between eight and 11 other people. Last week, the range was 0.7 to 0.9, however, the week before the range was also 0.8 to 1.1.

The daily growth of infections was estimated at between -3% to +1%, compared with -6% to -2% the previous week.

In Scotland, a community hospital is taking no new admissions due to an outbreak of coronavirus.

Invergordon County Community hospital announced its closure to new patients and visitors on Friday after it detected a small number of positive cases on site, PA Media reported.

Staff said contacts of those who have tested positive have been identified and given advice, and patients in the hospital are being monitored, with in-patient care continuing as normal.

A spokesperson for the hospital said:

All appropriate infection prevention and control measures have been put in place.

We have not reached this decision lightly and recognise that this could cause a great deal of concern and anxiety for patients and their loved ones during this time. These measures will be reviewed on a regular basis.

If your visit is essential please contact the ward your relative or loved one is in, and the staff will support you with arrangements.

Please do not visit any of our hospitals or care home settings if you or anyone else in your household has tested positive for Covid-19 or has any symptoms.

The UK’s transport secretary Grant Shapps has tested positive for coronavirus.

Shapps is the second British cabinet minister to test positive in the space of five days following foreign secretary Liz Truss, who revealed she was isolating on Monday.

Writing on Twitter, Shapps said: “Have tested positive for £COVID19 so am self-isolating and testing as required.”

A law requiring most adults in Austria to get vaccinated against Covid is ready to take effect, but the sense of urgency that accompanied its announcement in November has largely evaporated.

Few other countries look likely to go as far as attention turns to loosening restrictions, the Associated Press reports.

The Austrian mandate for residents 18 and over to get vaccinated — the first of its kind in Europe – cleared its last legislative hurdle Thursday when parliament’s upper house approved what health minister Wolfgang Mückstein called “a forward-looking and active step”.

It’s expected to become law in the coming days but it will be a while before Austrians notice any practical change. And it isn’t clear when or even whether the toughest part of the plan, which was watered down from the initial proposal, will take effect.

Only in mid-March will police start checking people’s vaccination status during traffic stops and checks on coronavirus restrictions.

People who can’t produce proof of vaccination will be asked in writing to do so, and will be fined up to €600 ($680) if they don’t; fines could reach €3,600 if people contest their punishment and full proceedings are opened.

The risk of death involving Covid is 93% lower for people who have had a booster or third dose of vaccine compared with unvaccinated people, research suggests.

Mortality rates for coronavirus deaths were found to be “consistently lower” across all age groups for those who had received an extra dose compared with those who had received no doses, according to the the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The research used age-standardised mortality rates, which take into account differences in age structure and population size, to allow for comparisons between vaccination groups, the Press Association reports.

Among fully vaccinated people in England who had received a booster or third dose at least 21 days previously, the age-adjusted risk of death involving Covid between July and December last year was 93.4% lower compared with unvaccinated people, while it was 81.2% lower for those who had received only two doses.

For much of 2021, mortality rates for death involving Covid for people who had received two doses of vaccine remained well below the equivalent figures for people who were unvaccinated, the ONS found.

But rates among double-jabbed people started to increase at the end of last year, jumping from 92.0 deaths per 100,000 in October to 221.1 in November and 367.7 in December.

This may have been driven by a change in the composition of the double-jabbed group, with most older people having received a booster or third dose by this point, the ONS said. It might also be connected to “waning protection from prior vaccination”.

Hong Kong plans to roll out rapid antigen tests for Covid to all of its 7.5 million population in the near future, city leader Carrie Lam said today.

It comes as the increasingly isolated global financial hub tries to control a new outbreak, the Reuters news agency reported.

Lam told reporters her government was working on increasing testing, contact tracing and vaccination capacity and making plans to send hospitalised asymptomatic patients to a quarantine facility reserved for close contacts as infections add up.

Amid worries of invisible transmissions in the city, Lam said the government was procuring tens of millions of rapid antigen tests, but did not specify when and how the government will deploy them for voluntary universal testing.

On Friday, Hong Kong reported 131 positive cases, compared with 142 on Thursday. Some 195 tested “preliminary positive” and may be added to the count in coming days subject to further tests. The previous record was 164 cases in late January.

“This latest outbreak is the worst we have seen in the past two years,” Lam said. “Our strategy is the same: we aim to cut transmission chains as soon as possible.”

Hello, I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest Covid news from around the world over the next five hours or so.

Let’s start with the news that direct international flights to Bali have resumed for the first time in two years as Indonesia opens the resort island to foreign travellers from all countries.

However, mandatory quarantine remains in place for all visitors, the Associated Press reported.

Officials had said in October that Bali would welcome foreign arrivals from 19 countries that meet World Health Organization criteria, such as having their Covid cases under control.

But there were no direct international flights to Bali until Thursday, when Garuda Indonesia operated its first such flight in two years from Tokyo.

Singapore Airlines will introduce a regular direct route to and from Denpasar in Bali starting 16 February, said Taufan Yudhistira, the public relations manager at Bali’s international airport.

Fully vaccinated travellers need to quarantine for five days in a hotel or on a live-onboard boat certified by the ministry of tourism and creative economy, and travellers who have received one dose of Covid vaccine must quarantine for seven days.

Indonesia reported 27,197 new coronavirus infections and 38 deaths on Thursday in the latest 24-hour period.

Here’s a round-up of today’s Covid news from around the world so far.

• India’s death toll from Covid-19 has officially crossed 500,000. Yet many health experts say half a million deaths was reached last year but obscured by inaccurate surveys.
• Russia broke its daily Covid record again on Friday with infections surging to 168,201. Russia, gripped by Omicron, has smashed its daily Covid record practially every day for the past two weeks.
• Ukraine also registered a record daily high of 43,778 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours.
• Scientists in South Africa are keeping their eyes on the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, which made up 23% of recent samples, but said there’s no clear sign BA.2 is substantially different to the original Omicron.
• Spain will lift its outdoor mask mandate from next Thursday, health minister Carolina Darias said.
• Allies of embattled UK prime minister Boris Johnson came out swinging on this morning’s broadcast round, saying he is “taking charge” amid the partygate row, following a series of departures on Thursday which were dubbed a “meltdown in Downing Street”.
• Malaysia detected over 7,000 Covid infections for the first time since mid-October, as the health minister said a further Omicron surge is likely.
• Poland reported 47,534 positive Covid tests in the past 24 hours – near-peak levels – which is a 30% rise on two weeks ago.
• Africa must boost the vaccination rate against Covid “six times” to reach the target of 70% coverage set for the end of the first half of 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
• The vaccine developed by Novavax has been approved by the UK regulator for over-18s. Clinical trials suggest two doses have a roughly 90% efficacy against symptomatic Covid.
• South Korea extended social distancing rules for an additional two weeks as Omicron variant infections soar, including a 9pm curfew for restaurants and a six-person limit on private gatherings.

That’s all from me, Jem Bartholomew, for today. I’ll be back next week. Over to my colleague Tom Ambrose for the next few hours. Bye for now.

Malaysia detected more than 7,000 Covid infections for the first time since mid-October, local media the New Straits Times reports.

The country clocked 7,234 positive tests in the past 24 hours, a 79% climb on the 4,046 cases recorded on Friday two weeks ago.

Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Thursday cases are likely to continue surging – due to the virulence of Omicron – but said the public should not be alarmed as the country’s vaccination rate is high.

Malaysia’s total deaths from Covid-related causes are above 32,000, the 29th highest worldwide. (It has the 45th highest population.)

Poland reported 47,534 positive Covid tests in the past 24 hours, Polskie Radio reports, a 30% rise on the 36,664 new cases on Friday two weeks ago.

Poland is experiencing a surging Omicron wave and infections are at near-peak levels of over 50,000.

Health minister Adam Niedzielski has warned infections could approach 140,000 a day by mid-February. Public sector workers have been told to work from home.

A further 246 people were reported to have died from Covid-related causes, compared with 248 two weeks ago. That takes the country’s death toll to 106,306, the world’s 15th highest. (Poland has the 38th highest population.)

Researchers at the UK’s University of Oxford will seek to repurpose existing anti-viral therapies to treat Covid as part of a small project, Reuters reports.

