Health News at Your Fingertips

Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said today, in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy.

Pairote Chotikasathien, from the Ministry of Labor, said the rules relating to vaccination status for the migrant workers, quarantine procedures and Covid-19 testing will be decided on Wednesday.

Reuters report that Thailand’s big exporting industries such as food and rubber production rely heavily on migrant labour. But strict border controls and quarantine rules have virtually halted all labour migration.

Pairote estimated the country needed 420,000 foreign workers at this time, mostly in the construction, manufacturing and seafood industries. Many workers left the country as it battled its worst Covid-19 outbreak earlier this year and have not returned.

Unison head of health Sara Gorton said it is wrong to “leap to the law” by bringing in mandatory vaccination instead of trying to persuade NHS workers to get jabbed.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’ve been keen to ensure that what our role is, understanding what people are telling us about the reasons why they have fears, about why they are not convinced by the arguments, and making sure that those people can get access to up-to-date information and access to experts who may be able to help them change their mind.”

PA Media quotes her saying: “And we’ve been really keen to be part of that process. So this isn’t about saying that it’s wrong, the vaccination programme is wrong, it’s saying that it is wrong to leap to the law, rather than stick with persuasion, conversation, peer group support to try and increase those rates beyond what is, let’s face it, a really, really high existing level of vaccination amongst NHS staff.”

She described any move to bring in mandatory vaccinations as “really risky”, saying that it could have “really, really difficult consequences for the NHS in what we know is going to be a really difficult winter”.

The seven-day average for new cases in Bulgaria has been trending downwards since the beginning of November, suggesting the country’s wave of Covid infections may have peaked.

Official figures today show Bulgaria recorded 5,286 positive cases in the last 24 hours. That’s up slightly on the seven-day average, and will no doubt have authorities monitoring the next couple of days very closely. The test positivity rate was 11%.

Bulgarian media reported that of 8,516 patients in hospital in total, 723 are in intensive care. Bulgaria, which has a population of 6.9, has the lowest vaccination rate in the EU, with 29.7% of adults having received at least one dose.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said he was expecting an announcement on a deadline for mandatory vaccination for NHS staff today.

PA Media quotes him telling BBC Radio 5 Live: “That’s what we’re expecting today – that there will be a mandatory vaccination deadline.”

Hopson continued: “But I suspect that come the deadline, whenever it is set, there will still be some staff who are adamant that they don’t want to get vaccinated and that is a very significant risk for the NHS.”

Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care have said they are not commenting on speculation over the proposals.

Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab refused to be drawn on the issue this morning. He told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t comment on leaked reports about what the government may or may not do, and that’s just not the professional thing for a minister to do.”

Three out of four transport staff in London have been subjected to violence at work during the Covid crisis, research by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) suggests.

RMT said its study of workers in public-facing roles on London Underground and Transport for London rail networks showed they need more support.

More than half of staff reported being threatened with physical violence, 28% were racially harassed, 14% reported being spat at or targeted with bodily fluids and 7% had been sexually assaulted, said the union.

Three out of five respondents said they believed violence had got worse since the pandemic.

Most of the 1,000 workers surveyed said the government’s “mixed messaging” around the lifting of Covid restrictions had made the situation worse for staff.

PA Media quotes RMT general secretary Mick Lynch saying: “Life on the front line of London’s transport has got harder and more dangerous for the key workers who have kept the capital moving during the Covid crisis.

“I don’t want to hear more condescending ‘thank yous’ from government ministers who are trying to drive down our members’ living conditions while sowing chaos in their shambolic response to the coronavirus.

“We need a total sea-change in attitudes toward staff in which we see them as central to rebuilding passenger confidence and to creating a safer working and travelling environment.”

There are between 80,000 and 100,000 NHS workers in England who are unvaccinated against coronavirus, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents England’s NHS trusts, has said this morning.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that as well as the risk of workers infecting colleagues, patients and visitors, there is also a risk to the health service if large numbers of staff leave as a result of mandatory vaccination.

PA Media quotes Hopson saying: “The other risk we need to manage is the fact that there is also a patient safety and a quality of care risk if the NHS does end up as a result of this losing significant numbers of staff.

“And that’s why we’ve said very clearly that we want the government to work very closely with us to maximise the number of people who take up the vaccination voluntarily before we hit the deadline, to think very carefully about the deadline because clearly we’re about to enter what we think is going to be the most difficult winter for the NHS on record.”

He said it is “probably slightly less” than 100,000 staff who remain unvaccinated “because those figures are slightly old and we’ve been working really hard with NHS staff to ensure that they do take up the vaccine”.

Hopson added: “Happy to say somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000.”

Yesterday, in his first intervention into the Covid crisis since leaving government, former UK health secretary Matt Hancock suggested the date for mandatory vaccinations for NHS staff should be far earlier than the currently mooted April.

Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, has been on Times Radio this morning defending UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s appearance at a hospital yesterday without wearing a face mask, which was the subject of much criticism on social media.

Raab said: “In any clinical setting, you follow the rules that are applied there.”

The rules of visiting the hospital, as laid out on the homepage of the Hexham General hospital website, state:

When visiting you are reminded to expect:

• To wash your hands at the hospital entrance and wear a mask when you enter the hospital.

