Health News at Your Fingertips

• Slovakia reported its highest daily rise in new Covid-19 cases today, just ahead of a government meeting likely to agree a short-term lockdown to try to quell the surge. There were 10,315 new cases reported.
• Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have reached another new record high. The daily tally hit 25,864 on Tuesday, about 3,000 more than the previous record registered on Friday. Just over 58% of the Czech population has been fully vaccinated.
• Hungary also reported a record number of new daily Covid cases at 12,637 today. The seven-day average for the country stands at 9,435. That is up from 7,369 a week ago.
• The head of the European Union’s public health agency, Dr Andrea Ammon, has said that Covid-19 vaccine boosters should be considered for all adults, with priority for those aged 40 and older, in a major change to its guidance.
• Rob Butler, executive director of World Health Organization Europe, has made a strong appeal for people to continue to use face masks, saying: “The British Medical Journal last week showed a study where 53% of transmission was prevented by mask use. We only have 48% of the population in the European region using masks. The moment we see that go up, if we see this go up, we will see a reduction in cases and a reduction in deaths. If we saw 95% universal mask use, we can project that we would save about 160,000 lives.”
• Russia’s daily new Covid case numbers continue to be on a gradual decline, although deaths continue to hover around the near record 1,240-1,250 mark. Today’s official figures are 33,558 cases and 1,240 deaths.
• The health service in the UK is considering “radical ideas” to help tackle the backlog of care that has built-up over the last few years and been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. That includes the idea of sending patients to different regions for treatment, the chief executive of NHS Providers has said.
• India’s health ministry has written to state governments raising concerns over falling levels of testing.
• South Korea has reported a new daily record of 4,116 new coronavirus cases as the country battles to contain a surge in serious cases requiring hospitalisation.
• In the US, the Biden administration plans to require all essential, nonresident travellers crossing its land borders, such as truck drivers, government and emergency response officials, to be fully vaccinated beginning on 22 January.
• South Africa has asked Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to delay delivery of Covid-19 vaccines because it now has too much stock, health ministry officials said, as vaccine hesitancy slows an inoculation campaign.

That is all from me, Martin Belam, today. I will see you again tomorrow. Miranda Bryant will be here shortly to take you through the rest of the day’s UK and global coronavirus developments.

Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have reached another record high. The daily tally hit 25,864 on Tuesday, about 3,000 more than the previous record registered on Friday. Just over 58% of the Czech population has been fully vaccinated.

Associated Press report that the government has been considering mandatory vaccination for certain groups of people, including the elderly, medical and military personnel and police officers. Another proposal under consideration is shortening the time between a second shot and a booster from six to five months.

The Czech Republic’s approach to the new surge is being hampered by the protracted changeover of government. Some of the proposals and measures imposed by the outgoing government of Andrej Babiš are opposed by a coalition of five parties that agreed to form a new government.

The new coalition strictly rejects any mandatory vaccination. Vlastimil Válek, the candidate to be the new health minister, said on Wednesday that “it’s not a solution, it only further divides the society”.

Some new restrictions targeting the unvaccinated took effect Monday, with only those with proof of vaccination able to access public events, go to bars and restaurants, visit hairdressers, museums and similar facilities or use hotels. The incoming coalition has said it wants to return to a system where negative tests would also act as a pass for those venues and activities.

Here’s a reminder of the latest Covid data from the UK. Case numbers are up week-on-week by 8.7%. Deaths in the last seven days are down 5.5% on the week before, and hospital admissions are down 9.5% week-on-week. The UK government dashboard shows that there are 8,088 Covid patients in hospital, of whom 928 are in ventilation beds.

The head of the European Union’s public health agency, Dr Andrea Ammon, has said that Covid-19 vaccine boosters should be considered for all adults, with priority for those aged 40 and older, in a major change to its guidance.

Francesco Guarascio reports from Brussels for Reuters that in its previous guidance issued in September alongside the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) said there was no urgent need for the administration of booster doses to fully vaccinated individuals in the general population.

It had suggested that additional doses should be considered for people with weakened immune systems and could be used as a precaution for older frail individuals.

Recommendations issued by the ECDC are not binding on EU governments but are used to make health policy decisions.

Eimear McGovern reports for the Belfast Telegraph this morning on criticism of Stormont’s first minister Paul Givan’s claim yesterday that Northern Ireland doesn’t have sufficient funding to go into another lockdown.

Martin McKee, a professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has told the BBC:

The argument that we don’t have the money to protect against a pandemic disease is very strange because all of the evidence demonstrates that if you fail to protect against the spread of infection, in the long run the economy will suffer more.

I and my colleagues have been arguing all along you do need to provide support to allow people to isolate. A vaccine only policy is not enough, there needs to be a vaccine-plus policy. We need to look at the totality of these things.

Slovakia reported its highest daily rise in new Covid-19 cases today, just ahead of a government meeting likely to agree a short-term lockdown to try to quell the surge. There were 10,315 new cases reported.

Jason Hovet reports for Reuters that ahead of a government meeting today, the defence minister, Jaroslav Nad, said no alternative existed. “If we want to be responsible, we have only one option, the rest is populism,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Dennik N, which earlier reported government parties had a preliminary agreement on a two-week lockdown.

In Slovakia, which has the European Union’s third-lowest vaccination rate, the surge is putting new pressure on hospitals.

The health ministry said the number of people hospitalised had reached a “critical point” at 3,200 and was approaching peaks of around 3,800 seen in the last wave of the pandemic. Most patients were unvaccinated, it said.

Switzerland will vote on Sunday on the country’s Covid-19 laws, and Agence France-Presse has a despatch about the referendum campaign, which it characterises as having seen unprecedented levels of hostility.

Police have upped security around a number of politicians, including the health minister, Alain Berset, who have faced a flood of insults and death threats.

“We have seen an increase in threats since the start of the pandemic, with unprecedented virulence,” the federal police told AFP. Fences have also been erected around the government and parliament buildings in Bern to protect them during anti-vax demonstrations.

Sunday will mark the second time in less than six months that the Swiss have been called upon to vote on the government’s response to the pandemic. In June, 60% of voters approved prolonging national measures.

Opponents insisted a new vote was needed on amendments to the Covid law which, among other things, provides the legal basis for a Covid certificate indicating that a person has been vaccinated or has recovered from the disease.

“This law is discriminatory. It will create a two-speed society,” said Agnes Aedo, spokeswoman for the Friends of the Constitution group that launched the referendum. The latest polls show a clear majority of eligible Swiss voters – around two-thirds – still support the law.

South Africa has asked Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to delay delivery of Covid-19 vaccines because it now has too much stock, health ministry officials said, as vaccine hesitancy slows an inoculation campaign.

About 35% of South Africans are vaccinated, higher than in most other African nations, but half the government’s year-end target. It has averaged 106,000 doses a day in the past 15 days in a nation of 60 million people.

Earlier this year the programme was slowed by insufficient doses. Now deliveries have been delayed due to oversupply, making the country an outlier in the continent where most are still starved of vaccines.

Nicholas Crisp, the deputy director general of the health department, told Reuters that South Africa had 16.8m doses in stock and said deliveries had been deferred.

“We have 158 days’ stock in the country at current use,” a spokesman for the health ministry said. “We have deferred some deliveries.”

Russia’s daily new Covid case numbers continue to be on a gradual decline, although deaths continue to hover around the near record 1,240-1,250 mark. Today’s official figures are 33,558 cases and 1,240 deaths.

The seven-day average for new cases stands at 35,226. That is down from 37,704 a week ago.