Germany and Switzerland set to ease restrictions – as it happened | World news

Mexico recorded 520 more deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

It brings the total death toll to 314,128, according to health ministry data.

People who catch Covid-19 are more likely to go on to suffer depression and anxiety, a study has suggested.

Experts said the research backs up previous findings but has a longer follow-up, with people tracked for a year, PA reports.

US researchers looked at data for 153,848 people who had experienced coronavirus and compared them with more than 560,000 with no history of Covid and a further large control group from before the pandemic.

The results showed that Covid-19 was associated with an increased risk of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, substance use and sleep problems, up to a year after infection.

Compared with the non-infected group, people with Covid-19 showed a 60% higher risk of a mental health diagnosis or needing a mental health prescription at the one-year point.

Anxiety rates were 35% higher among those who had had Covid and 39% higher for depression. People were also 55% more likely to use anti-depressants.

The leading US health officials said on Wednesday that the nation is moving closer to the point that Covid-19 is no longer a “constant crisis” as more cities, businesses and sports venues began lifting pandemic restrictions around the country.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing that the government is contemplating a change to its mask guidance in the coming weeks.

Noting recent declines in Covid-19 cases, hospital admissions and deaths, she acknowledged “people are so eager” for health officials to ease masking rules and other measures designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

An Omicron-specific booster could be ready by August, the CEO of Moderna told Reuters, but the firm is still gathering clinical data to determine whether that vaccine would offer better protection than a new dose of the existing jab.

Last month the US biotech firm began clinical trials for a booster dose designed to target Omicron but initial results from studies in monkeys show the jab may not offer stronger protection than a new dose of the existing vaccine.

The company’s chief executive Stephane Bancel said the company aimed to have a booster ready by August 2022, before next autumn when he said more vulnerable people may need it.

Moderna’s vaccines use mRNA technology to provoke an immune response, similar to the shot developed by Pfizer/BioNTech.

“We believe a booster will be needed. I don’t know yet if it is going to be the existing vaccine, Omicron-only, or bivalent: Omicron and existing vaccine, two mRNA in one dose.”

Bancel also confirmed that under the best-case scenario, Moderna would have ready by August 2023 a so-called pan-vaccine which would protect simultaneously against Covid-19, flu and other respiratory diseases.

Brazil had 147,734 new cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 1,085 deaths, its health ministry said on Wednesday.

The South American country has now registered 27,806,786 cases since the pandemic began while the official death toll has risen to 640,774, Reuters reports.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued president Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday over a government mandate requiring that masks be worn at US airports and on airplanes and other transit modes.

Paxton and US Representative Beth Van Duyne jointly filed a lawsuit challenging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention transit mask rules, which have been in place since February 2021, Reuters reports.

The current mask requirements are set to expire on 18 March, though they previously have been extended several times.

Children aged five to 11 in England, Wales and Scotland will be offered protection against Covid, meaning millions more will be eligible for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

The Pfizer vaccine, given at one-third the dose of adults, was approved as safe and effective for children by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in December. But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation previously recommended the vaccine only for vulnerable five- to 11-year-olds.

Millions of children aged five to 11 have been vaccinated in other countries, such as the US and countries in Europe.

Five parents share their reactions: