Poland reports record number of daily coronavirus cases. The country has reported 29,978 new daily cases, and a further 575 coronavirus related deaths.
India detects new coronavirus variant. India’s health ministry has said that a new double mutant variant has been detected in the country, in addition to many other variants of concern which originated abroad.
Ukraine suffers record daily deaths for second consecutive day. Maksyn Stepanov, the health minister, said that there were 342 deaths in the last day, up from 333 deaths recorded the previous day.
The UN has warned that over 30 million people are ‘one step away from starvation’. An estimated 34 million people are struggling with emergency levels of acute hunger, with families in pockets of Yemen and South Sudan already being in the grip of starvation.
Hong Kong suspends Pfizer vaccine. The city’s government said the suspension was immediate while the matter is investigated by distributor Fosun Pharma and BioNTech.
NHS hit by covid disruption as cancer referrals plunge. In November, NHS England said that the number of people waiting more than a year for surgery had reached its highest level since 2008.
Fury in Brazil after Bolsonaro says people will soon lead ‘normal lives’. Bolsonaro made this televised address while Brazil suffered its heaviest day of losses since the pandemic began, reporting a record 3,251 deaths on Tuesday.
UK: No final decisions have been made on whether children should receive the coronavirus vaccine, the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said.
While children are unlikely to fall ill with Covid-19, they do play a role in transmitting the virus, PA reports.
Prof Adam Finn, who sits on the JCVI, said:
As far as I know there has been no decision made to immunise children starting in August, or indeed any decision been taken to immunise children at all at this point. But it’s certainly something that we might need to do.
If it does turn out to be necessary to immunise children, I think it is more likely that we would prioritise teenagers over younger children, simply because the evidence we have at the moment is that transmission of the virus is more likely to occur from and between teenagers who are a little bit more like adults.
Poland reports record number of new daily coronavirus cases
Poland has reported 29,978 new daily coronavirus cases, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
The country also recorded 575 coronavirus related deaths, the highest number in 2021. This brings the total death toll to over 50,000.
A Hong Kong clinic has been punished for recommending a foreign vaccine over a Chinese vaccination, AFP reports:
Hong Kong health authorities have ejected a private clinic from the city’s coronavirus vaccination programme after it reportedly recommended the German-made Pfizer/BioNTech shot to patients over the one from China’s Sinovac.The move illustrates the Hong Kong government’s sensitivity to any criticism of the Sinovac vaccine, which has a comparatively lower efficacy rate and was fast-tracked by regulators despite a lack of published data.
The city’s health department said Tuesday that the clinic would no longer administer Covid-19 jabs because a doctor violated an agreement with the inoculation programme.
Authorities said they had also reclaimed unused Sinovac doses from the clinic.
The announcement came after a photo of a notice at the clinic comparing the two vaccines’ efficacy rates went viral online over the weekend..
Reuters reports Roselyne Bachelot, France’s culture minister, has been taken to hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.
Elizabeth Borne, the employment minister, is in hospital too after testing positive for the virus.
TwitterOutbreaks of infectious diseases are more likely in areas of deforestation and monoculture plantations, according to a study that suggests epidemics are likely to increase as biodiversity declines.
Land use change is a significant factor in the emergence of zoonotic viruses such as Covid-19 and vector-borne ailments such as malaria, says the paper, published today in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Even tree-planting can increase health risks to local human populations if it focuses too narrowly on a small number of species, as is often the case in commercial forests, the research found.
Russia has reported 8,861 new coronavirus cases, and a further 401 deaths today.
The total amount of cases now stands at 4,483,471 and the death toll at 96,219.
Sweden has announced that the travel ban preventing people from Norway and Denmark travelling to the country will end on 31 March.
Mikael Damberg, a government minister, told a news conference that the measure was no longer necessary to reduce the spread of the virus, and that everyone travelling to Sweden will still need to provide a negative test before entering the country.
He added:
This means, among other things, that Norwegians and Danes can travel to their holiday
India’s health ministry has said today that a new coronavirus variant has been detected in the country in addition to many other variants of concern also found abroad, Reuters reports.
In a statement, the health ministry said:
Though variants of concern and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, these have not been detected in numbers sufficient to either establish a direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states,” the health ministry said in a statement
Aubrey Allegretti and Jessica Elgot report that Boris Johnson has told Conservative MPs that the success of the UK’s vaccine rollout was thanks to “greed” and “capitalism”.
Several of those present confirmed the prime minister had made the remarks during an end-of-term Zoom meeting with Tory backbenchers, known as the 1922 Committee, on Tuesday evening, two days before the Commons breaks for Easter.
Johnson hailed the fact that more than 28 million people have been given a first jab in the UK, saying: “The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed my friends.”
Immediately afterwards, he tried to backpedal and withdraw what he had said, according to MPs, one of whom added that the PM then made a joke about how details of the 1922 Committee virtual meetings often leak.
Downing Street has not denied the account but refused to issue a comment.
Ukraine has reported a record daily number of coronavirus deaths for the second consecutive day, Reuters reports.
Maksyn Stepanov, the health minister, said that there were 342 deaths in the last day, up from 333 deaths recorded the previous day.
The country is also reporting a record number of hospitalisations, with 5,483 Ukrainians beig taken to hospital with coronavirus over the past day. The daily record was 4,887, reported on 11 March.
On Tuesday, Ukraine tightened border controls in an attempt to slow infections, and now requires visitors to provide a negative test.
The country of 41 million has a relatively slow vaccination programme, with just 137,026 people have received their first shot by 24 March. The country has reported a total of death toll of 30,773.
A medical worker wearing protective gear stands next to an ambulance outside a hospital for patients infected with the coronavirus disease in Kyiv, Ukraine, last November. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Updated at 7.41am GMT
Reuters reports that Poland is likely to announce over 29,000 new coronavirus cases today, with the figure being the highest daily number of new cases since 27,875 in November.
Michal Dworcyz, the prime minister’s top aide, told Polsat News: “We are waiting for the final data but all indications are that we will have over 29,000 new infections.”
