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Here’s a quick recap of some of the main developments from the last few hours:
The Czech government will debate possible tighter coronavirus measures at a Thursday evening meeting, a government spokesman said after ministers did not reach a decision on new restrictions at an extraordinary sitting on Wednesday.
The prime minister Andrej Babis said earlier on Wednesday that tighter measures were needed to prevent a catastrophe in hospitals in the coming weeks as the country battles one of the world’s highest Covid-19 infection and death rates.
Canada’s largest city Toronto has cancelled all large in-person, city-permitted outdoor events throughout July as the country seeks to stave off a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The city announced on Wednesday it was extending an existing cancellation of outdoor events, including the annual Pride Parade, which will be a virtual event, and 1 July Canada Day celebrations, which tend to cap off mid-summer festivities.
Brazil had a further 66,588 new Covid-19 cases reported in the past 24 hours, and another 1,428 deaths from Covid-19, the highest daily toll since 7 January, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The country has now registered 10,324,463 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 249,957, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.
The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing Covid-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies.
Up until now, most data on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables.
Frontline workers and black, Asian and minority ethnic groups will not be prioritised for vaccination in the next stage of the UK’s Covid jab rollout, the Guardian understands.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) updated its advice on Wednesday to recommended that people with learning disabilities be invited for vaccination to ensure people at higher risk of the disease were protected as soon as possible.
Related: Frontline workers and BAME groups will not be prioritised for UK vaccines
Senegal kicked off its wider Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, after an official launch ceremony the day before saw dozens of officials vaccinated to demonstrate its safety.
Around 100,000 people are expected to be vaccinated with 200,000 doses purchased from China’s Sinopharm, which arrived in Senegal last week.
The French government has ordered a weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area to arrest an “alarming” rise in Covid-19 cases, signalling extra curbs might also be needed elsewhere as daily cases nationwide hit their highest since November.
Unlike some of its neighbours, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious coronavirus variants, hoping a curfew in place since 15 December can contain the pandemic. But it reported 31,519 new infections on Wednesday, up from 25,018 a week ago and the most since mid-November.
We have shown in regions such as Moselle and Alpes-Maritimes that, when the situation requires it, we can act quickly.
The US vice president Kamala Harris has urged Black Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine, as studies show Blacks and Hispanics are lagging behind in Covid vaccinations.
In excerpts from an MSNBC interview on Wednesday, Harris said:
Let’s not let Covid get us. Let’s get the vaccine instead, right? Let’s not let this thing get us. We know black people are disproportionately likely to contract the virus and die from it. We know when you look at who the frontline workers are, who is the most at risk disproportionately, we are talking about people of colour.
It is disproportionately affecting us and if we want to get control of this virus that is harming us at a disproportionate rate, part of it is to get vaccinated.
Jordan announced stricter measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 on Wednesday after a month-long surge in cases attributed mainly to the rapid transmission of the more infectious UK variant.
The health minister Nathir Obeidat said the variant was spreading fast across the country, threatening a deadly new wave unless people adhered to social distancing and mask-wearing in public.
We have seen a wide spread of Covid-19 and the British variant is the one now dominant in the capital and provinces.
The actor Gwyneth Paltrow has been urged to stop spreading misinformation by the medical director of NHS England after she suggested long Covid could be treated with “intuitive fasting” , herbal cocktails and regular visits to an “infrared sauna”.
Her unproven advice prompted a stern rebuke from Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, who urged influencers such as Paltrow against spreading misinformation. He said:
In the last few days I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of Covid. We wish her well, but some of the solutions she’s recommending are really not the solutions we’d recommend in the NHS.
We need to take long Covid seriously and apply serious science. All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that.
Related: Gwyneth Paltrow's Covid advice challenged by NHS England director
Greece is in “technical” talks with the UK over allowing Britons carrying a vaccine passport to travel to its tourist hotspots from May despite concerns in Brussels and other EU capitals.
Haris Theoharis, the Greek tourism minister, said he hoped to “dovetail” with Boris Johnson’s roadmap for allowing Britons to travel but refused to be drawn on whether Greece would break with Brussels to establish the scheme.