• To wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and observe social distancing.

• You should not visit if you feel unwell, have been asked to self-isolate, or believe you may have been in contact with someone who has Covid-19.

To be clear, there were pictures yesterday of the prime minister wearing a face mask at some point during the visit, but he did not wear it at all times.

India could resume deliveries of Covid-19 shots to global vaccine-sharing platform Covax in a few weeks for the first time since April, two health industry sources have told Reuters. It would end a suspension of supplies that has hurt the vaccination efforts of poorer countries.

Krishna N Das reports that based on an informal approval from India, Covax officials have started planning allocations of the Covishield shot for various countries. Covishield is a licensed version of the AstraZeneca shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker.

SII has nearly quadrupled its output of Covishield to up to 240m doses a month since April, when India stopped all exports in order to inoculate its own people during a surge of cases.

“There will need to be purchase orders confirmed to SII, labelling and packing, export authorisation granted for each of these shipments,” a source told Reuters. “So the first deliveries, assuming the Indian government grants export authorisation, won’t happen until a few weeks from now.”

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla told Reuters last month that the company could send 20m to 30m doses a month to Covax in November and December, which would increase to “large volumes” from January once India’s own needs were met.

Ukraine registered a record 833 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said this morning. The previous high of 793 deaths was on 6 November.

Reuters report that the ministry’s data showed 18,988 new infections were reported over the past 24 hours.

Hello, it is Martin Belam here in London taking over from Samantha Lock in Sydney. I’ll bring you any Covid lines that emerge from the early UK media round interviews. Here is the latest picture of the current Covid outbreaks across Europe.

Covid-19 patients in Singapore who remain unvaccinated by choice will have to pay for their hospitalisation bills from 8 December, the government has ruled.

Medical bills of all Singaporeans, permanent residents (PRs) and long-term pass holders, other than for those who have tested positive soon after returning from overseas travel, are currently covered by the government.

Health minister Ong Ye Kung described the decision not to pay for unvaccinated people infected by Covid-19 an “important signal” to those who are still holding off on getting their jabs.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday the minister urged all those eligible to get vaccinated.

“Currently, unvaccinated persons make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive inpatient care, and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources,” the ministry of health said.

The new billing measure applies only to those who choose not to be vaccinated despite being medically eligible, and who are hospitalised and are on Covid-19 treatment facilities on or after 8 December, the Straits Times reported, citing the minister.

Those who are ineligible for vaccination, such as children under 12 years of age, and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons will continue to have their bills fully covered by the government, the ministry said.

Hi it’s Samantha Lock here once again bringing you all the Covid headlines from across the world on your Tuesday.

An intriguing story has emerged out of China today where residents in the city of Heihei, in the north-eastern Heilongjiang Province, are being offered major cash rewards for tips on the continuing Delta outbreak.

Authorities announced the 100,000 yuan ($15,640) rewards as an incentive as its total tally of cases in this outbreak reached 240.

“It is hoped that the general public could actively cooperate with the tracing of the virus and provide clues to the probe,” the declaration said.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand an unusually large protest gathered steam in central Wellington today when about 2,000 people, some threatening violence, rallied against vaccine mandates and lockdowns.

Protests took place across the country with some participants waving large Trump flags. Attacks on both police and reporters were also documented.

• Denmark has proposed reinstating the use of a digital “corona pass” to be presented when Danes visit indoor bars and restaurants, as the country is entering a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Bulgaria’s daily Covid deaths rise to record high as the European Union’s least vaccinated country grapples with a fourth wave of the pandemic. A further 334 people died of the virus on Tuesday, the highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic, Reuters reports.
• The US welcomes back travellers after an 18-month non-essential travel ban was lifted on Monday. Travellers from 33 previously banned countries are now allowed in, but they must be vaccinated. The US also reopened its land borders with Canada and Mexico.
• Thousands of anti-vaccination mandate protesters, some threatening violence, gathered in Wellington, New Zealand, on Tuesday.
• UK prime minister Boris Johnson was seen maskless in Hexham hospital in Northumberland as cases among MPs rise.
• The UK will begin rolling out Merck’s molnupiravir Covid-19 antiviral pill through a drug trial later this month.
• UK reports 32,322 Covid cases and 57 deaths.
• NHS workers in England must be legally required to get Covid vaccinations before the winter.
• French Covid hospitalisations see highest daily rise since August. The number of people hospitalised because of Covid went up by 156 over the past 24 hours, the highest daily rise since 23 August, to reach a one-month peak of 6,865.
• New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland will likely end an almost three-month lockdown later this month, prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced.
• Japan recorded no daily deaths from Covid-19 for the first time in 15 months on Sunday, according to national broadcaster NHK.
• Singapore and Malaysia will allow quarantine-free travel between both countries for individuals vaccinated against Covid-19. The two neighbours will launch a vaccinated travel corridor between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport from 29 November.
• It will be “impossible” for Nigeria to meet its target of vaccinating 40% of its population by the end of the year because Covid is not being taken seriously, health experts warn. Fewer than 1.5% of the country’s 206 million population has been fully vaccinated.