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Covid live: no need for fourth jab yet, UK advisers say; Germany toughens hospitality restrictions – as it happened

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A dose of a Covid-19 vaccine is prepared in London.
A dose of a Covid-19 vaccine is prepared in London. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images
A dose of a Covid-19 vaccine is prepared in London. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images

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No immediate need for fourth jab for older adults, JCVI says

UK experts have advised that booster doses continue to provide high protection against severe disease from the Omicron variant among older adults, meaning a fourth jab is not yet needed.

Around three months after boosting, protection against hospitalisation among those aged 65 and over remained at about 90%, the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency show. Protection against mild symptomatic infection is more short-lived, dropping to around 30% by about three months.

In comparison, with just two vaccine doses, protection against severe disease drops to around 70% after three months and to 50% after six months.

The priority therefore remains to get first, second and third doses to those who have not already had them, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said.

This is despite some countries including Israel rolling out fourth Covid shots in response to the highly infectious Omicron, which is driving up infections around the world.

Prof Wei Shen Lim, the JCVI’s chair of Covid-19 immunisation, said:

The current data show the booster dose is continuing to provide high levels of protection against severe disease, even for the most vulnerable older age groups. For this reason, the committee has concluded there is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, though this will continue to be reviewed.

The data is highly encouraging and emphasises the value of a booster jab. With Omicron continuing to spread widely, I encourage everyone to come forwards for their booster dose, or if unvaccinated, for their first two doses, to increase their protection against serious illness.

Extremely vulnerable patients with impaired immune systems are advised to have four shots overall, rather than the usual three, to be fully vaccinated.

But the JCVI said there is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, or fourth jab, to the most vulnerable care home residents and those aged over 80.

The timing and need for further booster doses will continue to be reviewed as the data evolves, it added.

Key events

Friday Summary

Here’s a round-up of today’s top news on Covid from around the world:

  • India’s daily Covid cases jumped fivefold in a week, to 117,100 on Friday, with the Omicron wave on course to overtake the country’s previous peak from Delta.
  • UK experts advised no fourth doses yet, as third shots continue to provide high protection against severe disease from the Omicron variant among older adults. The UK recorded 178,250 new cases and 229 further deaths.
  • Germany toughened restrictions for bars and restaurants and cut isolation times for boosted people.
  • Authorities in Henan province, China, imposed more Covid restrictions after a sharp rise in infections, limiting travel and activities in some cities or launching mass testing drives in others.
  • Bulgaria tightened travel restrictions, as ministers sought to limit the rise of new infections from Omicron. Friday’s 5,525 new cases were almost double the 2,810 cases from a week ago.
  • Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer tested positive for Covid, but is continuing to work remotely.
  • Japan will impose introduce limits on bar and restaurant opening times in three areas in an attempt to stem a surge in Covid infections that has been linked to US military bases. Meanwhile, new cases hit their highest level in nearly four months as 4,475 cases were detected.
  • Senior officials in Hong Kong entered a 21-day quarantine after they attended a birthday party, despite the government’s own pandemic warning.
  • In Romania, isolation and quarantine times will be cut for Covid-positive people, depending on their vaccination status.
  • French president Emmanuel Macron doubled down on his comments saying he wanted to “piss off” the 5 million French people who are still not vaccinated.
  • Spain’s Covid prevalence rate jumped to 2,722.72 cases per 100,000 people — 147 cases higher than the 2,574.46 per 100,000 on Wednesday.
  • Russia continues to see a steady decline in cases, with 16,735 new Covid infections, a 32% decline from the 24,522 new cases detected two weeks ago.
  • Likewise, Poland’s gradual decline kept its pace, despite Omicron fears on the horizon. The country reported 11,902 new infections, a 22.5% decrease on two weeks ago.
  • In the US, public school systems including in Newark, New Jersey, Milwaukee and Cleveland went back to remote learning as infections soared and sidelined staff members.
  • Mexico is likely to surpass 300,000 deaths from Covid this week - the fifth highest death toll worldwide - as infections rise after the holiday season, fuelled by the Omicron variant and largely unrestricted tourism.

That’s all from me, Jem Bartholomew in London, and for the blog today. Thanks for following along. Bye for now.

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Brazil detected 63,292 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, a more than tenfold increase on the 4,362 reported on Friday three weeks ago. (Reporting lags over the holiday period may have contributed to irregularities.) A further 181 people died from Covid-related causes on Friday.