Related: Greece in talks with UK to allow holidays with vaccine passports
France has reported 31,518 new confirmed Covid-19 cases today, from 25,018 this time last week, the biggest daily increase since mid-November. The health ministry also reported 277 new coronavirus deaths in past 24 hours, from 431 yesterday.
Freshly vaccinated Spanish pensioners have gone to a theatre in central Madrid on their first trip out in nearly a year for a symbolic visit.
AFP reports that the EDP theatre on Gran Via invited 150 vaccinated pensioners from seven Madrid care homes along with 50 carers, who have also been immunised, to see a one-man show by the actor Santi Rodriguez.
New Covid variants are heightening the risk a third wave of infections in Germany and the country must proceed with great care, chancellor Angela Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Reuters reports that the number of new daily infections has stagnated over the past week with the seven-day incidence rate hovering at around 60 cases per 100,000. Today, Germany reported 8,007 new infections and 422 further deaths.
Because of [variants], we are entering a new phase of the pandemic, from which a third wave may emerge. So we must proceed wisely and carefully so that a third wave does not necessitate a new complete shutdown throughout Germany.
In a district with a stable incidence of 35, for example, it may be possible to open all schools without causing distortions in relation to other districts with a higher incidence and schools that are not yet open.
An intelligent opening strategy is inextricably linked with comprehensive quick tests, as it were as free tests. I cannot say exactly how long it will take to install such a system. But it will be in March.
As long as vaccines are as scarce as they are at the moment, you can’t choose what you want to be vaccinated with.
Two popular French YouTube comedians have more than 10 million views on YouTube with a song about physical distancing, winning a bet made with president Emmanuel Macron.
Macron challenged dared Mcfly and Carlito, who have over six million subscribers on YouTube, to make a video about the need to wear masks, disinfect hands and keep a safe distance to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
A Danish study suggests that people infected with a British variant of the coronavirus codenamed B117 may have a 60% higher risk of being hospitalised, health minister Magus Heunicke has said.
A large-scale virus-sequencing campaign has allowed Denmark, population 5.8 million, to track the rise of the new variant more closely than any other country.
In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant - the variant that was first identified in London and the south east - may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.
EU leaders will tomorrow debate the issue of certificates of vaccination for EU citizens who have been vaccinated against Covid.
Reuters reports that with the rollout of vaccines now gathering pace, some governments, like those of Greece and Spain, are pushing for a quick adoption of an EU-wide certificate for those already inoculated so that people can travel again.
The Swedish government has said it would reduce opening hours for all restaurants, bars and cafes as well as tighten limits on the number of people allowed in shops as it seeks to ward off a third wave.
Reuters reports that the government said it would propose that restaurants and cafes would have to close at 8:30pm from 1 March. It adds to a previous ban of alcohol sales after 8pm already in place.
The situation in Sweden is serious, we have a high spread of infection and it is increasing. We can avoid a third wave if we keep distance.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says there’s now a "high risk" of a new spike in coronavirus infections, potentially warranting the country’s first lockdown since the pandemic started https://t.co/Honhq79eFB via @rafaelalindeberpic.twitter.com/o5oDtB4rZs
Mainland China reported 12 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, up from 10 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority has said.
The National Health Commission said all of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, remained unchanged from a day earlier at nine.
The Biden administration is to deliver more than 25 million masks to community health centres, food hubs and soup kitchens from March through May, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
The White House estimates between 12 and 15 million Americans will have access to the masks.
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez has pledged an extra €11 billion to help struggling companies and the self-employed cope with the fallout of the pandemic, AFP reports.
The aid package, which is to be approved “shortly”, would be geared towards the tourism sector, restaurants, bars and other small businesses, Sanchez told parliament.
It’s a significant amount of resources to continue supporting... sectors that were growing and competitive before the pandemic, but which now are logically facing a very difficult situation.
Italy should prepare for another month of restrictions due to the threat posed by new Covid strains, health minister Roberto Speranza has said.