Scientists will initially screen 138 drugs with known antiviral activity against the Covid-causing Sars-CoV-2 virus to study and identify combinations which would boost their potential, the university said in a statement.

Promising combinations will be submitted to UK authorities for clinical trials.

“There are multiple benefits with discovering new treatments in this way,” said Ultan Power, one of the principal investigators of the project. “They have been through all the necessary checks so we know they are safe and readily available, they can be self-administered and used at home, helping to reduce the burden on the healthcare system.”

The £1.6 million pound project is led by Queen’s University Belfast, with experts from Queen’s, the University of Liverpool and Oxford. It is being funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council.

Israel detected 46,347 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, the Jerusalem Post reports, taking the number of active infections to 373,160.

Israel experienced spiking cases last month driven by the highlyinfectious Omicron, but infections appear to be receding.

The R rate is 0.9, the Post reports. The country has reported a total of 9,080 people dying from Covid-related causes, the 61st highest worldwide. (Israel has the 100th highest population.)

Spain will lift its outdoor mask mandate from next Thursday, health minister Carolina Darias said.

The measure intended to compress the Omicron strain was introduced in December.

Reuters reports the details:

In the past two weeks, Covid-19’s contagion rate, measured over the past 14 days, has been steadily falling to 2,421 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday down from almost 3,400 in early January.

Despite the surge in cases between November and January as Omicron spread, hospital admissions and deaths remain well below those seen in earlier waves of the pandemic, thanks in large part to Spain’s high vaccination rate.

Spain reported 74,368 new infections on Thursday, down 53% from the 157,447 new cases on Thursday two weeks ago.

The country has a death toll of 94,040 people dying from Covid-related causes, the 18th highest worldwide. (Spain has the 30th highest population.)

Allies of embattled UK prime minister Boris Johnson came out swinging on this morning’s broadcast round, after a series of departures on Thursday were dubbed a “meltdown in Downing Street”.

Greg Hands, the energy minister, said Johnson is taking charge of his Downing Street team by making changes after the ”partygate” row.

It comes after the resignation on Thursday of four key No 10 officials – policy chief Munira Mirza, chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s principal private secretary, and director of communications Jack Doyle.

“Resignations have been made, resignations have been accepted,” Hands told Sky, adding: “This is the prime minister taking charge.”

After Mirza’s departure and criticism of Johnson – her colleague and ally of 14 years – the three other resignations were then announced in quick succession on Thursday night, in what was seen widely in Westminster as an attempt to regain control.

On Friday morning, another adviser reportedly quit. Elena Narozanski, a special adviser to the prime minister on women and equalities, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and extremism, has resigned, according to Paul Goodman, the editor of Conservative Home.

Russia broke its daily Covid record again on Friday with infections surging to 168,201, Reuters reports.

That’s a 242% jump on the 49,127 cases detected on Friday two weeks ago, which was itself a record-breaker.

Russia, gripped by Omicron, has smashed its daily Covid record practially every day for the past two weeks. Thursday saw 155,768 cases.

The labour ministry has recommended working from home. But the Kremlin has ruled out a national lockdown. Meanwhile, at the local level some cities have imposed restrictions to crimp the virus’s spread.

A further 682 deaths from Covid-related causes were reported in the past 24 hours. Russia has the world’s 2nd highest Covid death toll of over 700,000, according to a Reuters estimate, behind only the US. (Russia has the 9th highest population worldwide.)

Scientists in South Africa are keeping their eyes on the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, which is appearing in greater numbers in the country, but said there’s no clear sign BA.2 is substantially different.

BA.2 accounted for 23% of 450 January samples collected via genomic surveillance, compared with 75% for the original Omicron strain. (BA.2 accounted for 4% of 2,243 December samples.)

“We are seeing this increase with the BA.2, we are still trying to get more information on this particular sub-lineage … and so we are increasing sequencing,” said Michelle Groome, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

“At this stage, there is no indication that there would be … differences between these different sub-lineages of Omicron. As we saw with Delta there were lots of lineages and we didn’t see a lot of difference between them, but we will keep monitoring,” she added.