LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has reported 46,558 new cases of COVID-19, government data showed on Tuesday, meaning the rise in cases between July 14 and July 20 stood at 40.7% compared with the previous seven days.
A further 96 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for COVID-19.
A total of 46.35 million people had received a first dose of a vaccine against coronavirus by July 19 and 36.24 million people had received a second dose.
(Writing by William Schomberg)
(Reuters) – A sharp upturn in new coronavirus infections due to the highly contagious Delta variant and a slowdown in vaccination rates have pushed governments to make COVID-19 jabs mandatory for health workers and other high-risk groups.
A growing number of countries also stipulate that a jab, or a negative test, will be needed for dining out, among others.
Here are some countries’ vaccine mandates:
AUSTRALIA
Australia decided in late June to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for high-risk aged-care workers and employees in quarantine hotels.
It has also made vaccinations obligatory for Paralympic athletes heading to Tokyo because unvaccinated members on the team could pose a health risk.
BRITAIN
It will be mandatory for care home workers in England to have coronavirus vaccinations from October.
English nightclubs and other venues with large crowds will require patrons to present proof of full vaccination from the end of September.
CANADA
Canadian Treasury Board Secretariat said on July 20 it was considering whether COVID-19 vaccines should be required for certain roles and positions in the federal government, according to CBC.
FRANCE
All health workers in France must get COVID-19 jabs and anyone wanting to get into a cinema or board a train will need to show proof of vaccination or a negative test under new rules announced by President Emmanuel Macron on July 12.
The government said on July 19 that the planned 45,000 euro fine for businesses that do not check that clients have a health pass will be much lower, starting at up to 1,500 euros and increasing progressively for repeat offenders. Fines will not be imposed immediately.
GREECE
Greece on July 12 made vaccinations mandatory for nursing home staff with immediate effect and healthcare workers from September. As part of new measures, only vaccinated customers are allowed indoors in bars, cinemas, theatres and other closed spaces.
INDONESIA
Indonesia made COVID-19 inoculations mandatory in February, with capital Jakarta threatening fines of up to 5 million rupiah ($357) for refusing the vaccine.
ITALY
A decree approved by the Italian government in March mandates that health workers, including pharmacists, get vaccinated. Those who refuse could be suspended without pay for the rest of the year.
KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakhstan will introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for people working in groups of more than 20, the health ministry said on June 23.
POLAND
Poland could make vaccinations obligatory for some people at high risk from COVID-19 from August.
RUSSIA
The Russian capital has unveiled a plan requiring 60% of all service sector workers to be fully vaccinated by Aug. 15, according to the Moscow Times.
Moscow residents no longer have to present a QR code demonstrating they have been vaccinated or have immunity in order to sit inside cafes, restaurants and bars from July 19.
SAUDI ARABIA
In May, Saudi Arabia mandated all public and private sector workers wishing to attend a workplace get vaccinated, without specifying when this would be implemented.
Vaccination will also be required to enter any governmental, private, or educational establishments and to use public transportation as of Aug. 1.
Saudi citizens will need two COVID-19 vaccine doses before they can travel outside the kingdom from Aug. 9, state news agency SPA reported on July 19, citing the ministry of interior.
TURKMENISTAN
Turkmenistan’s healthcare ministry said on July 7 it was making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all residents aged 18 and over.
(Compiled by Paulina Cwikowska, Dagmarah Mackos and Oben Mumcuoglu; editing by Milla Nissi and Steve Orlofsky)
By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) – Here is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
No trace of vaccines’ mRNA seen in breast milk
No traces of mRNA vaccines end up in mothers’ breast milk, a small study suggests. The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna deliver a synthetic version of messenger RNA molecules, designed to instruct cells to build replicas of the coronavirus spike protein. The immune system then learns to recognize the spike and produce antibodies to attack it, while the messenger RNA quickly breaks down into inert pieces. While these beneficial antibodies may pass from mothers to infants via breast milk, the milk does not contain the mRNA itself, researchers found in their analyses of 13 breast milk samples from seven vaccinated women. The World Health Organization recommends that breastfeeding mothers be vaccinated against COVID-19 and does not advise stopping breastfeeding afterward. Many mothers have declined vaccination or discontinued breastfeeding due to concern that the vaccine may alter breast milk. Writing in JAMA Pediatrics, the authors of the new study said more data is needed to better estimate the vaccines’ effect on breastfeeding. But the new results “strengthen current recommendations that the mRNA vaccines are safe in lactation, and that lactating individuals who receive the COVID vaccine should not stop breastfeeding,” coauthor Dr. Stephanie Gaw of the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement.