AFP reports that the government is expected to adopt a new decree in the coming days, extending a three-tier system of regional restrictions currently set to expire on 5 March.
We are in no epidemiological condition today to relax the measures against the pandemic. Telling the country the truth is an obligation we must all strongly feel, even when this truth is uncomfortable.
Israel’s parliament has passed a law allowing the government to share the identities of people not vaccinated against Covid with other authorities, raising privacy concerns for those opting out of inoculation, AFP reports.
The measure gives local governments, the director general of the education ministry and some in the welfare ministry the right to receive the names, addresses and phone numbers of unvaccinated citizens.
Europe’s drug regulator has announced it has started a real-time review of South Korean drugmaker Celltrion’s experimental Covid-19 antibody-based treatment, regdanvimab.
The European Medicines Agency said its human medicines committee was assessing the first set of data it received from animal studies and human clinical trials, and would continue to study them as more data was submitted.
Zimbabwe is to buy an additional 1.2 million Covid vaccine doses from China at a preferential price, president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman has said, after Beijing also agreed to provide more free doses to the southern African country.
Reuters reports:
Zimbabwe began Covid-19 vaccinations last week after receiving a donation of 200,000 doses from Sinopharm. The government initially aims to inoculate health workers, security forces and journalists, among others.
China’s ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun said in a statement that his country had decided to double its donation of vaccines to 400,000 as part of its “solidarity and action” with Zimbabwe.
Italy should brace for another month of restrictions due to the threat posed by new strains of the coronavirus, its health minister Roberto Speranza said.
The government is expected to adopt a new decree in the coming days, extending a three-tier system of regional restrictions currently set to expire on 5 March.
Polish health minister Adam Niedzielski said that restrictions the government plans to reintroduce in a north-eastern region on Saturday will be put in place initially for two weeks.
Niedzielski announced earlier that shopping malls, hotels and schools in the Warminsko-Mazurskie region would have to close as it has reported a relatively high number of new coronavirus infections.
The Czech Republic must tighten measures to combat the pandemic and prevent a “catastrophe” in hospitals in the coming weeks as the country faces one of the world’s highest Covid-19 infection and death rates, prime minister Andrej Babis said.
The country reported over 15,000 new Coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the highest daily tally since 6 January, and has the fastest spread rate in Europe, with per capita infections more than six times higher than in neighbouring Germany in the last two weeks.
Hospitals should prepare for a possible second wave of Covid-19 and take steps to prevent the disease from spreading, health authorities in the government-controlled part of Yemen said.
Testing and reporting are limited because of Yemen’s more than six-year war but the number of confirmed new cases has risen in the past 10 days, after levelling off since September to just a couple a day.
Portugal will send 5% of its Covid-19 vaccine shots to a group of Portuguese-speaking African countries and to the tiny nation of East Timor in the second half of the year, foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said on Wednesday.
With a population of just over 10 million people, Portugal is entitled to 35m vaccine doses this year under an EU-coordinated purchasing scheme, mostly for double-dose inoculation, leaving it with millions of extra shots. The 5% share would make up 1.75m doses.
Switzerland is to start easing out of its lockdown from 1 March, the government has said, confirming preliminary plans to open shops, museums and libraries and allow outdoor gatherings of up to 15 people.
Reuters reports that the cabinet has tried to walk a political tightrope between health experts supporting stricter curbs and struggling businesses calling for reopening the economy as numbers of infections fall.
The Norwegian government is to reassess the national measures introduced to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the second half of March, health minister Bent Hoeie has said.
Reuters reports that some of the measures include forbidding the serving of alcohol in bars and restaurants after 10pm local time and a forced stay in a quarantine hotel for at least a week for anyone coming from abroad who cannot have use of a property in Norway.
Nepal has added 619 deaths – an almost 30% rise – to its coronavirus toll, blaming a numbers discrepancy between different government branches.
AFP reports that the toll jumped to 2,684 dead after the health ministry added 618 fatalities from last year and one new death in its daily report. Ministry spokesman Jageshwor Gautam said the extra dead had all been Covid-19 patients who died outside hospitals before mid-December last year.
