Latest updates: Covid deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 23 July up 50%; Indonesia’s health workers struggle under weight of new cases
- US reaches Biden’s 70% first-shot goal as threat to unvaccinated people grows
- Hundreds of health workers in isolation as Delta hits Australian state of Queensland
- Johnson dumps ‘amber watchlist’ plan as it emerges top adviser has quit
The New York Times has denied claims that reporters were instructed not to investigate the origins of the pandemic.
“It was considered a conspiracy theory,” an NYT staffer told the Spectator. “It was untouchable everywhere. The fact that Trump embraced it, of course, also made it a no-go.”
Any accusation that the New York Times would refuse to investigate the origins of a pandemic is ridiculous. In 2020, The New York Times Company made the decision to stop accepting and hosting branded content ads from state media, which includes China Daily. We do not discuss revenue beyond what is our quarterly earnings reports.
Related: In hunt for Covid’s origin, new studies point away from lab leak theory
Greggs, the UK bakery chain, has returned to profit after sales bounced back above pre-pandemic levels, as the bakery chain looks to hire 500 new staff and expand its network of shops.
Greggs, known for its sausage rolls, steak bakes and vegan snacks, reported a £55.5m pretax profit in the 26 weeks to 3 July. The company, which has raised its profit guidance for the year and reinstated its dividend on the back of the strong performance, reported a £65.2m loss in the same period last year.
Related: Greggs’ sales beat pre-Covid levels as it looks to create 500 new jobs
Related: Obesity increases risk of Covid-19 death by 48%, study finds
The fast-food chain Wimpy in South Africa is offering a free filter coffee to those who can present proof of their Covid vaccination.
The “Say YAAAS to the future” initiative applies at all Wimpys across more than 450 outlets, though the offer is reportedly only valid within 48 hours of the jab and while stocks last.
Related: Savings bonds, lotteries and cheap food: do vaccine incentives work?
VIDEO: As Covid cases surge in Thailand, some Buddhist monks are putting on PPE over their distinctive robes and helping with Covid-19 response efforts pic.twitter.com/izZ5wbtbsT
After delaying sittings of state parliament for at least a month, the New South Wales government in Australia has cancelled another transparency process, citing Covid restrictions imposed on staff.
Up to 10 “calls for papers” will not be processed because two of the three staff from the premier’s department responsible for sorting through the papers produced by departments are locked down in Covid-19 hotspot local government areas.
Related: NSW government delays release of documents due to premier’s departmental staff being locked down
That’s all from me but I will leave you in the capable hands of my colleague Mattha Busby. Here’s a summary of the day’s events so far before I go:
Pakistan hit a target on Tuesday to vaccinate one million people a day against Covid-19, making strides in its inoculation campaign just weeks away from a deadline for workers in public-facing roles to obtain vaccination certificates, Reuters reports.
The government announced last week that from the end of this month workers in schools, shopping malls and hospitality businesses, and the transport and air travel industries would be barred from entering public offices unless they had a certificate.
Happy to report that the target we had set for 1 million vaccinations in a day was crossed yesterday with 10 lakh 72 thousand vaccinations. All federating entities contributed with punjab, sind, kp and Islamabad all doing record numbers. Amazing performance by all involved
Islamabad has become the first city in Pak with a population of 1 million or more to get 50% of its eligible population vaccinated with at least one dose. Peshawar and pindi 35%, faislabad 28%, lahore/gujranwala /sialkot/sargodha 27%, karachi 26%, hyderabad 25%.
In case you missed it yesterday, this was a thought-provoking opinion piece from Oxford professor Melinda Mills, a member of SPI-B, the UK’s independent behavioural science advisory group.
She argues that there is a risk that a mandatory Covid pass will be seen as coercive, fuelling greater mistrust around vaccines. Requiring an ID card or passport to enter a football match or nightclub could fuel suspicion for those against the use of Covid certification, she writes.
Related: Covid passports could work – but coercion is doomed to fail | Melinda Mills
The UK government is facing claims that its international travel policy is in chaos after Boris Johnson ditched a plan for an “amber watchlist” that would have created a five-tier warning system for England.
After a revolt in the cabinet and a backlash from the travel industry, government sources said on Monday night that Boris Johnson would not be going ahead with proposals for an amber watchlist tier to warn travellers which countries were at risk of turning red.
Related: Johnson’s travel policy in chaos, Labour says, after ‘amber watchlist’ ditched
Helen Davidson in east Asia has more on China’s plan to test all 11 million residents of Wuhan, the city where Covid-19 originated, after cases emerged in the city for the first time in more than a year.
Related: China authorities to test all Wuhan’s 11 million residents amid new Covid cases
Nearly half (46%) of private landlords in the UK say they reduced or paused their tenants’ monthly rent payments last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some 28% of landlords surveyed for Shawbrook Bank said they gave their tenants a payment holiday - a period when they did not have to pay rent, PA reports.
A total of 327 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 23 July mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - up 50% on the previous week.
It is the highest total since 362 deaths in the week to 16 April.
Russia on Tuesday reported 22,010 new Covid-19 cases, including 1,952 in Moscow, taking the total to 6,334,195 since the pandemic began.
The government coronavirus taskforce also confirmed 788 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours.
The female labour participation rate in India fell to 16.1% during the July-September 2020 quarter, the lowest among the major economies, a government report said, reflecting the impact of pandemic and a widening job crisis.
The percentage of women in the labour force had fallen to a record low of 15.5% during the April-June 2020 quarter, when India imposed strict lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 virus, said the report, released late Monday by the Ministry of Statistics as reported by Reuters.