Researchers find gene that helps identify COVID-19 cases
A gene called IFI27 that becomes activated early in COVID-19, even when symptoms are absent, might help identify people most likely to have contracted the virus after coming in contact with an infected person, researchers said. Four hundred UK healthcare workers completed weekly questionnaires about COVID-19 symptoms and provided blood samples and nasal swabs for PCR testing for six months. In 41 workers diagnosed with COVID-19, IFI27 genes were “switched on” at the time of their first positive PCR test, even in asymptomatic individuals, according to a report in The Lancet Microbe. In some cases, IFI27 could predict infection one week before a positive PCR test, said coauthor Joshua Rosenheim of University College London. Overall, testing for IFI27 correctly identified 84% of COVID-19 cases and correctly ruled it out in 95% of uninfected participants. Blood biomarkers like IFI27 can signal other viruses as well, so PCR is still the gold standard for diagnosing COVID-19. “However, testing for blood biomarkers is still valuable,” Rosenheim said. “IFI27 predicted infection despite the person not having any symptoms and often before a positive PCR test, so it could be used during contact tracing.” IFI27 tests in people who recently came in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient could allow for earlier diagnosis and treatment and “might even permit us to recommend self-isolation in a more targeted manner.”
Intranasal vaccine aims to block virus at point of entry
An experimental intranasal COVID-19 vaccine now being tested for the first time in humans showed promising results in monkeys, researchers will report on Thursday at ASV 2021, the annual meeting of the American Society of Virology. The protection provided to the primates by a single dose of the vaccine from Meissa Vaccines was equivalent to the protection provided by currently authorized vaccines, according to a news release from the company. Like injected vaccines, the intranasal vaccine, which is administered via drops or spray into the nose, stimulates the body to produce antibodies that circulate in the blood. But the intranasal vaccine also stimulates production of antibodies on mucosal surfaces that line the airways, which is where the virus first makes contact and enters the body, the research team reported in a paper seen by Reuters and submitted for posting ahead of peer review on the bioRxiv preprint server. The pilot study in humans, which got underway in March, is expected to enroll 130 volunteers to evaluate the safety, tolerability and immune system effects of various doses of the vaccine. Once it selects a safe dose likely to be most effective against the virus, the company will need to conduct larger and more rigorous trials. “We believe Meissa’s intranasal COVID-19 vaccine has the potential to be an important part of the endgame solution to contain SARS-CoV-2,” Roderick Tang, chief scientific officer of Meissa Vaccines, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Megan Brooks; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
PARIS (Reuters) – France reported more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases again as the rapid spread of the more contagious Delta variant led to a jump in new infections.
The health ministry reported 10,908 new cases on Friday, taking the total to more than 5.84 million. The daily new case tally was last over 10,000 at the end of May.
The seven-day moving average of new cases rose further to 5,795, after jumping over the key threshold of 5,000 on Wednesday.
The closely watched metric – which smooths out daily reporting irregularities – had risen as high as 42,000 per day in mid-April and fallen back to less than 2,000 per day in late June.
But since then, week-on-week percentage increases in new cases have risen every day, from more than 50% last week to more than 100% on Wednesday and nearly 140% on Friday. On Thursday, the number of reported cases fell following the July 14 national holiday.
Hospital numbers for COVID-19 continued their weeks-long fall, but the rate of decline slowed further. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital fell below 7,000 for the first time since early October and the number of people in intensive care with the disease fell below 900.
The ministry also reported 22 new deaths from COVID-19, taking the total to 111,451.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Chris Reese and Alex Richardson)
By Carl O’Donnell and Jeff Mason
(Reuters) -The Delta variant of COVID-19 is now the dominant strain worldwide, accompanied by a surge of deaths around the United States almost entirely among unvaccinated people, U.S. officials said Friday.
U.S. cases of COVID-19 are up 70% over the previous week and deaths are up 26%, with outbreaks occurring in parts of the country with low vaccination rates, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said during a press briefing.
The seven-day-average number of daily cases is now more than 26,000, more than twice its June low of around 11,000 cases, according to CDC data.
“This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” she said, adding that 97% of people entering hospitals in the United States with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
Walensky said an increasing number of counties around the United States now exhibit a high risk of COVID-19 transmission, reversing significant declines in transmission risk in recent months.
Around 1 in five new cases have occurred in Florida, said White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients.
The Delta variant, which is significantly more contagious than the original variant of COVID-19, has been detected around 100 countries globally and is now the dominant variant worldwide, top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said.
“We are dealing with a formidable variant” of COVID-19, Fauci said during the call.
Walensky urged unvaccinated Americans to get COVID-19 shots, and said Pfizer Inc’s and Moderna Inc’s vaccines have proven to be especially effective against the Delta variant.
She said people should get the second dose of vaccine even if they have passed the recommended window of time for receiving it.