Brazil, which has the third-highest Covid deaths globally behind the US and Russia, according to Reuters’ tally, has experienced one the world’s most acrimonious pandemics. In October Brazil’s Senate accused right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro of “crimes against humanity” for his handling of the pandemic, during which more than 620,000 people died from Covid-related causes. Bolsonaro’s popularity dropped last year.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly sowed doubts about the dangers of the virus and the value of getting vaccinated, saying he is not vaccinated himself. The president has also put pressure on Anvisa, the country’s health regulator responsible for approving vaccines, over its decision to recommend vaccination for children in line with dozens of other countries worldwide. Bolsonaro trails leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in polls for October’s elections.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro on 5 January, after being released from hospital after an intenstinal obstruction. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

Malaysia reported 3,381 new Covid infections on Friday, the New Straits Times reports, a 4% decline on the 3,528 detected two weeks ago.

The country’s last peak came in August, with daily cases often vaulting 20,000, but new infections have largely been below 10,000 a day since October.

Yet the Omicron variant led to ministers banning mass celebrations on New Year’s Eve in efforts to a void another surge.

A further 19 people died from the virus in the past 24 hours, health authorities said, taking the country’s total death toll to 31,628 people.

Pedestrians in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 7 January. Photograph: Wong Fok Loy/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
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Ukraine reported 7,177 new Covid cases on Friday, a 5% jump on the 6,828 new infections on Friday two weeks ago.

Ukraine’s most recent epidemic peaked in early November, with daily cases sometimes rising above 25,000. Recent infections have receded but authorities fear Omicron will provoke a new wave.

A further 192 people died from the virus, local media Ukrinform reports, a 29% decline on 241 a week ago. Ukraine has recorded a total of 97,088 Covid-related deaths since the pandemic began, the world’s 16th highest.

Commuters in Osokorky station of Kiev Metro in Ukraine last month. Photograph: Vitaly Zalessky/TASS

Spain’s Covid prevalence rate has jumped to 2,722.72 cases per 100,000 people — 147 cases higher than the 2,574.46 per 100,000 on Wednesday.

To try and suppress cases, Spain brought back its strategy from earlier in the pandemic of mandating mask-wearing outdoors, joining Italy and Greece who took similar measures in December.

Prime minister Pedro Sánchez said masking was “as an effective tool” amid the surge caused by the “highly contagious” Omicron strain. It applies to all people over 6.

Spain’s reported figures were disrupted over the festive period, but the percentage of hospital beds occupied by patients with Covid was 11.79% on Friday, compared to 24% amid the previous peak on 28 January 2021.

People under a bridge on La Castellana avenue in Madrid, Spain await the traditional Cavalcade of the Three Kings for Epiphany. Spain brought its outdoor mask mandate back in place last month. Photograph: Luis Soto/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

New Covid cases in Japan were at their highest level in nearly four months on Friday, as 4,475 cases were detected nationally.

That is an almost tenfold increase since the 418 cases on 31 December 2021, and represents the highest daily case number since 18 September.

The dramatic increase follows Japan’s plans to introduce limits on bar and restaurant opening times in three areas in an attempt to stem a surge in Covid cases that has been linked to US military bases.

Passengers in a train station in Tokyo, Japan on Friday. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
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Russia reported 16,735 new Covid infections on Friday, a 32% decline from the 24,522 new cases detected on Friday two weeks ago.

Russia experienced spiking cases in late-October and early-December, with a gradual decline in recent months. But Omicron has sparked fears of a new wave after the Sputnik V vaccine was found to offer little protection from infection against the highly-mutated strain.

Covid deaths in Russia are falling but remain at high levels. A further 787 people died from the virus in the past 24 hours, the Moscow Times reports, a 19% fall on the 972 deaths reported two weeks ago today.

Russia’s death toll is now the second-highest in the world, behind the US, with over 650,000 people dying from Covid-related reasons.

People in Moscow, Russia on 5 January. Photograph: Carlos Escalona/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Travel restrictions tighten in Bulgaria

Travel restrictions tightened in Bulgaria on Friday, as ministers seek to limit the rise of new infections.

Public broadcaster BNT has details on the new rules:

As of 7 January, new rules come into force for those arriving from countries in the Covid “red zone”. They will be required to present both a valid EU digital Covid certificate and a negative PCR test done up to 72 hours before arrival in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian citizens who do not have any of these documents will be placed under a mandatory 10-day quarantine. The quarantine may not be cancelled.

