Coronavirus live news: Covid patients in Irish hospitals pass first-wave peak; Denmark bans South African visitors | World news
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The highest Muslim clerical council in Indonesia is hoping to issue a ruling on whether a Covid-19 vaccine is halal – days before the country is due to start a mass vaccination programme using a Chinese vaccine.
Public health responses in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, have in the past been hampered by controversy over whether vaccines meet the requirements of Islamic law. In 2018, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa declaring that a measles vaccine was forbidden under Islam.
Indonesia is to begin its vaccination programme on 13 January, after procuring 3m doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine. “Hopefully the edict can be declared before the government starts its vaccination program,” Muti Arintawati, an official at MUI in charge of analysing food and drugs, said. She said data was still being gathered before MUI could make a final edict.
Indonesia, which has had the worst Covid-19 outbreak in south-east Asia, recorded its biggest daily rise in Covid-19 infections on Wednesday. The 8,854 new cases brought the total number so far detected in the country to 788,402, according to data from the country’s Covid-19 taskforce.
It also reported 187 new deaths, bringing the total toll to 23,296. Indonesia has reported the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the region.
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Coronavirus-infected patients in Irish hospitals pass first-wave peak
The number of patients in hospitals in Ireland who are infected with coronavirus has exceeded the peak set during the country’s first wave of the pandemic, official data has shown.
Health officials blamed increased socialising around Christmas after the government reopened most of the economy for a rapid shift to one of the fastest rates of infection in the European Union.
Previously, the country had one of the lowest rates.
Covid-19 hospital admissions are rising by about 10% a day, taking the number of patients being treated to 921 on Wednesday, compared with the mid-April peak of 881. Early on Wednesday, 76 patients were in intensive care units (ICU), having more than doubled in a week. The mid-April peak was 155.
Government ministers will meet on Wednesday to discuss measures, including stricter rules for travellers flying into Ireland and the closure of schools and non-essential construction.
The head of Ireland’s health service operator, Paul Reid, said on Wednesday that “healthy people are getting very sick”.
On Monday, Reid said the rate of infections meant the total in hospitals could hit 2,500 this month, with between 250 and 430 in ICU.
Public hospitals can increase ICU capacity safely to 375 and the health service was again seeking to take over private hospital ICU beds for Covid-19 admissions, he said.
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China’s foreign ministry has attempted to assuage concerns about the refusal to grant entry to a team of experts from the World Health Organization due to investigate the origins of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, saying arrangements were being worked out.
A foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, told a regular news briefing in Beijing that the problem was “not just about visas” for the team. Asked about reports that the dates had been agreed upon, she said there had been a “misunderstanding” and the two sides were still in discussions over the timing and other arrangements and “remain in close communication”.
“There’s no need to overinterpret this,” she was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
China’s experts were also busy dealing with increase in coronavirus infections, with many locations entering a “wartime footing” to stop the virus, she said.
The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Tuesday he was “very disappointed” China had not authorised the entry of the team for the investigation, which he said was a WHO priority.
Much remains unknown about the origins of the virus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, and China has been sensitive about any suggestion it could have done more in the early stages of the pandemic to stop it.
The 10-strong team of international experts had been due to set off in early January as part of a long-awaited mission to investigate early cases of the disease.
The mission is due to be led by Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO’s top expert on animal diseases that cross the species barrier, who went to China on a preliminary mission last July.
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Europe’s medicines regulator is to meet again on Wednesday to try to come to a decision on whether to approve the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, the US’s flagship vaccine, after failing to come to a decision on Monday.
The European Medicines Authority (EMA) had called an unscheduled meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss Moderna’s vaccine, which like the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine uses mRNA technology, but failed to reach a conclusion then.
The medicines regulator did not specify why it could not yet approve the vaccine, but on Tuesday said its experts were “working hard to clarify outstanding issues with the company”, according to the Reuters news agency.
The Dutch national medicines authority told Reuters it was preparing for both a positive decision on Wednesday and for a scenario in which a conclusion still could not be reached.