Rising global oil prices has helped BP make an underlying profit of $2.8bn for the three months to June, up sharply from a loss of $6.68bn in the same quarter last year when Covid-19 brought the oil industry to a standstill.
Related: BP to buy back $1.4bn of shares as rising oil price boosts profits
A surge in Covid-19 infections in the US state of California, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, has prompted San Francisco and six other counties in California’s Bay Area to reimpose mask mandates for indoor spaces, less than two months after experts in the highly vaccinated region celebrated what they hoped would be a return to normal.
In recent days, San Francisco’s infection rates have surged to nearly 20 times what they were at their lowest point in June and two of the city’s hospitals have reported that more than 200 of their own workers have tested positive for the virus.
Related: ‘No one’s invincible’: fresh mask mandates and rising Delta cases hit California
France’s overseas territory of Guadeloupe will to go into a new lockdown for at least three weeks to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, said the local Guadeloupe authority on its Twitter account, as France battles a fourth wave of the virus.
The authority said the French West Indian island’s new lockdown would start on Aug. 4, with the re-introduction of a curfew running from 8pm (0000 GMT) until 5am (0900 GMT) the following day, and limitations on people’s movements.
Indonesia’s health workers are struggling under the weight of new cases seven days after the world’s fourth most populous country faced its deadliest day with 2,069 deaths.
As of Sunday, total official cases stood at more than 3.4 million with 97,291 deaths, though with poor testing and many people dying at home, the real figures are thought to be considerably higher, reports AP news agency.
We are worried about overburdened workloads lasting for a long time, causing potential burnout conditions. This fatigue causes the immunity of health care workers to decrease.
I absolutely love this story from Ashifa Kassam in Spain. If you fancy yourself as a Line of Duty-style CHIS, police in Ibiza are looking for foreigners to go undercover in the island’s party scene and report any rule-breakers.
It comes as Ibiza seeks to tackle a two-week Covid incidence rate that has soared to 1,814 cases per 100,000 of the population. With most nightclubs shuttered and gatherings in restaurants and bars limited to small groups, officials have blamed illegal parties for the spike in cases.
Related: Ibiza plan for foreign ‘detectives’ to infiltrate parties as Covid cases surge
The optimal vaccination schedule to protect pregnant women against Covid-19 is to be explored in a UK clinical trial researchers hope will also allay concerns about getting the jab.
Last week, Prof Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, chief midwifery officer for England, urged expectant mothers to get vaccinated as soon as possible, with evidence suggesting the Delta variant poses a significantly greater risk to pregnant women than previous forms of the virus.
Related: Hopes UK trial will allay pregnant women’s Covid vaccine concerns
A Radio Times interview with Jeremy Clarkson looks sure to attract howls of outrage. The British TV presenter criticised a scientific advisory group as “communists” for their cautious approach to ending lockdowns, saying “if you die, you die”. Agree to differ on this one, Jeremy.
Related: Jeremy Clarkson criticises Covid scientists, saying ‘if you die, you die’
It’s Robyn Vinter in the UK here, bringing you rolling global Covid news for the next few hours.
The Conversation has looked into the hot topic of vaccinating children against Covid, and come back with opinions from five experts - four out of five were in favour of the move:
Related: Should Australia vaccinate children against Covid-19? Five medical experts share their views
That’s from me, Helen Livingstone, today. I’m handing over to my UK colleague Robyn Vinter.
Here’s a quick round up of what’s been happening so far today:
After a Guardian Essential poll showed that a large proportion of Australian boomers are reluctant to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, columnist Peter Lewis has called on them to play their part in ending the country’s current outbreak:
Related: OK boomers, Australia needs you. Toughen up and take your AstraZeneca | Peter Lewis
If you’re interested to know whether vaccine incentives work, Guardian Australia’s Kate Lyons has investigated the issue for you:
Related: Savings bonds, lotteries and cheap food: do vaccine incentives work?
More on the Covid outbreak in China from AFP, which reports that authorities in Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged, are going to test its entire population after the city reported its first local infections in more than a year.
The city of 11 million is “swiftly launching comprehensive nucleic acid testing of all residents”, senior Wuhan official Li Tao said at a press conference on Tuesday.
China has reported 90 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in the mainland for 2 August, compared with 98 a day earlier, Reuters reports.
Of the new confirmed patients, 61 were locally transmitted, according to the National Health Commission. That compares with 55 local cases a day earlier.
In case you missed it, Guardian Australia’s medical editor Melissa Davey has written a fascinating feature on microbiologist Elizabeth Bik, her uncanny ability for scientific detective work – and the online abuse she received when she raised concerns about a paper that claimed hydroxychloroquine was effective in treating Covid-19.
Related: Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik queried Covid research – that’s when the abuse and trolling began
Japan is to focus on hospitalising patients who are seriously ill with Covid-19 and those at risk of becoming so while others isolate at home, Reuters reports, amid worries about a strained medical system as cases surge in Olympics host city Tokyo.
The country has seen a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, and is recording more than 10,000 daily new infections nationwide. Tokyo had a record high of 4,058 on Saturday. Fewer elderly people, most of whom are vaccinated, are getting infected, chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters.
Welcome to the Guardian’s rolling updates on the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Livingstone.
At least 70% of adults in the US have now received at least one Covid-19 vaccination shot, reaching a target Joe Biden originally said he had hoped to achieve by 4 July. Health and government officials have in recent days painted the resurgence of coronavirus there as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”, highlighting that areas of the country with the most spread were those with lower than average vaccination rates.
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