Home deaths had not been properly accounted for in the ministry’s data, but the army was disposing of the bodies. We examined the numbers we had with that of the army and the Covid-19 crisis management center and corrected the total.”
Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid vaccine protects against is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe forms of the virus, and is safe to use, according to an analysis by US regulators ahead of a final decision on the jab.
Reuters reports that the Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisers would debate on Friday if the evidence is strong enough to recommend the long-anticipated shot and the FDA would then be expected to make a final decision within days.
China’s CanSino Biologics and a unit of Sinopharm have said they have applied for public use of their Covid-19 vaccines, and announced efficacy rates, AFP reports.
Sinopharm affiliate Wuhan Institute Of Biological Products said in a statement its vaccine’s efficacy rate was 72.51 percent, while the overall efficacy for CanSino’s stood at 65.28% after 28 days.
If their applications are successful, it would mean four of China’s domestically developed vaccines are approved for public use.
A senior adviser to Democrat Joe Biden in his campaign for president believed “Covid is the best thing that ever happened to him”, a new book reports.
It was, the authors add, a necessarily private comment that “campaign officials believed but would never say in public” as the US reeled from the impact of the pandemic amid hospitals stretched to breaking and with deaths mounting and the economy falling off a cliff.
Related: Key aide said Covid was 'the best thing that ever happened' to Biden, book says
India plans to expand its vast but faltering coronavirus vaccination programme from 1 March by offering jabs to the over 60s, the government has announced.
Reuters reports that the country began vaccinating its 1.3 billion population last month and plans to inoculate 300 million people by July, but so far the rollout has been limited to healthcare workers and other frontline staff.
Those who want to get vaccinations from private hospitals will have to pay. The amount to be paid will be decided and declared by the health ministry within the next three to four days.
Pope Francis has appointed a new personal doctor, several weeks after the death from Covid-19 of the previous holder of the post. The 84-year-old pontiff picked Roberto Bernabei, an expert in health care for the elderly, as his physician, the Vatican said in a statement.
Bernabei, 69, leads the geriatrics and rehabilitative medicine department at Rome’s Gemelli, the Catholic hospital where popes are traditionally treated. The last papal doctor, Fabrizio Soccorsi, died aged 78 on 9 January of Covid-19-related pulmonary complications, following a hospitalisation for cancer, AFP reports.
#PopeFrancis has appointed as his new personal physician Dr. Roberto Bernabei, Professor of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. pic.twitter.com/CqxOxGj28R
Egypt has approved Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine against, becoming the 34th country outside of Russia and third in North Africa to do so, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.
RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad, said Sputnik V had been approved by the Egyptian drug authority using an emergency use authorisation procedure. Tunisia and Algeria have already approved the shot.
The South African government is to unveil its spending plans today as the continent’s most industrialised economy grapples with the fallout from pandemic repercussions on top of a recession.
“There’s not a lot of money and we need to have a pro-poor and pro-growth balance,” University of Johannesburg business lecturer Daniel Meyer told AFP.
European commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has insisted that fresh problems hampering the supply of AstraZeneca’s vaccines can be resolved, after the group admitted it could deliver only half the expected amount to the bloc in the second quarter.
She told the German regional daily Augsburger Allgemeine:
The vaccine manufacturers are our partners in this pandemic and they have also never faced such a challenge. New questions are always arising that we can generally resolve amicably.
Ukraine is to begin its coronavirus vaccination programme today, after pushing back the start date in delays that sparked anger towards the government.
Reuters reports:
The ex-Soviet country of 40 million people is one of the poorest in Europe and has struggled to keep up with others in the region to source vaccines and begin inoculating its population.
“Vaccinations against coronavirus are beginning today. The first vaccines were sent to the regions today at 7am (local time),” health minister Maksym Stepanov said.
EU countries must ensure travel and border restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants do not hurt trade in goods and services in the bloc’s single market, a senior official has said.
Belgium - which has a blanket ban on all non-essential travel in and out of its territory - and Germany have come under particular pressure over their latest restrictions on movement, which the EU executive said have gone too far.