The EMA has set a 12 January deadline for whether to recommend Moderna’s vaccine. It recommended the Pfizer vaccine on 21 December.
Distribution of the Moderna vaccine has already begun in Canada and the US. Israel was the first country outside North America to grant authorisation.
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Czech Republic reports record infections
Health authorities in the Czech Republic have reported 17,278 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, its highest daily tally on record and perhaps the highest increase per capita anywhere in the world.
After more or less avoiding an outbreak of Covid-19 last March, as the rest of Europe reeled from the first wave of the pandemic, the Czech Republic is seemingly on its way to becoming one of the world’s worst affected countries.
The coronavirus tracking service on the Our World in Data website showed that on Tuesday, when health authorities reported 12,901 cases, the Czech Republic had a higher number of new cases per million inhabitants than the UK and the US.
The country of 10.7 million also had a record number of active cases – 126,348 as of Wednesday morning, figures published by the health ministry showed.
A reader, who preferred to remain unnamed, described the situation in the country as “crazy”. He wrote:
Today the number of cases is again a record one – at a much worse per capita rate than the UK. Apparently the worst numbers in the world per capita last week. Still the government changed again their tier-scheme to show things in a more positive light (from today the ratio of positive tests is no longer taken into account of taking measures – maybe because it is close to 40%).
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Efforts should be made to allow children to see friends as much as possible, Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, has said.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she said that the government “really seriously” needed to look at the idea of letting children under 12 see friends in person, as has been permitted in other countries.
For children, time has a different meaning – they remember that endless period during the first lockdown and how they missed their friends.
We know that children were worried about missing friends but also about the future, what would it mean. So it’s really important to talk to children, to reassure them. But I want children to have as much contact as they can with their friends.”
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South Africans banned from visiting Denmark over new strain
Residents of South Africa are to be banned from entering Denmark over fears of the spread of a new strain of coronavirus identified by South African authorities in the middle of last month.
The South African strain and another that has emerged in Britain are said to be more infectious versions of the virus, and have prompted widespread concern. There are also fears – so far unproven – that the South African strain may not be countered by vaccines developed so far to give immunity to Covid-19.
Denmark’s decision came into effect on Wednesday and will last until 17 January, according to AFP, the French state-backed news agency. “This means that foreigners residing in South Africa generally will be refused entry to Denmark during this period,” the justice ministry said in a statement late Tuesday.
The only exceptions will be for child care, family visits and for people who are sick or dying, and on submission of a negative test for the coronavirus less than 72 hours old, and for the transport of merchandise.
Although it is yet to detect any cases of the South African strain, Denmark, which is under a partial lockdown since mid-December, has almost 90 cases of the new British variant.
It has already barred entry to arrivals from Britain except for Danish nationals and permanent residents, who must present a negative virus test.
So far Denmark has suffered 1,420 deaths and almost 173,000 coronavirus cases among its 5.8 million people.
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There will be a “big increase” in the number of coronavirus vaccines delivered in the UK from next week, Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccine minister, has said.
Zahawi told BBC Breakfast “the NHS has a very clear plan and I’m confident that we can meet it”, as he claimed a “significant increase” in the number of vaccinations carried out from the 1.3m he said had been administered from 8 December.
Earlier, Zahawi claimed that 99% of coronavirus deaths could be avoided by vaccinating people in the nine priority categories listed by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
He told Times Radio that “the average age of a person dying from Covid is about 83 in hospital”, but “there are still people between the ages of 50 and 65 who are needing hospitalisation for two or three days for additional oxygen support before they can overcome this terrible virus”.
He added: “Ninety-nine per cent of mortality is reduced by protecting those nine categories, the most vulnerable.”
When asked how long it would take to give jabs to those groups, Zahawi said: “I’m very hopeful that by the spring we will get through the nine categories.”
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Russia reported 24,217 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours on Wednesday, including 5,142 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,308,601, Reuters reports.
Authorities said 445 people had died, taking Russia’s official death toll to 59,951.
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