Thai demonstrators demand PM resigns over handling of pandemic; latest UK Covid data shows week-on-week rise in cases
- ‘Spreading like a virus’: inside EU struggle to debunk Covid lies
- Classrooms in England ‘urgently’ need Covid air filters, unions warn
- UK regulator approves Moderna vaccine for children over 12
- New Zealand reports first Covid-19 case in community since February
Britons’ hunger for takeaways grew even bigger in the first six months of 2021 as lockdown restrictions led to a 76% increase in orders on the JustEat delivery app.
Consumers stuck at home placed 135m orders, 58m more than in the equivalent period last year. JustEat said people were eating takeaways more often, with the average customer ordering more than three times a month, compared with 2.5 times in 2020. The company said it had also made big market-share gains in London.
Related: Just Eat Takeaway orders soar 76% during six months of Covid restrictions
More than 50% of the Swiss population has now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The Alpine nation is using the two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, administering the doses four weeks apart. Government statistics showed that 50.1% of the population – 4,311,432 people – had received both injections, AFP reports.
Classrooms in England need air filters and monitoring devices fitted to protect children from Covid-19 and avoid further disruption to their learning, school unions have told the education secretary, Gavin Williamson.
The seven unions – representing teachers, school leaders, administrative and support staff – have written to Williamson asking for “urgent action” to improve ventilation when schools reopen for the autumn term without any requirement for children to wear masks or be grouped in “bubbles”.
Related: Classrooms in England ‘urgently’ need air filters, school unions say
France has registered 111 deaths in hospitals on Tuesday – the first time since 1 June that the daily toll was more than 100, Reuters reports, citing health ministry data.
The news agency said the figures took the cumulative death toll since the start of the epidemic to 112,844. The seven-day moving average of deaths increased to 72, from 66 on Monday and fewer than 20 per day at the end of July. France also reported that there were 1,953 people in intensive care units.
Relatives of a grandmother in her 50s, who has been left brain damaged and paralysed from the neck down after contracting Covid-19, are embroiled in a life-support treatment court battle in London.
Specialists treating the woman, who is in a minimally conscious state, at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge say they can do nothing more to improve her condition. Hospital bosses have asked a judge to rule that the woman, who is on a ventilator and has underlying health problems, should be allowed to die.
It is the most extreme example of its kind, and it is the first time in the whole of the pandemic that I have been asked to make an end-of-life decision in relation to Covid-19. It is the first time a court has been asked to consider an end-of-life case, as a result of Covid.
In the UK, a further 170 people have died within 28 days of testing positive as of Tuesday, according to official data, bringing the country’s total to 131,149. This is the highest number of daily reported deaths since 12 March, when 175 were reported.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 156,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Police in Thailand used water cannon again today against protesters to break up a demonstration at the national police headquarters, a day after clashes which left a young protester in a coma with a bullet lodged in his head.
Protesters gathered in central Bangkok for a third successive day to demand that the prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, resign amid rising anger over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. A record 239 Covid-related deaths were reported today.
Thai police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters near the office of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, as opposition parties moved to censure him in parliament over his handling of the COVID-19 crisis. More photos: https://t.co/PQ2PbhzWAB pic.twitter.com/EcTpbnEsx6
Instead of listening to understand why people are angry, #Thai government repeatedly used excessive force and unleashed police brutality to suppress street protests in #Bangkok — adding fuel raging fire. Read @HRW dispatch. #WhatsHappeningInThailand https://t.co/iLylRJy5gC
A number of former US president Donald Trump’s hotels are imposing mask mandates, despite him opposing mask-wearing during his presidency.
Newsweek reports that Trump hotels in Miami, Chicago and Hawaii have issued mask mandates amid rising Covid cases. But the Trump golf club in Florida and the Albemarle Estate at Trump Winery have relaxed restrictions.
Spain has announced the receipt of €9bn in its first tranche of recovery assistance from the EU’s coronavirus fund.
The countrySpain, along with Italy, will receive much of the €750bn earmarked by Brussels to relaunch European economies that have been devastated by their attempts to control Covid.
The pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has been criticised for a reportedly unusual stipulation in its vaccine contract with South Africa that required the country to waive its right to impose export restrictions on vaccine doses.
The New York Times reports that while many western countries prevented domestically manufactured doses from leaving their borders, South Africa – which has been in need of vaccine doses – was required to agree to the demand in exchange for a relatively small supply of vaccines. The measure has been described as a “colonialist extraction”.