Greece has delayed lifting lockdown restrictions in the wider Athens area on March 1, as previously planned, following an increase in coronavirus infections, prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.
The Athens metropolitan area, where half of Greece’s population lives, has been under strict lockdown restrictions that were set to expire on 28 February.
Vietnam has received its first batch of 117,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine ahead of the country’s immunisation programme beginning next month, Reuters reports.
The vaccines, which arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on a flight from South Korea, will be used to inoculate more than 50,000 people who are seen as high risk, the government said in a statement.
Deputy health minister, Truong Quoc Cuong, was at the airport to meet the consignment of vaccines flown in from Seoul, according to media.
Hungary cannot yet ease its partial coronavirus lockdown as a third wave of infections has boosted new cases and only a small section of the population has received a vaccine so far, the prime minister said.
My colleagues Daniel Boffey and Helen Sullivan report on comments from the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who has insisted that the EU is “catching up” with the UK’s coronavirus vaccination programme in response to renewed criticism of the rollout among the 27 member states.
With 6% receiving a first jab so far across the EU against 27% in the UK, their story continues:
Shortages of vaccine doses continue to blight national plans across the bloc, with Belgium the latest to warn of “serious delays” to its plans, with vaccination of people over 65 postponed to the end of March.
There is also mounting evidence of the AstraZeneca vaccine being rejected and left unused in fridges following weeks of bad publicity, including Emmanuel Macron’s unsubstantiated claim that it is “quasi-ineffective” among older groups.
Related: EU 'catching up' with UK Covid vaccination rollout – Von der Leyen
Denmark will ease some shopping restrictions and allow schools in parts of the country to reopen on March 1, the government said on Wednesday, potentially allowing hospital admissions to triple in the coming month.
Denmark, which has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, has seen general infection numbers drop after it introduced lockdown measures in December in a bid to curb a more contagious coronavirus variant.
The Czech Republic will need to tighten measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus to prevent a “catastrophe” in hospitals in the coming weeks, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said on Wednesday.
“Hellish days await us,” Babis said at a news conference.
The government is due to hold talks throughout the day on possible further measures.
In Australia, a Senate committee investigating the government’s management of the pandemic has excoriated the government for deploying public interest immunity claims to “wilfully obstruct access to information crucial to the committee inquiry”.
Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy writes:
The second interim report by the committee, tabled on Wednesday night, lays out “multiple instances” where important information sought by the committee during the inquiry had been withheld by government on grounds of public interest immunity.
The chair of the committee, Labor senator Katy Gallagher, declared the blocking conduct needed to be called out because the current generation of senators “must stand up for the powers and purpose of the Senate”.
Related: Covid committee condemns 'secretive' Morrison government for withholding key information
Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah said on Wednesday parliament can convene during a state of emergency, a move that could open the door for the opposition to launch a fresh confidence vote to challenge prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Last month, the king declared a nationwide state of emergency that could last till 1 August, as Malaysia struggled to control a jump in coronavirus cases after managing to contain infections for most of last year.
Andrew Sparrow’s UK-focused coronavirus live coverage is now up and running. You can follow it here:
Related: UK Covid live: Williamson refuses to rule out longer English school day to help pupils catch up
Germany approved three Covid-19 tests for home use as part of health minister Jens Spahn’s strategy for mass testing to help Europe’s biggest economy emerge from a lockdown that has been in place since mid-December.
The infection rate in Germany fell steadily in the first weeks of the year but has stagnated in recent days, adding to signs that it could be difficult for the country to ease restrictions when the lockdown is due to end on 7 March.
Spain is likely to receive four times as many vaccine doses in the second quarter than in the first one, prime minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday.
So far, almost 2 million Spaniards have received at least one vaccine dose and the authorities expect to have 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of the summer, Sanchez said on Wednesday in a speech in the lower house of parliament.
In the UK, education secretary Gavin Williamson said the policy of secondary school pupils in England having to wear masks in classrooms would be reviewed over Easter.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re reviewing that at the Easter holidays to see if that has had a positive impact, and the impact that Public Health England would feel is right, or whether it’s going to continue to be necessary.”
