Festive gatherings are likely to place “additional pressure” on hospitals and GPs in the New Year, which “we need to be ready for”, the the group – which includes England’s Professor Chris Whitty and – also said.
Meanwhile the Covid-19 vaccine will “definitely” be ready to go into care homes in the next two weeks, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said. It means care home residents and staff may not be the first to receive jabs, despite being the top priority.
Live updates
Sydney flight passengers ordered to self isolate after pair break quarantine regulations
Every passenger on a Virgin Airways flight from Sydney to Melbourne has been told to self isolate after two passengers on the flight broke quarantine regulations.
The Department of Health and Human Services said that anyone who travelled on Virgin Airways flight VA 838 from Sydney at midday AEDT and arriving in Melbourne at 1.25pm on Saturday should “immediately quarantine at home and contact DHHS”.
The two travellers are now in mandatory quarantine in Victoria after arriving in Sydney from overseas earlier on Saturday.
“Anyone who has been at the Melbourne airport domestic terminal on Saturday afternoon is advised to monitor for Covid-19 symptoms and to seek testing if symptoms develop,” the department said. Meanwhile, a change to mask rules and increased social gathering caps are expected to be announced for Victoria on Sunday.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton has indicated it will be safe for the state to move to a “Covid normal” level of restrictions.
Victoria has been free of locally transmitted coronavirus cases for more than a month and with no active cases, has effectively eradicated the virus. Under the government’s original roadmap out of lockdown, “Covid normal” signifies a final easing of attendance restrictions on community sport, hospitality venues, gatherings and visitors to the home.
Iran covid-19 deaths top 50,000
Iran’s death toll from coronavirus has topped 50,000 with 321 new fatalities in the last 24 hours, the country’s health ministry has announced. The total number of cases of Covid-19 have now reached 1,028,986. The country’s health ministry spokeswoman Sima Ladat Lari told Iranian state TV the death toll stood at 50,016.
Scientist in ‘don’t hug your family until spring’ plea
The best way to show your love of your family this Christmas is to hold off from hugging them until it is safe, a scientist from the University of St Andrews has said.
Professor Stephen Reicher told Sky News.”It’s a little bit like don’t cross a road when cars are going either way. Wait until it’s safe to do it.
“We have to make our own choices as to what is best for us, and perhaps in a season of pandemic the way you show your love for your family is to not hug them.”
He said he realised it was far from ideal for families but added: “The best way in which you protect your family is to delay meeting up physically and hugging each other until the spring or the summer, when it’s safe.”
Whitty’s Winter warning: ‘ We think it is likely that by spring the effects of vaccination will begin to be felt’
Here is Chris Whitty’s letter in full warning of only a small impact of the vaccine over the Winter months. He and the other UK medical experts warn “We think it is likely that by spring the effects of vaccination will begin to be felt.”
He’s no dummy: ‘Tis the season to be careful’
Rapid turnaround tests defended amid fears of large number of ‘false negatives’
A senior UK government adviser has defended mass use of rapid turnaround tests for coronavirus amid concerns a high level of “false negatives” is giving people a misplaced sense of reassurance, PA Media reports.
Government figures released earlier this week from Liverpool – where the mass rollout of the lateral flow tests was first piloted – showed they missed half of all cases and a third of those with a high viral load who were likely to be the most infectious.
It led to calls from some scientists for their use to be suspended amid fears some people who tested negative would go on to mix with others who may be more vulnerable because they wrongly believed they did not have the disease.
Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to NHS test and trace, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “What we are doing here is case detection. We are not saying people do not have the disease if their test is negative.
“We are trying to say (to people who test positive): ‘You do have the disease and now we want you to go and isolate for ten days’. That is a whole different game-changer.
“We have been very clear that this test finds people we couldn’t otherwise find. We are also very clear that until we get a much lower prevalence of disease in this country that we shouldn’t be changing our behaviours.”
Thousands of doctors, teachers and others in high-risk groups sign up for vaccinations in Moscow
Thousands of doctors, teachers and others in high-risk groups have signed up for Covid-19 vaccinations in Moscow starting Saturday, a precursor to a sweeping Russia-wide immunization effort.
The vaccinations come three days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a “large-scale” COVID-19 immunization campaign even though a Russian-designed vaccine has yet to complete the advanced studies needed to ensure its effectiveness and safety in line with established scientific protocols.
The Russian leader said Wednesday that more than 2 million doses of the Sputnik V jab will be available in the next few days, allowing authorities to offer jabs to medical workers and teachers across the country starting late next week.
Moscow, which currently accounts for about a quarter of the country’s new daily infections, moved ahead of the curve, opening 70 vaccination facilities on Saturday. Doctors, teachers and municipal workers were invited to book a time to receive a jab, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that about 5,000 signed up in a few hours after the system began operating on Friday.
Russia boasted that Sputnik V was the world’s “first registered COVID-19 vaccine” after the government gave it regulatory approval in early August. The move drew criticism from international experts, who pointed out that the vaccine had only been tested on several dozen people at the time.
Putin has shrugged off doubts about it, saying in August that one of his daughters was among the early vaccine recipients.
Over the past months, Sputnik V has been offered to medical workers and teachers even as it was still in the middle of advanced trials. Several top officials said they also have received the jabs, and earlier this week the Russian military began vaccinating crews of navy ships scheduled to depart on a mission.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Wednesday that more than 100,000 people in Russia already have received the shots.
The free vaccine is offered to people aged 18 to 60 who don’t suffer from chronic illnesses and aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding.
Russia begins Covid vaccinations
Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V COVID-19 shot via 70 clinics today, marking Russia’s first mass vaccination against the disease, the city’s coronavirus task force said.
The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease.
“You are working at an educational institution and have top-priority for the COVID-19 vaccine, free of charge,” read a phone text message received by one Muscovite, an elementary school teacher, early on Saturday and seen by Reuters.
Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak, registered 7,993 new cases overnight, up from 6,868 a day before and well above the daily tallies of around 700 seen in early September.
Vaccine to have ‘marginal impact’ on hospital admissions over Winter, UK experts warn
Number of vaccination sites to ‘vary according to the number of residents it has who are over 80’
NHS England and NHS Improvement said the number of vaccination sites in each clinical commissioning group (CCG) area will vary according to the number of residents it has who are over 80.
CCGs have been asked to consider inequalities and deprivation – some of the biggest Covid-19 risk factors – when choosing the sites for their vaccination centres.
Each centre will also be supplied with the “IT equipment necessary to deliver the programme and a fridge”, the letter said.
It added: “We will be writing to sites identified as part of wave 1 on Monday, setting out full details of vaccine supply dates, delivery of other consumables and equipment to the site, and the process for assuring readiness before delivery of vaccines.”
It said staff at the vaccination sites would be provided with training, and be “given full support to mobilise within the timescale”.
