Covid UK news live: Fourth lockdown not ruled out, minister says

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison has said that states and territories will get more doses of Covid-19 vaccines soon, as the outbreak in New South Wales reached 11 cases in five days.

Australian states have been asking for increased vaccine supplies of vaccines after a policy shift recommended that AstraZeneca shots be used only for those over 60, due to blood clot worries, turning the rollout upside down.

“They are all getting additional doses … it scales up again in July when the additional Pfizer doses go out,” Mr Morrison told radio station 2GB.

Meanwhile health authorities said that the Pfizer vaccine rollout is expected to speed up from August as it is currently “operating in a resource-constrained environment.”

“As we get into that third-quarter, fourth-quarter, we will have far freer flows of Pfizer and start to be able to allocate that more freely,” Lieutenant General John Frewen, the head of Australia’s vaccine taskforce, told reporters in Canberra.

Monday should have seen the final lifting of lockdown restrictions across England, but because of rising coronavirus infection rates due to the now-dominant Delta variant, “Freedom Day” has been delayed until 19 July.

This means that the rule-of-six and social distancing measures remain in place. But, a number of other restrictions — including those around weddings, wakes, and care homes — have been lifted as of today.

New Zealand is approving the Pfizer vaccine for those aged between 12 and 15 years old, said prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

The move comes following Canada, the US, Japan and Europe, who have all said that they will vaccinate 12-15 year-olds with the Pfizer jab.

Ms Ardern explained that although children were less likely to suffer serious illness as a result of Covid-19, they could still spread the virus.

She said: “Put simply – when our children are vaccinated, their teachers, friends, siblings, parents and grandparents are more protected from the virus too. So it’s in all of our interests for this group to get the vaccine.”

New Zealand has currently vaccinated about 7.7 per cent of the adult population.

So far, only specific vulnerable groups have been vaccinated, but the rollout is due to move to the general adult population in July, with hopes that those under 35 will be reached in October.

A cross-party group of MPs have called on the government to upgrade e-passport gates at airports to read Covid tests in time for the return of mass foreign travel.

The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on coronavirus said the measure will help reduce queueing and crowding at airport arrival halls.

In a report released on Sunday night the MPs also say Covid “green passes” for international travel should include test results to reduce the need for paper documentation.

Cabinet minister Kwasi Kwarteng has suggested it is “unlikely” the remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted before 19 July, stressing the government would “always err on the side of caution”.

Announcing a delay to the final stage of lifting England’s Covid measures last week due to a surge in cases linked to the Delta variant, Boris Johnson also told the public there would be a review after two weeks.

Pressed on the date, the business secretary, who said he hoped for “some type of normality” on 19 July, told Sky News: “I think between you and me, I would always err on the side of caution and I would look to 19 July.

Experts have confirmed that at least 15 cases of the new Delta plus variant — a further mutation in the already “more transmissible” Delta variant — have been identified in India.

Dr Sujeet Singh of India’s National Centre for Disease Control told The Times of India newspaper that 15-20 cases of Delta-plus variant have been found from different states across the country.

While the Indian government has said Delta plus is not a variant of concern at this point, AIIMS chief Dr Guleria has warned that it could become a variant of concern if not checked.

As the second wave abates, doctors and public health experts in India have now started to warn of a third wave of Covid-19 infections as states start to ease restrictions and allow more movement.

Neeraj Nischal, a professor at one of India’s state-run top medical institutes, told the media that while the mutation of the virus cannot be controlled, people can prevent a third wave by following Covid appropriate behaviour.

All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) chief Dr Randeep Guleria has said that a third Covid wave is “inevitable” and it could hit in the next six to eight weeks

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called upon countries in the South-East Asian region to speed up Covid-19 vaccination and implement public health measures to prevent another surge in coronavirus cases.

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of WHO South-East Asia, said that combinations of public health and social measures must be implemented until “globally there is high Covid-19 vaccine coverage among health workers, and high-risk and vulnerable groups.”

The measures include disinfection, ventilation and physical distancing, among others, the UN health body said.

A doctor in India is under cloud after police recover 3,293 vials of fake Amphotericin B injections — a medicine used in the treatment of mucormycosis or black fungus — from his house in India’s national capital Delhi.

Police are cracking down on the black marketing of the anti fungal drug amid a severe shortage as the number of mucormycosis cases continues to rise across the country.