India warned on Wednesday that a breach of guidelines on testing and other measures to contain the coronavirus could worsen a recent spurt in infections in many states, particularly after it detected several variants.
Nearly a month after the health minister declared that Covid-19 had been contained, states such as Maharashtra in the west and Kerala in the south have reported a surge in cases, as reluctance grows over mask-wearing and social distancing norms.
The Philippines health ministry said on Wednesday it will investigate the illegal use of unauthorised Covid-19 vaccines, after a presidential adviser admitted to receiving shots of a Sinopharm vaccine smuggled into the country.
Ramon Tulfo, a celebrity radio and television host and special envoy to China, revealed in his newspaper column on 20 February and again in an interview with One News that he received a dose in October from a batch that was also used by President Rodrigo Duterte’s security detail.
Russia on Wednesday reported 11,749 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, including 1,417 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,200,902 since the pandemic began.
The government coronavirus taskforce also reported 383 deaths, taking Russia’s official death toll to 84,430.
In the UK, Heathrow Airport has revealed it plunged to a £2bn annual loss after passenger numbers fell by 73% as the pandemic battered the air industry.
Sweden will ease restrictions on elderly residents of care homes who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, the country’s top epidemiologist said on Wednesday, at the same time as rules for the rest of the country are tightened.
Sweden has reported a rise in cases in the last couple of weeks, raising fears of a third wave of infections and leading the Public Health Agency to warn it would introduce tougher controls to halt the spread of the pandemic. Tighter restrictions are expected to be announced on Wednesday.
In the UK, education secretary Gavin Williamson said about 40% of university students will be able to return for face-to-face teaching from 8 March.
Poland will announce new regional coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, health minister Adam Niedzielski said, as daily infections rise steeply. Some 12,146 new cases were registered in the previous 24 hours, a rise of more than 3,500 in the space of a week, the minister told private radio station TOK FM.
Good morning, this is Archie Bland picking up the live blog from Helen Sullivan. (A groodle is what a goldendoodle is called in Australia, I have just learned.)
First to Ghana, where the World Health Organization’s global vaccine sharing scheme Covax delivered its first Covid-19 shots on Wednesday, as the race to get doses to the world’s poorest people and tame the pandemic accelerates.
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. I’m off to walk an impatient but adorable groodle. My infamous colleague Archie Bland will be with you for the next few hours.
More on that study: China brought in what the study describes as “unprecedented nationwide measures” to control the virus in mid-January 2020. “The nationwide lockdown, first implemented in Wuhan on 23 January 2020, coupled with other measures such as widespread testing, contact tracing, and quarantine of infected people at home and subsequently in purpose built temporary hospitals, successfully controlled the epidemic by the end of March. Consequently, the lockdown was lifted in all provinces of China from early or mid-April 2020, including Wuhan city,” says the paper.
China has reported a total of 4,365 deaths from Covid-19, with the last one in January. The declared death toll was disputed last year by President Trump and other critics.
Most of China had no excess deaths during the first three months of last year at the country’s Covid outbreak, according to a new study which shows Wuhan took the brunt alone, with 56% more deaths than would have been expected.
Although there were deaths from Covid-19 in other cities, scientists believe the lockdown measures that were taken, including masks and social distancing, reduced deaths from other causes.
Here are the key pandemic developments from the last few hours:
Regional authorities in Japan have urged that emergency pandemic measures be lifted before a scheduled date of 7 March, as new coronavirus cases trend lower, the economy minister said, adding that the government would consult experts before it agreed.
Reuters: A surge in cases prompted Japan to declare a state of emergency last month for 11 prefectures, requesting residents to curtail activities and businesses to shorten operating hours.
The state of emergency will probably be lifted in stages, though businesses will be asked to continue closing early, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on Wednesday.
Japan recorded 1,083 new Covid cases on Tuesday, national broadcaster NHK said, but that was well off a peak of almost 8,000 on Jan. 8. New infections in the capital, which stood at 213 on Wednesday, have fallen to levels not seen since November.