Around 5 million people have been vaccinated in the United States in the past 10 days, Zients said, including many in states that so far have had lower vaccination rates.
He added that the United States has enough vaccines on hand to give booster vaccines but is still working to determine if boosters are needed.
(Reporting by Carl O’Donnell, Jeff Mason and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Dan Grebler)
By Alistair Smout and Kanishka Singh
LONDON (Reuters) -England’s coronavirus crisis could return again surprisingly quickly and the country is not yet out of the woods, the British government’s chief medical adviser said, as infections surged ahead of the lifting of legal restrictions.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is removing most pandemic restrictions in England from July 19, saying a rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has largely broken the link between infections and serious illness or death.
Some scientists are worried, though. Daily reported cases are at their highest since January, while the reproduction “R” number remains above one, indicating a continued exponential growth of cases.
“We are not by any means out of the woods yet on this,” Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said late on Thursday during a webinar hosted by the Science Museum.
He added that the doubling time for hospitalizations was around three weeks, and that low numbers of people in hospital currently could escalate in next couple of months.
“It doesn’t take many doublings until we’re in actually quite scary numbers again … I don’t think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast,” Whitty said.
The Office for National Statistics estimated as many as 1 in 95 people in England were infected with COVID-19 in the week to July 10, the highest prevalence since February.
“New cases of Delta will lead to long COVID, hospital admissions and deaths,” said James Naismith, Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute
“The ratios between these have been massively changed by the safe and effective vaccines we are administering but the link is not eliminated.”
WRECKING THE ECONOMY
Britain’s COVID-19 death toll is among the highest in the world but two-thirds of its adult population have been fully vaccinated.
On Monday, the last remaining businesses still closed in England, including nightclubs, can finally reopen, but business leaders have warned that the self-isolation requirement for people exposed to positive cases could hinder the economy.
Over 520,000 contact tracing alerts were sent through the National Health Service app in the week to July 7.
“The hospitality sector, 20% of staff are isolating, the health service up to 25% of staff are absent, and buses and trains delayed,” Karan Bilimoria, president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), told LBC radio.
“This cannot go on … This is wrecking the economy.”
A spokesperson for Johnson said that “self-isolation remains one of the best tools that we have to tackle the virus”.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout in London; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper in London; Editing by Karishma Singh, Guy Faulconbridge, Catherine Evans and Raissa Kasolowsky)
TOKYO (Reuters) -International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Thursday there was “zero” risk of Games participants infecting Japanese residents with COVID-19, as cases hit a six-month high in the host city.
Bach said Olympics athletes and delegations had undergone more than 8,000 coronavirus tests, resulting in three positive results. “Risk for the other residents of Olympic village and risk for the Japanese people is zero,” he added.
The three cases have been placed in isolation and their close contacts are also in quarantine, Bach said at the beginning of talks with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto.
Just over a week before the July 23 opening ceremony, Tokyo reported 1,308 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, its highest daily tally since late January.
Postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer Olympics have little public support in Japan amid widespread fears about a further spread of the coronavirus.
Critics on Thursday submitted a petition against the Games that has garnered more than 450,000 signatures this month, Japanese media reported.
Organizers have imposed Olympics “bubbles” to prevent further transmissions of COVID-19, but medical experts are worried they might not be sufficiently tight.
COVID-19 CASES EMERGE
A number of infections have emerged among visiting athletes and people involved with the Games.
An Olympic athlete under a 14-day quarantine period has tested positive in Tokyo, the organizing committees’ website reported on Thursday, without disclosing any details about the athlete.
Eight members of the Kenyan women’s rugby team had been classified as close contacts of a passenger on their flight to Tokyo who had tested positive for coronavirus, their squad said.
The athletes had been isolated as a precaution, but had all tested negative on arrival and were expected to link up with the rest of the players at their residential training camp in Kurume on Friday, the team added.
Tokyo entered its fourth state of emergency earlier this week amid a rebound in COVID-19 cases that pushed Games organizers to ban spectators from nearly all venues.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters Japan would take thorough steps to strengthen border controls against the coronavirus.
Given the state of emergency in the host city, the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee said it would bar public access to the capital’s waterfront area and asked the public to refrain from visiting the Olympic flame platform.
The waterfront area, dubbed Tokyo Waterfront City, was supposed to feature “cool spots, rest areas and dining spaces” and be open to spectators and non-ticket holders, according to organizers.
Some of the sponsor booths may be operated on a restricted-access basis during the Games, a committee spokesperson told reporters.
A decision of whether to allow public access to the area during the Paralympic Games will be taken after the Olympics have ended, the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu, Ju-min Park Editing by Michael Perry, Mark Heinrich and Andrew Heavens)
By Nacho Doce
BARCELONA (Reuters) – A week ago, the COVID-19 hospital ward in Barcelona where doctor Inmaculada Lopez Montesinos works had just a few patients.