Those who present only one of the two required documents will also be required to go into a 10 day quarantine, but it can be revoked if they present a negative PCR test. The updated list of countries by colour zones can be found on the website of the Ministry of Health.

Bulgaria detected 5,525 new cases in the past 24 hours, almost double the 2,810 cases a week ago today. (Some countries reported lower figures over the holiday period.)

A further 72 people died from Covid-related causes on Friday, the Sofia Globe reports, taking the total death toll to 31,375 people.

Bulgaria now has a Covid prevalence rate of 547.89 cases out of 100,000 people over the past two weeks.

Crowds gather for New Year’s Eve in Sofia, Bulgaria. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Poland reported 11,902 new Covid infections in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, a 22.5% decrease on the 15,376 new cases recorded two weeks ago today.

On Thursday, 646 people died from Covid-related causes, a 5% climb on the 616 two weeks beforehand.

Poland experienced spiking cases in late-November and early-December, with new infections receding in recent weeks. But Omicron has led to fears of a resurgent wave.

Health minister Adam Niedzielski said reporters the country is bracing for a peak in late-January, Polskie Radio reported, when up to 60,000 hospital beds could be needed.

It comes as people in the Polish capital of Warsaw celebrated Epiphany on Friday with a procession.

An Epiphany procession in Warsaw, Poland on 6 January. Photograph: Tomasz Gzell/EPA

Let’s take a look at those UK daily Covid figures in context, starting with surging cases:

Ministers will still be keeping a keen eye on how that translates into hospitalisations – which are climbing – after weeks of high cases driven by Omicron:

When it comes to deaths, we are yet to see a steep jump but numbers have been rising recently:

No immediate need for fourth jab for older adults, JCVI says

UK experts have advised that booster doses continue to provide high protection against severe disease from the Omicron variant among older adults, meaning a fourth jab is not yet needed.

Around three months after boosting, protection against hospitalisation among those aged 65 and over remained at about 90%, the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency show. Protection against mild symptomatic infection is more short-lived, dropping to around 30% by about three months.

In comparison, with just two vaccine doses, protection against severe disease drops to around 70% after three months and to 50% after six months.

The priority therefore remains to get first, second and third doses to those who have not already had them, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said.

This is despite some countries including Israel rolling out fourth Covid shots in response to the highly infectious Omicron, which is driving up infections around the world.

Prof Wei Shen Lim, the JCVI’s chair of Covid-19 immunisation, said:

The current data show the booster dose is continuing to provide high levels of protection against severe disease, even for the most vulnerable older age groups. For this reason, the committee has concluded there is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, though this will continue to be reviewed.

The data is highly encouraging and emphasises the value of a booster jab. With Omicron continuing to spread widely, I encourage everyone to come forwards for their booster dose, or if unvaccinated, for their first two doses, to increase their protection against serious illness.

Extremely vulnerable patients with impaired immune systems are advised to have four shots overall, rather than the usual three, to be fully vaccinated.

But the JCVI said there is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, or fourth jab, to the most vulnerable care home residents and those aged over 80.

The timing and need for further booster doses will continue to be reviewed as the data evolves, it added.

Summary

Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today so far:

  • The UK recorded 178,250 new coronavirus cases, and 229 more deaths, according to the daily update to the government’s Covid dashboard.
  • Large school systems in the US, including those in Newark, New Jersey, Milwaukee and Cleveland, have gone back to remote learning as infections soar and sideline staff members. Dozens of smaller districts have followed, including many around Detroit, Chicago and Washington. The disruptions also raise alarms about risks to students. Long stretches of remote learning over the last two years have taken a toll, leaving many kids with academic and mental health setbacks that experts are still trying to understand. Joe Biden, who campaigned on a promise to reopen classrooms, is pressing schools to remain open. With vaccines and regular virus testing, his administration has said there’s no reason to keep schools closed. But the reality for some districts is not so simple: Testing supplies have been scarce, and many districts face low vaccine uptake in their communities. Story here.
  • Japan is to introduce limits on bar and restaurant opening times in three areas in an attempt to stem a surge in coronavirus cases that has been linked to US military bases. The measures – officially described as a quasi-state of emergency – will go into effect from Sunday until the end of the month in Okinawa, home to more than half of the US service personnel based in Japan, and parts of the western prefectures of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi, which also host American troops. Story here.
  • Dozens of senior officials and legislators in Hong Kong that have been sent into a 21-day quarantine after they attended a birthday party despite the government’s own pandemic warning. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, said it was a “deep disappointment” that her bureaucrats ignored the government’s own advice on avoiding large gatherings in the middle of an Omicron outbreak. Story here.
  • Germany’s leaders agreed to introduce stricter requirements for entry to restaurants and bars, and decided to shorten quarantine and self-isolation periods for people who have been boosted. Customers will have to show either that they have received a booster shot or provide a negative test result on top of proof that they have been vaccinated or recovered. Scholz and the governors also agreed to shorten quarantine or self-isolation periods that are currently as long as 14 days, something that many other countries already have done. People who have received boosters will no longer have to go into quarantine after having contact with coronavirus cases, Scholz said. All others can end their quarantine or self-isolation period after 10 days if they don’t have – or no longer have – symptoms; that can be cut to seven days with a negative test. [see 4.31pm.].
  • The Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, tested positive for Covid-19 following contact with an infected member of his security team. The chancellery said in a statement that Nehammer was in self-isolation and was not showing symptoms. The chancellor, who is boosted, is conducting official business from home via video and telephone conferences and will not attend any public appointments in the next few days, the statement added. [see 3.57pm.].
  • Romania will cut the isolation and quarantine periods for Covid-positive people, their direct contacts and untested travellers from high-risk countries to varying lengths depending on whether they are vaccinated, health officials said. For direct contacts of Covid-positive people and travellers arriving from high-risk countries, quarantine will last five days from 14 currently for people who are vaccinated or have already been infected, and 10 days for the unvaccinated, according to a decision approved on Friday. The health ministry will approve a separate decree mandating that Covid-positive people will isolate for seven days if they are vaccinated and for 10 days if they are not, Pistol said. The shorter isolation period is appropriate because of faster incubation of the new variant, officials said. As of Saturday, wearing face masks becomes mandatory in both outdoor and indoor public spaces, and officials have banned the use of cloth face coverings, saying surgical or FFP grade respirator masks offered better protection. [see 3.44pm.].
  • French president Emmanuel Macron said he stood by his earlier comments saying he wanted to “piss off” the 5 million French people who are still not vaccinated against Covid-19, adding it was his responsibility to sound the alarm given the Omicron threat. [see 11.58am.].

UK records 178,250 new cases and 229 further deaths

The UK has recorded 178,250 new coronavirus cases, and 229 more deaths, according to the daily update to the government’s Covid dashboard.

My colleague Andrew Sparrow reports that the total number of new cases over the past week is still up on the total for the previous week, by 19.8%. But yesterday the equivalent figure was up 29.3%, and for the third day in a row now the figure for reported cases has gone down. That explains the tiny kink downwards in the graph, which could be early evidence of cases starting to plateau.

You can read more of Andy’s UK Covid coverage here:

The vast majority of US districts appear to be returning to in-person learning, but other large school systems including those in Newark, New Jersey, Milwaukee and Cleveland have gone back to remote learning as infections soar and sideline staff members. Dozens of smaller districts have followed, including many around Detroit, Chicago and Washington.

The disruptions also raise alarms about risks to students. Long stretches of remote learning over the last two years have taken a toll, leaving many kids with academic and mental health setbacks that experts are still trying to understand.

Joe Biden, who campaigned on a promise to reopen classrooms, is pressing schools to remain open. With vaccines and regular virus testing, his administration has said there’s no reason to keep schools closed.

“We have no reason to think at this point that Omicron is worse for children than previous variants,” Biden told reporters earlier this week. “We know that our kids can be safe when in school.”

But the reality for some districts is not so simple: Testing supplies have been scarce, and many districts face low vaccine uptake in their communities. In Detroit, just 44% of residents five and older have received a vaccine dose, compared with a statewide rate of 63%.

Read more here: Return to remote schooling brings despair in US as Omicron surges

Justin McCurry
Justin McCurry

Japan is to introduce limits on bar and restaurant opening times in three areas in an attempt to stem a surge in coronavirus cases that has been linked to US military bases.

The measures – officially described as a quasi-state of emergency – will go into effect from Sunday until the end of the month in Okinawa, home to more than half of the US service personnel based in Japan, and parts of the western prefectures of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi, which also host American troops.

The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has come under increasing pressure this week to address outbreaks that began at US military facilities last month and have since spread to the local civilian population.

US military authorities on Thursday announced stricter Covid-19 measures, including mandatory mask wearing off base and stronger testing regimes.

More on this story here: Japan attempts to stem surge in Covid cases linked to US military bases

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