People could use a revamped NHS app to prove their Covid status on entering pubs or theatres in England under plans being considered by ministers, as one major care provider said staff have two months to get jabbed or lose their jobs.
Ministers are expected to give businesses in England the power to check Covid certification – whether people have been vaccinated or the result of recent tests. That will include small-scale venues like restaurants or bars.
Related: NHS Covid app could be used to prove status and access venues in England
Thailand received on Wednesday its first 200,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac, the country’s first batch of coronavirus vaccines, with inoculations set to begin in a few days, Reuters reports.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is expected to be among the first to receive the vaccine this weekend. Most doses have been reserved for frontline medical workers.
Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul earlier this week said 117,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine would also arrive on Wednesday and that Prayuth would be among the first recipients.
Thailand is expecting to take delivery of a further 1.8 doses of CoronaVac in March and April, to be given mainly to health workers and at-risk groups.
The country has so far been spared of the kind of epidemic seen elsewhere, with just over 25,000 infections overall.
The vaccine’s arrival comes amid some public criticism of the government and accusations it has been too slow to secure the vaccines.
Its mass immunisation campaign, which aims to administer 10 million doses a month, is slated to begin in June, using 26 million shots of AstraZeneca vaccines produced by local firm Siam Bioscience. It has also reserved a further 35 million doses of the vaccine.
The government has said it plans to vaccinate more than half the adult population this year.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 8,007 to 2,402,818, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.
The reported death toll rose by 422 to 68,740, the tally showed.
Singapore is discussing the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates with other countries, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, calling it a necessary step towards resuming global travel, Reuters reports.
Singapore, a regional travel and tourism hub, has been rolling out its Covid-19 vaccination programme over the last two months. It has approved shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
South Korea shipped its first doses of a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, transferring AstraZeneca vaccines from a production facility in the country to a warehouse outside the capital of Seoul in preparation for this week’s inoculation drive, Reuters reports.
Healthcare workers are scheduled to receive the first batch of AstraZeneca PLC’s vaccine from Friday, as South Korea looks to protect 10 million high-risk people by July, on its way to reaching herd immunity by November.
AstraZeneca shots enough for about 750,000 people will be distributed from a production facility of SK Chemicals Co Ltd unit SK bioscience to immunisation centres across the country starting on Wednesday.
“We start the first historic vaccination on Friday with the vaccines rolled out today,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a government meeting.
“This is the first step that will lead us to a long-waited return to normal.”
Hong Kong permanent residents are to receive HK$5,000 (US$640) in coupons in an effort to stimulate the economy, the South China Morning Post reports:
#LIVE: Every Hong Kong permanent resident aged 18 or above, will receive HK$5,000 in consumption coupons in instalments. This will benefit 7.2 million people and cost HK$36 billion, Chan says, confirming a Post report https://t.co/LbjZr9flrm
Nicola Davis runs through the science behind the government’s decision to begin lifting lockdown restrictions, a four-stage plan that starts with the reopening of schools and could see the return of nightclubs on 21 June:
Related: The science behind England’s Covid exit plan – podcast
The US House of Representatives will vote on Friday on legislation to provide $1.9 trillion in new coronavirus relief, Representative Steny Hoyer, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, said.
“The American people strongly support this bill, and we are moving swiftly to see it enacted into law,” Hoyer said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Reuters: The House Budget Committee approved the measure on Monday. Passing more relief to ease the economic effects of the pandemic is a top priority of Democratic President Joe Biden.
Although polls show Americans want more economic support, Democrats - who narrowly control Congress - and Republicans differ sharply over how best to provide it.
The US coronavirus death toll this week surpassed the grim benchmark of 500,000 victims. Millions more have been left jobless by the pandemic.
The sweeping legislation is intended to stimulate the US economy and carry out Biden*s proposals to provide additional money for vaccines and other medical equipment.
Guatemala’s health minister Amelia Flores said on Tuesday that Guatemala hopes to receive the first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus in the coming weeks, Reuters reports.
“They already have the emergency registration to be able to enter the country and we are only waiting for the date, which we believe will be in a few weeks,” Flores said while leaving a meeting at Congress on Tuesday.