J&J is holding South Africa and Africa to ransom, forcibly exporting doses filled and finished here, while our people die by the thousands. It’s horrifying to see that our government was seemingly forced to sign up to this kind of exploitation in return for 32m vaccines here, because this also affects the timely supply of at least 200m vaccine doses for Africa from Aspen [a South African pharmaceutical company], which J&J clearly fully controls - this much-touted license gives Aspen no supply control whatsoever.
Aspen is also the only supplier for Africa - this is nonsensical and dangerous in a pandemic. It is time that all secret vaccine contracts with vaccine manufacturers and distributors are published and reviewed - we have a right to know what has been agreed in our name. In our view, J&J are complicit in vaccine apartheid, diverting doses from those who really need them to the wealthiest countries on earth. It’s colonialist extraction, plain and simple.
While South Africa was experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises to arise from Covid-19, J&J diverted desperately needed vaccines to wealthy countries. It’s utterly abhorrent and shows a total disregard for African life. This is further proof that the world cannot trust a handful of pharmaceutical companies to fairly allocate vaccines across the world. Pharma executives seem all too happy to write off African deaths to line their own pockets.
Without urgent action, more of these tragedies could be around the corner. It is time for governments to break pharmaceutical companies’ monopolies on knowledge and technology of vaccines and other tools to deal with Covid-19. We should develop domestic manufacturing in low-and-middle-income countries, not siphon off doses to the rich world.
Also in Scotland, alcohol-specific deaths have risen to their highest level in more than a decade in 2020, amid warnings that the pandemic has undermined progress made with the country’s world-leading minimum unit-pricing policy.
There were 1,190 alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland in 2020, an increase of 17% from 2019 and the highest number registered since 2008 when 1,316 people died, according to figures published by the National Records of Scotland (NRS). The tally of alcohol-specific, rather than alcohol-related, deaths excludes those only partially attributed to alcohol.
Related: Deaths caused by alcohol at highest level since 2008 in Scotland
Families who lost loved ones to Covid have been told that a decision on a Scotland-only public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic is “imminent” after they met Scottish government ministers earlier on Tuesday.
In May, prime minister Boris Johnson committed to holding an independent public inquiry in spring 2022, but Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has called for a four-nations inquiry by the end of this year.
In Scotland, temporary emergency powers to impose lockdowns, close schools and release prisoners early could become permanent in the event of future public health threats, according to a new consultation put before the country today.
The Scottish government is taking views from the public over the next 12 weeks on a host of temporary powers it would like to either make permanent or extend – including digitising court procedures and the remote registration of deaths and births. Ministers would also be given the power to make public health regulations, bringing the Scottish process further in line with powers available in England and Wales.
Two brothers in Kenya died this month after being detained on suspicion of breaking a curfew, with an autopsy finding they died of head and rib injuries.
The New York Times reports that police said the two men had fallen from a moving police vehicle, but there are serious doubts over whether the injuries were consistent with officers’ accounts.
The latest EU database figures on the Pfizer-BioNTech jab’s safety show that as of 29 July, by which time about 330m doses had been delivered, a total of 244,807 cases of suspected side effects had been spontaneously reported to EudraVigilance by European countries.
The report said 4,198 of these reported a fatal outcome, though it remains “unclear whether the vaccine was the cause”.
Collecting reports of medical events and problems that occur following the use of a medicine, and therefore might be side effects, is one of the pillars of the EU safety monitoring system. Healthcare professionals and vaccinated individuals are encouraged to report to their national competent authorities all suspected side effects individuals may have experienced after receiving a vaccine even if it is unclear whether the vaccine was the cause.
These reports describe suspected side effects in individuals, i.e. medical events observed following the use of a vaccine. The fact that someone has had a medical issue or died after vaccination does not necessarily mean that this was caused by the vaccine. This may have been caused, for example, by health problems not related to the vaccination.
Moving away from UK-focused news for now, both Washington DC and New York have moved to impose vaccine mandates on healthcare workers.
The Hill reports that officials have announced DC will require health care workers in the nation’s capital to get at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of next month.
Covid tests which are a prerequisite for arrival to the UK have predictably become a “rip-off”, according to the former chair of the competition watchdog.
Holidaymakers have objected to high prices and poor service from many of the hundreds of firms listed on the government’s website, the BBC reports. Tests cost about £75 on average, but prices can reach hundreds.
