Scotland to lift most Covid restrictions on 9 August, Sturgeon announces
Boris Johnson has been urged to cap the costs of private PCR tests needed for some international travel to prevent overseas holidays from becoming a luxury only the wealthiest families can afford.
Analysis of the list of approved tests on the government website by the Liberal Democrats shows just 11 percent of the providers offered tests for under £50, with the cheapest offering prices ranging from £20.
Some 24 percent of the providers were charging more than £200.
Health secretary Sajid Javid yesterday asked the competition watchdog Competition and Markets Authority to conduct a “rapid high-level review of the market for PCR travel tests” to enable to government to act before the summer holiday season ends.
Meanwhile, A YouGov poll commissioned by The Times found that almost seven in ten people, 67 percent, backed offering the vaccine to children aged 12 to 15. Only 13 percent opposed, with 20 per cent undecided.
Last week, Dr Deepti Gurdasani, epidemiologist at Queen Mary University London said it would not be “possible to get herd immunity without vaccinating younger children.”
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Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live blog on the coronavirus pandemic for Monday 9 August 2021.
Maroosha Muzaffar9 August 2021 05:02
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India’s busiest train network to reopen for fully vaccinated passengers
In Maharashtra, the chief minister has said that Mumbai’s local trains will open from 15 August to those who are fully vaccinated.
Uddhav Thackeray nonetheless warned of a state-wide lockdown if people let their guard down. He announced on Sunday that the local trains in Mumbai will open to those who are fully vaccinated “14 days after their second jab.”
In a televised address to the state, Mr Thackeray said: “We will launch an app where people can update if they have taken both doses and when they took their second dose.” He added: “People can take passes either from the app or from the offices.”
Times of India reported that the move is bound to benefit at least 1.9 million people that have been fully vaccinated in the state so far.
Mumbai had allowed the general public to board local trains from 1 February this year, but with staggered timing. In April, with the devastating second wave, the state put back restrictions on train travel.
Maroosha Muzaffar9 August 2021 05:32
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Kerala to open all tourist destinations from today
The tourism minister of India’s southern state of Kerala has announced that all tourist destinations will reopen from today.
PA Muhammed Riyas said on Sunday that celebrations for the week-long Onam festival would take place virtually this year. Last year, due to the pandemic, the state couldn’t celebrate it at all.
In an attempt to revive domestic tourism in the state, Mr Riyas also said that the local government was working to identify “unexplored tourist destinations” in various districts of the state.
The minister told the media that state tourism suffered a loss of £3.2bn from March 2020 to December 2020. Mr Riyas however said that strict Covid-19 guidelines shall be followed at all tourist destinations.
Last month, the tourism ministry had also initiated a vaccination drive at several tourist areas.
Maroosha Muzaffar9 August 2021 05:54
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Mixing vaccines yields ‘better shield’, says India
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) says that according to a new study, mixing the two vaccines most widely available in India — Covishield (AstraZeneca) and locally developed Covaxin — offers a “better shield” against coronavirus.
The findings are only based on a tiny sample size – 18 people in Uttar Pradesh state who received one dose each of the two different vaccines by mistake – and has yet to be peer-reviewed.
But the top government body for medical research said tests on the recipients found mixing the two vaccines was not only safe but “elicited better immunogenicity” than if they had received two doses of either vaccine.
Under this study, titled “Serendipitous Covid-19 Vaccine-Mix in Uttar Pradesh, India: Safety and Immunogenicity Assessment of a Heterologous Regime”, the antibody levels of 18 people in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharth Nagar were compared to 40 recipients of two doses of Covishield and 40 recipients of two doses of Covaxin.
The study duration was from May to June 2021.
Maroosha Muzaffar9 August 2021 06:07
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Covid-19 hospitalisations in US South reaching all-time high
In the United States, Covid-19 hospitalisations are reaching an “all-time high” in several southern states.
According to the latest data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, for the first time since 27 February, more than 50,000 were hospitalised nationwide on 4 August.