One of New Zealand’s largest high schools has closed again after another student and t wo siblings tested positive for Covid-19.
Papatoetoe high school in south Auckland was closed last week after two students and two parents tested positive. It reopened this week but closed again on Wednesday after a third student tested positive on Tuesday. Two siblings of the students also tested positive later on Tuesday.
Related: Auckland high school closes again after third student tests positive for Covid
Here is the full story on AstraZeneca missing its EU vaccine target:
Related: AstraZeneca expected to miss EU Covid vaccine supply target by half in second-quarter – report
An Australian doctor responsible for delivering doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to residents of a Brisbane nursing home has been stood down after an 88 year-old man and a 94-year-old woman were each given four times the recommended dose.
The federal health minister Greg Hunt said the error occurred at the Holy Spirit Nursing Home in Carseldine and the two residents were being closely monitored:
Related: Doctor stood down after two Brisbane nursing home residents given excessive dose of Pfizer vaccine
More on that story now, from Reuters:
Asked about the EU official’s comment, a spokesman for AstraZeneca initially said: “We are hopeful that we will be able to bring our deliveries closer in line with the advance purchase agreement.”
Later in the day a spokesman in a new statement said the company’s “most recent Q2 forecast for the delivery of its Covid vaccine aims to deliver in line with its contract with the European Commission.”
He added: “At this stage AstraZeneca is working to increase productivity in its EU supply chain and to continue to make use of its global capability in order to achieve delivery of 180 million doses to the EU in the second quarter.”
AstraZeneca Plc has told the European Union it expects to deliver less than half the Covid vaccines it was contracted to supply in the second quarter, an EU official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Contacted by Reuters, AstraZeneca did not deny what the official said, but a statement late in the day said the company was striving to increase productivity to deliver the promised 180 million doses.
The expected shortfall, which has not previously been reported, follows a big reduction in supplies in the first quarter and could hit the EU’s ability to meet its target of vaccinating 70% of adults by summer.
The EU official, who is directly involved in talks with the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, said the company had told the bloc during internal meetings that it “would deliver less than 90 million doses in the second quarter.”
AstraZeneca’s contract with the EU, which was leaked last week, showed the company had committed to delivering 180 million doses to the 27-nation bloc in the second quarter.
The failure of successive governments to enact part of the Equality Act, which would have imposed a duty to address socio-economic disadvantage, has exacerbated inequalities in England during the coronavirus pandemic, a thinktank has claimed.
The Runnymede Trust’s report, Facts Don’t Lie, says that the public sector duty provision would have imposed a legal obligation on education authorities in England to ensure working class children on free school meals were fed properly while schools were shut and had access to laptops for remote learning.
Related: Failure to enact public duty law 'has worsened England inequality in pandemic'
Ireland is to start reopening some schools next week but is extending other lockdown restrictions until April to prevent another explosion in Covid-19 cases.
The government has prioritised education and childcare in a cautious new roadmap out of restrictions after a disastrous relaxation before Christmas led to Ireland having the world’s highest rate of infection.
Related: Ireland to start reopening schools as it extends other Covid restrictions
The number of patients treated in intensive care units for Covid-19 in France has reached a 12-week peak of 3,435, as regional officials urge for a ban on public gatherings and consider a partial weekend lockdown.
Unlike some of its European neighbours, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious variants, hoping a curfew in place since 15 December can contain the pandemic.
The World Health Organization says that global deaths from coronavirus-related complications have declined by 20% in the last week, with cases dropping for the sixth consecutive week worldwide. Deaths have been falling for three consecutive weeks.
In a statement, the WHO said:
The number of global new cases reported continues to fall for the sixth consecutive week, with 2.4 million new cases last week, an 11% decline compared to the previous week.
The number of new deaths also continues to fall for the previous three weeks, with nearly 66 000 new deaths reported last week, a 20% decline as compared to the previous week. This brings the global cumulative numbers to 110.7 million cases and over 2.4 million deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.
I’ll be bringing you the latest updates for the next few hours – as always, you can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
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