NHS patients are waiting more than three months for tests including MRIs, colonoscopies and heart scans, with overall waiting lists doubling in some parts of England, my colleagues Pamela Duncan, Ashley Kirk and Denis Campbell report.
The number of people waiting more than three months for tests was 22 times that in 2019 as the health system continues to tackle the Covid pandemic backlog. Almost 124,000 people were waiting more than three months in 2021 compared with 5,675 in 2019.
Related: Almost 124,000 patients waiting more than three months for NHS tests in England
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has given emergency authorisation for the use of Moderna’s Covid vaccine among 12- to 17-year-olds in Britain.
Dr June Raine, MHRA chief executive said:
I am pleased to confirm that that the Covid-19 vaccine made by Moderna has now been authorised in 12-17 year olds. The vaccine is safe and effective in this age group. We have in place a comprehensive safety surveillance strategy for monitoring the safety of all UK-approved Covid-19 vaccines and this surveillance will include the 12- to 17-year age group.
It is for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to advise on whether this age group should be vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine made by Moderna as part of the deployment programme.
Related: UK regulator approves Moderna Covid vaccine for older children
Most young people who get this virus get it mildly or even without any symptoms at all. But we are seeing cases in hospital even into this age group – we’ve had a couple of 17-year-olds here in Bristol admitted and needing intensive care over the course of the last four to six weeks – and so we are beginning to see a small number of serious cases.
What we know for sure is that these vaccines are very effective at preventing those kind of serious cases from occurring.
Related: JCVI ‘largely opposed’ to Covid vaccination for children under 16
More needs to be done to help struggling English ambulance services which have been forced to call in military support, a union has said.
Unison said that “something is wrong” when other services are “routinely” drafted in to help trusts under pressure. It comes after it was revealed that 87 military personnel have been helping out at ambulance services in the North East, East of England and South West.
For both the staff in the ambulance service and patients who are waiting, seeing a member of the military turning up to a 999 call is a real sign that things aren’t all well in the ambulance service ... The demand has been rising - yes, we’ve been through a very exceptional period during Covid - but it’s a pattern that has been building for several years.
A lot of staff take time off because of burn-out.” We are often back-to-back with our jobs, and often not getting a break until particularly late in our shifts, we often are stuck at hospitals because we can’t unload our patients and that will lead to late finishes as well because of the demand that we’re under.
For 30 years the NHS has taken the worst aspects of ‘lean’ business modelling and has applied it to slash, trash and privatise our NHS, and this has meant our ambulance services across England do not have the capacity to cope with surges in demand.
Though the extra support from the armed forces is welcome for an over-stretched emergency service, this news is symptomatic of what is wrong. Marketisation and privatisation of our ambulance services doesn’t benefit the public, just the greedy ‘vultures’ lying in wait to make profit from the pain and illness of the public.
A 22-year-old who last week shot dead five people during one of the UK’s worst ever mass shootings, before killing himself, received telephone mental health support during lockdown, it has emerged.
Reports have suggested that Davison’s mother, whom he also killed at a home in Plymouth, south-west England, had been struggling to get help for her son, having become concerned about his mental health.
Dolly Parton has said felt compelled to help fund research for the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine because she sensed “something bad” was on its way.
The country music star donated $1m to Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, which participated in the research for the vaccine.
When the pandemic came out, I just felt led to do something because I knew something bad was on the rise and I just kind of wanted to help with that, so I donated to help with that.
So, mine was a small part, of course, but I probably get a lot more credit than I deserve, but I was happy to be part of that, and to be able to try stop something in its tracks that’s really just become such a monster for all of us.
The king of Malaysia has ruled out a new general election in the country, after the resignation of the government amid mounting anger over its handling of the pandemic, because of concerns over the spread of Covid.
Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation yesterday after less than 18 months in office comes as Malaysia surpassed 20,000 daily cases this month despite a seven-month state of emergency and a lockdown since June.
India has administered more than 8.8m doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the past 24 hours, government data showed, close to its all-time record and speeding up a campaign to inoculate all eligible adults by December.
India has undertaken one of the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drives and has so far administered 554m doses, giving at least one dose to about 46% of its estimated 944m adults. Only about 13% of the population have had the required two doses.
Staying in Australia, Sydney’s hospital system is under “enormous pressure” after a positive Covid case resulted in 80 staff being forced into isolation at St George hospital, the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, has admitted, while ambulances carrying coronavirus patients waited for hours outside another facility.
