Coronavirus live news: first travellers to leave UK quarantine hotels; France could impose regional lockdowns

Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be taking over the live blog now so please feel free to drop me a message on Twitter if you have any coverage suggestions.

The European Union’s medicines regulator is set to recommend Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine early next month, reports Bloomberg news.

Approval from the European Medicines Agency is expected on 11 March, an EU official was reported to have told the news wire service.

The move would pave the way for authorisation of a fourth Covid-19 vaccine, alongside those from Moderna, AstraZeneca and a partnership of Pfizer and BioNTech.

Ivory Coast was due to receive a shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from the sharing facility Covax today, becoming the second country to benefit from a programme meant to ensure fairer distribution amid a global scramble.

A plane carrying 504,000 doses was expected to touch down in the commercial capital Abidjan from 10am local time, according to the GAVI vaccines alliance, the World Health Organization and other partners in the scheme.

By the end of this year, Covax plans to deliver nearly 2bn doses to over 90 low and middle-income countries, hoping to even a playing field that has seen wealthier nations vaccinate millions while comparatively few have received shots in poorer parts of the world.

Mark Machin, the head of Canada’s largest pension fund, received a Covid-19 vaccine shot in the United Arab Emirates ahead of millions of Canadians, according to the Wall Street Journal, as sources in the Canadian government described it as “troubling.”

The chief executive of the $379bn Canada Pension Plan Investment Board arrived earlier this month in the UAE with his partner and received the first dose of a vaccine while Canada continues to have one of the developed world’s slowest rollouts, the WSJ added.

It reported “people familiar with the matter” had said that the 54-year-old received the Pfizer vaccine.

The same sources added that he has told contacts he used local connections to obtain the vaccines, and he has remained in the UAE where he is due to receive his second dose in coming weeks.

The Toronto Star and other outlets have updates.

The circumstances in which the Dutch government introduced a Covid-19 curfew have been endorsed in the latest court ruling following a series of legal wrangles.

In a clear victory for the government over a group called Viruswaarheid – virus truth – that opposes the lockdown, the appeals court also said that the 9pm-4:30am curfew introduced on 23 January was a proportional measure to tackle the Covid-19 crisis.

The outcome will have little effect on the government’s attempts to rein in the virus as it rushed fresh legislation through parliament to empower the curfew after a judge banned the measure, which sparked rioting when it was initially introduced.

The Hague court of appeal said in a statement announcing Friday’s decision that the curfew’s limitation of constitutional freedoms “is justified” to tackle the Covid-19 crisis.

Rioting shook the Netherlands last month as protesters rampaged through towns and cities around the country after government introduced a night-time curfew.

More than 180 people were arrested on one night in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where shops were vandalised and looted.

German army doctors were welcomed in Portugal when they came to help fight the pandemic but the fact that they are working in a clinic owned by a Chinese conglomerate has drawn criticism, reports Deutsche Welle (DW).

The German broadcaster recalls that Germany was one of the first countries to react as pictures of ambulance queues outside Portuguese hospitals went around the world, and the government in Lisbon asked for help.

However, there has also been some criticism of the fact that they were not sent to help out in the overburdened state hospitals or at one of the makeshift clinics but to the Hospital da Luz, which is one of Portugal’s best-known and most expensive private clinics.

Portuguese authorities have said that the medics are also treating patients from the public health care system.

A US Navy warship operating in the Middle East has a dozen cases of the novel coronavirus, while another warship in the region is investigating whether some of its members are also infected.

The USS San Diego, which has the confirmed cases, is at port in Bahrain. It sails with about 600 sailors and Marines onboard.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, which carries 380 sailors, is expected to pull into port for further testing.

The US 5th Fleet posted a statement on Twitter:

A wave of corruption scandals have been exposing how the powerful and well-connected in South America jumped the line to get vaccines early, the New York Times reports.

Public dismay is turning into anger, with the resignation of two ministers in Peru and another one in Argentina after receiving or giving preferential access to scarce vaccines.

An Ecuadorian minister also faces an investigation over the same issue.

The NY Times reports that the scandals mirror similar affairs in Spain, Lebanon, the Philippines and the US but in Latin America the brazen nature of some of the cases has exacerbated the outrage.