Now it is full and the Hospital del Mar has opened two extra floors for such patients as a surge in infection driven by the more contagious Delta variant rips through Spain’s mostly younger, unvaccinated population.
Although mortality is much lower than in earlier waves of the pandemic, Lopez Montesinos said hospitals like hers were under growing pressure. She attributes this sudden jump in cases to a lifting of restrictions across Spain over the past few months, a rise in tourism and students’ summer break.
“All this has been an explosive cocktail that has led us to this fifth wave that has surprised us in mid-July,” the 34-year-old told Reuters, pleading for people to avoid crowds, keep social interactions to a minimum and use face masks.
Facing Spain’s highest 14-day infection rate of 1,068 cases per 100,000 people, more than double the national average, regional authorities in Catalonia, where Barcelona is located, said on Wednesday they would reimpose a curfew on 158 municipalities.
Lopez Montesinos said the typical patient she was seeing was aged 40 or below, did not have pre-existing conditions and was either unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.
The doctor is not the only one with the words of warning.
Wearing an oxygen mask, Cesar Lopez, a 35-year-old Barcelona businessman, said that before being admitted to the hospital two weeks ago he felt so bad he even thought of leaving a farewell note to his family.
“I would like to tell you that this is something very serious … I also thought that it could be just a cold or a flu but you have to take this really seriously, get vaccinated, think about others,” he said.
“Unfortunately there will be lots of people who won’t be able to tell this tale.”
(Reporting by Nacho Doce, Writing by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Alison Williams)
PARIS (Reuters) -Police in Paris clashed with protesters railing against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to require a COVID-19 vaccine certificate or negative PCR test to gain entry to bars, restaurants and cinemas from next month.
Macron this week announced sweeping measures to fight a rapid surge in new coronavirus infections, including the mandatory vaccination of health workers and new health pass rules for the wider public.
In doing so, he went further than most other European nations have done as the highly contagious Delta variant fans a new wave of cases, and other governments are watching carefully to see how the French public responds.
The police fired tear gas on several occasions as pockets of protesters overturned garbage cans and set a mechanical digger alight. Some protesters away from the skirmishes wore badges saying “No to the health pass”.
Some critics of Macron’s plan – which will require shopping malls, cafes, bars and restaurants to check the health passes of all patrons from August – accuse the president of trampling on freedoms and discriminating against those who do not want the COVID shot.
“It’s totally arbitrary and wholly undemocratic,” said one protester who identified himself as Jean-Louis.
Macron says the vaccine is the best way to put France back on the path to normalcy and that he is encouraging as many people as possible to get inoculated.
There were protests in other cities including Nantes, Marseille and Montpellier.
The show of discontent took place on Bastille Day, the anniversary of the 1789 storming of a medieval fortress in Paris which marked the turning point in the French Revolution.
Among other proposals in the government’s draft bill is the mandatory isolation for 10 days of anyone who tests positive, with police making random checks, French media reported. The prime minister’s office did not respond when asked to confirm the detail.
(Reporting by Christian Lowe and Gonzalo Fuentes; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sandra Maler)
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain surpassed 4 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began on Tuesday after adding 43,960 new cases, as the more contagious Delta variant drives a surge of infections among unvaccinated young people.
The nationwide 14-day infection rate reached nearly 437 cases per 100,000 people on Tuesday, up from 368 cases a day earlier, health ministry data showed. Among 20 to 29-year-olds, that figure was 1,421 per 100,000.
“With the end of the school year, increased mobility, greater social interaction and super-spreader events, the cumulative incidence curve has risen again,” Spain’s Health Minister Carolina Darias said on Tuesday.
Cases began to surge again in the middle of June after a long decline, propelled by the Delta variant and more socializing among younger groups.
Although infection numbers have been rising steadily, daily deaths remain low, with the new cases primarily reported among younger, unvaccinated people who are less likely to fall seriously ill.
The country reported 13 new fatalities on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll total to 81,033. Darias said the current pressure on the country’s health system was nothing like it was in previous waves of the pandemic.
Some hard-hit Spanish regions have introduced new rules such as night-time curfews to tackle the surge.
The Catalan regional government said all activities would have to shut at 12:30 a.m. and eating or drinking in public areas would be banned. The measures are pending court approval.
“The most important thing at the moment is to contain the spread of the virus, which will require regional measures,” Darias said.
Spain’s tourism continues to be in a tight spot, with many businesses struggling to make ends meet. The same is happening across the border in Portugal, where the variant is responsible for all cases in the popular Algarve region.
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip and Catarina Demony; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