Louisiana set a new record for Covid-19 hospitalisations last week, CNN reported, while Florida saw a jump of 13 per cent from the state’s previous peak on 23 July last year.
The Florida Hospital Association has also said that the state expects 60 per cent of the state’s hospitals to face a “critical staff shortage” by this week.
Mississippi has fully vaccinated only about 35 per cent of its residents. And Alabama has 34.8 per cent of its residents fully inoculated.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 50 per cent of the total US population is now fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Austin announced that the pandemic situation in the state was “dire”. Reports said that the entire Austin area — with a population of almost 2.4 million — has just six beds available in intensive care units.
Maroosha Muzaffar9 August 2021 06:32
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China completes mass Covid-19 testing in Wuhan
China has said that it has completed mass Covid-19 testing in Wuhan after several cases were reported in the original epicentre of the pandemic.
The Wuhan government on Sunday said that it covered most of the city’s population except for college students who are on summer break and children under the age of six.
Nine people tested positive and authorities said that these patients were hospitalised.
China had announced mass Covid-19 testing in Wuhan on Tuesday after three local infections were found. Reports also said that on 7 August, Wuhan found another six local cases of coronavirus.
Officials said that of Wuhan’s more than 12 million population, 11.23 million were tested over the course of around five days.
According to the state-owned Xinhua news agency, there were also 64 asymptomatic cases under medical observation in Wuhan.
China’s National Health Commission said that the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland reached 93,605 by Friday.
Maroosha Muzaffar9 August 2021 06:45
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US teachers’ union backs vaccine mandate
With the increase in the number of children hospitalised with Covid-19 across the US, experts in the country are calling for mandatory vaccinations for teachers.
The head of the country’s second-largest teachers’ union said on Sunday that Covid-19 vaccinations should be required for all US teachers “to protect students who are too young to be inoculated”.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, was quoted by NBC as saying: “The circumstances have changed. It weighs really heavily on me that kids under 12 can’t get vaccinated,” adding that “I felt the need… to stand up and say this as a matter of personal conscience.”
The US’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, had also said that it was “critical to surround children with vaccinated and masked people” in schools.
Maroosha Muzaffar9 August 2021 07:04
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Australian Prime Minister approval rating lowest since pandemic began
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s public approval rating hit its lowest level since the pandemic began amid growing frustration over lockdowns and a sluggish vaccination drive.
A Newspoll conducted for The Australian newspaper showed Morrison’s public support dropped four points to 47 percent and approval of his handling of the pandemic has almost halved from a high of 85 percent in April last year to 48 percent in the latest survey.
Australia had hoped to complete its vaccine roll-out by October 2021 but this timetable was extended to the end of the year after rare blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccine saw Canberra initially recommend everyone under 60 take the Pfizer inoculation.
With fewer than 23 percent of Australians fully vaccinated, states have been forced to use a series of stop-and-start lockdowns to quell outbreaks of the highly infectious delta variant.
Ella Glover9 August 2021 07:38
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Latest UK figures
On Sunday, the UK reported 27,429 new coronavirus cases and 39 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
The number of people who have received one dose of a vaccine was 47,036,796 on 7 August, around 88.9 percent of the adult population.
Some 39,429,468 had also received their second dose of the vaccine, meaning almost three-quarters (74.5 percent) of the adult population had received both doses of a vaccine by Saturday
Ella Glover9 August 2021 08:09
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Scotland’s ‘freedom day’ arrives
Scotland lifted most of its remaining coronavirus restrictions at midnight following Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement last week that ‘freedom day’ would be going ahead as planned.
Legal requirements for physical distancing – except in healthcare settings – and gatherings have been removed and all venues, including nightclubs, are now able to reopen.
Some measures, such as the requirement to wear face coverings indoors in public places and on public transport, will stay in place.
Since the announcement, the Scottish Government has changed its position on requiring masks in nightclubs – meaning people won’t need to wear one – and people will also now be allowed to drink while standing up in pubs.
Read more about last week’s announcement below:
Ella Glover9 August 2021 08:25
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-vaccine-news-live-travel-b1894579.html?page=1