A British citizen has been sentenced to two weeks in jail and fined 1,000 Singapore dollars ($753) for breaking a coronavirus quarantine order in Singapore.

Nigel Skea is the first Briton to be jailed for flouting coronavirus rules in the city-state. A handful had their work passes revoked and paid fines.

Skea left his room at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore on three occasions last September, according to charge sheets. He was not wearing a mask.

On one of the occasions, he climbed an emergency stairwell and entered a room that his Singaporean fiancee had booked. They spent nine hours together.

Skea, who pleaded guilty to two charges of flouting the rules, arrived at the State Courts on Friday with Agatha Maghesh Eyamalai, whom he has since married.

Eyamalai pleaded guilty to one charge of aiding Skea. She was sentenced to a week in jail.

District judge Jasvender Kaur said the sentences were meant to send a “clear message” that restrictions should be followed.

The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) recorded a deficit of $24.7m following the Covid-disrupted 2020 season, but its AGM has been told that National Rugby League (NRL) clubs and all state leagues have emerged from the pandemic financially secure.

The result comes after the NRL enforced drastic cost-cutting measures in response to the impact of Covid, including cutting a quarter of its staff across all roles in September.

The NRL also increased net payments for clubs by 300% to give them the financial support needed to stay viable and in a secure position for the future.

“This is in stark contrast to other sports which either reduced funding to their clubs or maintained the same level of funding in their clubs’ time of need, given the disastrous impact of Covid-19 on their other sources of revenue,” the meeting on Friday was told by Peter V’landys, the ARLC Chairman.

A poll in the in the Republic of Ireland has found there is strong support for reopening society and the economy as soon as possible.

The latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll also found that the zero-Covid approach, the focus of recent debate, is not endorsed by a large majority of respondents, who yearn for some kind of “normality” once the elderly and vulnerable people have been vaccinated.

The findings also recorded a widespread willingness to take the vaccine, with 80% saying they would take it tomorrow, and just 14% saying they would choose not to.

It comes as the head of Ireland’s health service, Paul Reid, has been reflecting on the past year. Ireland had “prepared well”, he said on Thursday.

But he added: “We all have to put our hand on our heart and take reflections on what hasn’t worked and what we could have done better.”

The Philippines’ health ministry has reported 2,651 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily increase in cases in more than four months, and 46 additional deaths.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had increased to 571,327, while confirmed deaths were at 12,247.

The Philippines, which has south-east Asia’s second-highest Covid-19 caseload will take delivery of its first vaccines at the weekend, allowing it to kick off its inoculation programme.

A scientist involved advising the UK government has said there is little point in primary school children wearing facemasks.

Prof Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Radio 4: “Primary school children are the lowest risk both to themselves and to society.

“There is really good data coming out … that shows that children are half as likely to acquire the virus to a third as likely to acquire the virus.

“When it comes to transmitting they are probably half as likely to transmit it as adults. That risk actually gets smaller as you go into younger age groups. I am not a great fan of young children wearing facemasks.”

Hungary could consider tightening some lockdown restrictions as coronavirus infections are expected to rise “drastically” in the next two weeks, prime minister Viktor Orbán has told state radio.

Orbán also said all the 2.5 million to 2.6 million Hungarians who have registered for Covid-19 vaccinations so far would receive at least one dose by Easter, in early April.

Orban said he hoped to get vaccinated with a shot developed by China’s Sinopharm early next week.

“We need to radically limit travels outside Europe,” Orban said, including business travel.

Orban flagged “very strict travel rules” to be worked out, and depending on the pace of new infections in coming days he said a tightening of current restrictions could become necessary.

The government has extended a partial lockdown until 15 March.

Israel has administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to 50% of its 9.3 million population, health minister Yuli Edelstein has said.

Israel counts East Jerusalem Palestinians, who have been included in the vaccine campaign that began on 19 December, as part of its population.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip are not part of the Israeli campaign.

Edelstein said 35% of Israel’s population had received both doses of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, putting them on course to receive a so-called “green pass” with access to leisure sites that the country has been gradually reopening.