Coronavirus live news: Japan towns abandon plans to accept overseas Olympic athletes | World news

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.

Here’s a something a little lighter to break up the bad news for a moment before my colleague Martin Belam takes the helm

Coronavirus infections in England halved in recent months, according to a study, but concerns remain about the threat from new variants, PA reports.

Prevalence of infections dropped by 50% between March and early May, and is at its lowest since August, new data suggests. But the figures come amid a warning from Boris Johnson that new variants “pose a potentially lethal danger”.

The Prime Minister said there is “increasing concern” in the UK about the variant first identified in India.

Professor Paul Elliott, director of Imperial College London’s React programme, cited that variant when asked whether the study’s latest data supported a move into the next stage of easing lockdown restrictions.

He said: “It is a difficult question because we have low levels of prevalence in the community, and we’ve got low levels of disease in hospitals and deaths, so that’s good.
“But I think that the patterns in the Indian variant are cause for some concern.”

He added that further studies are needed to really understand the characteristics and the spread of the Indian variant which appears to be at least as transmissible as the Kent variant.

The React study looked at variants of coronavirus and found that of 115 positive swabs, 24 cases were identified as the Kent variant, and two of three cases in London were identified as the Indian variant of concern.

The experts said neither participant had been abroad in the previous two weeks.

India had 362,727 new Covid-19 infections over the last 24 hours while deaths climbed by 4,120, taking the toll to 258,317, health ministry data showed.

The South Asian nation’s total caseload now stands at 23.7 million.

Dozens of Japanese towns have abandoned plans to accept overseas athletes competing in the Olympics from July due to concerns about inadequate resources amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Of 528 towns registered to welcome international competitors, about 40 have decided not to accept athletes for training camps and cultural exchanges before the global sporting showpiece, the Nikkei reported citing a government source.

Ibaraki prefecture Governor Kazuhiko Ooigawa said on Wednesday that he rejected the Tokyo Olympics Organising Committee’s request to secure hospital beds for the athletes as the prefecture had to prioritise citizens over athletes.

He has said a further postponement of the Games – which was originally due to be held last year – or outright cancellation should be considered if the pandemic worsened.

The United States’ track and field team has cancelled its pre-Olympics training camp in Japan out of concerns for their safety during the pandemic, the eastern prefecture of Chiba said on Wednesday.

Overseas athletes also will not participate in a test event for the Olympics BMX freestyle cycling, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Thursday, citing an unnamed source. The test event had been postponed from April to May 17 amid the pandemic.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

As always, you can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

Dozens of Japanese towns have abandoned plans to accept overseas athletes competing in the Olympics from July due to concerns about inadequate resources amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday.

Of 528 towns registered to welcome international competitors, about 40 have decided not to accept athletes for training camps and cultural exchanges before the global sporting showpiece, the Nikkei reported citing a government source.

Here are the other key recent developments:

• The Netherlands expects to further relax coronavirus restrictions next week, giving the green light to sex workers and zoos so long as cases keep falling, prime minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday.
• Major US airlines have weighed in alongside UK carriers to urge the reopening of transatlantic travel, calling on governments in Washington and London to arrange a summit as soon as possible.
• Burger chain McDonald’s has announced it is partnering with the White House to promote vaccination information on its coffee cups. Separately, Joe Biden announced on Tuesday a new program with Lyft and Uber which will offer free rides to anyone going to a vaccination site to get vaccinated.
• Pfizer has asked the UK medical regulator for permission to use its Covid-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds in Britain, the Telegraph has reported.
• Teachers in Buenos Aires are demanding a return to virtual learning due to the increase in cases of coronavirus since the return of students.
• Brazil recorded 72,715 additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, along with 2,311 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
• The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Ontario said on Tuesday they would stop offering first doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, with Ontario citing evidence that the risk of rare blood clots is somewhat higher than previously estimated.
• Brazil’s federal government on Tuesday nationally suspended the vaccination of pregnant women with the AstraZeneca shot, after an expectant mother in Rio de Janeiro died from a stroke possibly related to the inoculation.