The St George hospital staff have been deemed close contacts of a patient in the oncology ward who tested positive. Four patients and two staff members have now tested positive, while 21 patients in the ward remain in isolation after their tests, NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty has said.
Related: Covid putting Sydney’s hospital system under ‘enormous pressure’, NSW health minister admits
The federal government will deploy five teams of Australian Defence Force personnel to western New South Wales as part of an urgent push to vaccinate vulnerable Indigenous communities, as the region scrambles to get ahead of a Delta outbreak.
My colleagues Sarah Martin and Elias Visontay report that “highly mobile, highly flexible and highly trained” 14-member vaccination teams, including medics, nurses and logistics specialists will begin arriving in western NSW tomorrow and will be based in Dubbo, where an outbreak is spreading among the Aboriginal population.
Related: ADF vaccination teams sent to western NSW to stem Covid outbreak in Indigenous communities
NSW Health has decided to stop publishing Covid exposure sites in greater Sydney, unless they are high risk, after the list ballooned to thousands of locations over the past week.
The department will, however, continue to publish exposure sites in regional New South Wales, where Covid-19 has spread between towns.
Related: NSW stops publishing ‘low risk’ Sydney Covid exposure sites due to high volume
Here’s the full story on New Zealand going into a national lockdown tonight, after detecting one case of Covid-19. The entire country will be at alert level 4 – the highest level of lockdown – for at least three days from midnight, and the regions of Auckland and Coromandel for four to seven days.
New Zealand has not had a level 4 lockdown in more than a year, and the case is believed to be the first Delta in-community transmission.
Delta has been called a gamechanger, and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance.
Related: New Zealand to go into national lockdown over one Covid case
Time for me to hand over to my colleague Mattha Busby. Before I go, here’s a quick summary of the day’s events:
Across England and Wales coronavirus was mentioned in 527 death certificates in the week ending 6 August.
This was an increase of a third compared to the previous week, which recorded 404 coronavirus related deaths, and the highest total since 719 deaths were recorded in the week ending 26 March.
Several Chinese ports are facing congestions partly due to stricter disinfection measures called for by China’s “zero-tolerance” coronavirus policy.
On Tuesday, more than 50 container vessels were queuing at Ningbo port, China’s second largest marine centre, Refinitiv data showed, up from 28 on 10 August when a Covid-19 case was reported at one of its terminals.
China’s zero tolerance policy is good for the pandemic but bad for the supply chain. This timing is very tough considering the uptick in back-to-school and return-to-work shopping in addition to the upcoming holiday shopping season.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is worried about the spread of coronavirus in Afghanistan as the upheaval caused by the Taliban advance has slowed vaccinations, a spokesperson said.
The WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic also told a UN briefing that the chaos at Kabul airport, where thousands of people are trying to flee the Taliban, was slowing deliveries of medical supplies, Reuters reports.
Rishi Sunak is too savvy an operator to declare victory in the battle against unemployment because the past 18 months have shown that the unexpected can happen, and often does.
Yet while noting that there could still be “bumps in the road”, the chancellor is certainly relieved by how well the UK labour market has recovered from the effects of the Covid pandemic.
Related: Sunak’s relief over rising UK employment may be short-lived
Monk Phrompong Kaino, 33, works around the clock providing free Covid-19 swab tests for vulnerable people in high-risk Bangkok communities, part of a project by his temple that has reached more than 2,000 people in just over a month.
He is one of thousands of ordinary people who have pitched in to try to help Thailand get out of its worst coronavirus crisis to date, which has strained hospitals and health services in the capital Bangkok, Reuters reports.
Offering incentives for workers to be vaccinated could open employers to compensation claims for any adverse reactions, a peak Australian business group has warned.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has released its advice to members as part of a debate over the role of employers in the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Related: Vaccine incentives for staff could expose companies to compensation claims, business group warns
Asian markets were broadly down Tuesday as investors weighed record gains on Wall Street against fears the resurgent Delta coronavirus variant may put the brakes on the global economic recovery.
Major US indices rebounded overnight from a slow start as bargain hunters stepped up purchases – leaving both the Dow and S&P 500 finishing narrowly positive to extend a streak of record-high closes to a fifth straight day.
With just a few dozen Covid-19 deaths and one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, Singapore wants to reopen for business – and is laying the groundwork to live with the coronavirus as it does other common diseases such as influenza.
Its medical experts say there may be hundreds of deaths each year from endemic Covid-19, similar to the flu. That pragmatic approach could set an example for other countries looking to exit lockdowns as they ramp up their own inoculation programmes.
Revealing findings from the Guardian Essential Report in Australia here.
Peter Lewis analyses the polling, which shows the public remain resilient in the face of the country’s lockdowns, though younger people have significant concerns around their finances and mental wellbeing.
Also from my Guardian colleagues in the UK: Rowena Mason and Mark Sweney have discovered that many thousands of people may have isolated unnecessarily because a government error meant they were “pinged” by the Covid app for a “close contact” in the prior five days rather than two days.
Related: Thousands could have isolated for no reason due to Covid app error, says source
As the first 16 and 17-year olds in England were jabbed yesterday, the Guardian’s Josh Halliday and Niamh McIntyre reported on the listless trickle of teenagers turning up for the Covid-19 vaccine in Bolton.
Related: ‘My mum told me to’: Bolton 16- and 17-year-olds get Covid vaccine
The poorest region in mainland France has managed to dramatically speed up its Covid-19 vaccination campaign in recent weeks, notably by opening walk-in pop-up centres to reach out to people where they live and work.
The multicultural, working-class region of Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, initially struggled in getting the word out about vaccines to a population where many are immigrants who do not speak French or lack access to regular medical care.
Regular vaccination centres are like huge factories. We have a more local approach. Our goal is to bring the vaccine to people who would otherwise fall through the cracks of the system.
For those who work long hours and have children like me, going to the larger vaccination centres is complicated. They’re far away, and you can’t bring your children out there.
Japan is set to extend its state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions to 12 September and widen curbs to seven more prefectures, as Covid-19 cases spike in the capital and nationwide, burdening the medical system.
The current state of emergency is due to expire on 31 August, but a continuing surge in coronavirus cases has spurred calls for an extension, Reuters reports. Tokyo announced 2,962 new daily cases on Monday, after a record 5,773 on Friday.
New Zealand will go into a national lockdown after detecting one case of the Delta variant in the community today.
The entire country will be at alert level four - the country’s highest level of lockdown - for three days from midnight tonight, and the regions of Auckland and Coromandel for 4-7 days.
“Delta has been called a game changer, and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance.”
Robyn Vinter here.
Large events held in Nevada can add themselves to the growing number of places in the US where people in crowds are asked to prove they have been inoculated against Covid-19, the governor said Monday.
This is cutting edge. There’s no other venues in the country that are doing this. I think it is going to get people more people wanting to go to an event because they know that when they walk in that arena, or that stadium, everybody’s vaccinated.
This gives an option for event organizers to choose between requiring masks indoors for all attendees — regardless of vaccination status — or making the choice to only allow vaccinated individuals into their events, and letting the fully vaccinated take their masks off.
That’s from me, Helen Livingstone, for today, I’m handing over to my UK colleague Robyn Vinter.
Here’s a brief rundown of what’s been happening over the past 24 hours:
In case you missed it, check out this fascinating feature from Kyle Mullin about the rift that vaccinations and other Covid safety measures have caused among country music fans:
Related: ‘We aren’t all dumb hillbillies’: how Covid caused a rift in country music
New Zealand has recorded a new case of Covid-19 transmission in the community, our correspondent Tess McClure reports, its first since February.
The case was detected in Auckland, and health officials have not yet established a link between the case and the border or managed isolation facilities.
Related: New Zealand reports first Covid-19 case in community since February
Experts in the US are expected to recommend that all Americans should have Covid-19 vaccine boosters eight months after they received their second dose of the shot, the Associated Press reports, as officials race to prevent the Delta variant spreading across the country.
Federal health officials are watching the rising case numbers in the US very closely and are considering whether extra shots for the vaccinated will be needed before the onset of winter, the news wire says.
Related: US experts expected to recommend Covid booster shots for all – report
The premier of New South Wales (NSW), Gladys Berejiklian, has warned that cases in Sydney are set to rise “substantially” over the coming weeks despite the prolonged lockdown.
The Australian city has struggled to get on top of a growing outbreak, which was sparked in June when a limo driver is thought to have caught the virus from an international aircrew.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s rolling coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic with me, Helen Livingstone.
New Zealand has reported its first community case of Covid-19 since February, with health officials racing to discover its source. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern is set to address the media at 6pm local time.
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