Coronavirus live: UK health secretary ‘not considering’ October firebreak; New Zealand rethinks opening borders | World news

Sarah Johnson and Nhung Nguyen write for us immediately about Vietnam:

When the strictest lockdown up to now was imposed in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, Tran Thi Hao*, a manufacturing facility employee, was informed that the federal government would preserve her and her household well-fed – however for 2 months they’ve eaten little greater than rice and fish sauce.

She was placed on unpaid depart from her job in July, whereas her husband, a building employee, has not labored for months. They’re behind on their lease, with one other fee due quickly.

“I’m attempting to carry on for so long as potential however I don’t know what is going to come subsequent,” she says. “I don’t know the best way to put what I’m feeling into phrases. I wish to ask why there’s been no help.

“The federal government stated they’d ship assist to folks like me however there’s been nothing,” she says. “Everybody dwelling round me is hanging on by a thread.”

Tran isn’t alone. Vietnam’s greatest metropolis is beneath a troublesome lockdown, with folks not allowed to depart the home even for meals. The restrictions might final till 15 September, when town has proposed resuming financial exercise.

Even earlier than the keep at house order on 23 August, Tran, like thousands and thousands of others, was falling into debt. The federal government promised to feed everybody and enlisted the army to assist ship provides to these in want, however huge swaths of the inhabitants have obtained nothing. Final week, Vietnamese media reported that greater than 100 folks in a single district had protested over the dearth of assist.

Learn extra right here: ‘Starvation was one thing we examine’: lockdown leaves Vietnam’s poor with out meals

* Names have been modified to guard their identities

One of many different matters that has come up throughout the UK’s morning media spherical is the difficulty of vaccinations for 12- to 15-year-olds, and whether or not they need to be capable of overrule their mother and father and get the jab if they need it. Earlier on Sky Information, UK well being secretary Sajid Javid stated:

I believe we should always observe the identical guidelines that we’ve had on this nation, beneath the successive governments, for many years, which is that you just first would attempt to search the consent of fogeys. If there’s a distinction of opinion between the kid and the dad or mum, then we now have specialists that work on this space, the varsity’s vaccination service, they’d often sit down with the dad or mum and the kid and attempt to attain some form of consensus. If in the end that doesn’t work, so long as we consider that the kid is competent sufficient to make this resolution, then the kid will will prevail.

He’s simply been backed in that on the identical channel by former Conservative well being minister Andrew Lansley, who stated:

Now we have a number of case legislation concerning the competence of younger folks to make choices on their very own. Actually, in respect of process which is of profit to them. I believe we should always err on the aspect of giving younger folks the chance to make choices.

He added that a number of the authorized precedents come from the unique Gillick case, which dominated a number of a long time in the past that youngsters under-16 might be given contraceptives with out parental consent.

The Czech Republic on Wednesday recorded 588 new circumstances of coronavirus, the best day by day tally since 25 Could, as authorities officers predict a continued rise in infections.

Reuters reviews that prime minister Andrej Babis stated immediately the federal government was not planning a return to broad lockdown measures – which had been eased going into the summer season months – and ministers say native measures might be utilized in some situations.

The rise in reported circumstances was nonetheless effectively under peaks in day by day infections seen throughout the waves between October 2020 and March 2021 once they reached into the hundreds, hitting a peak of above 17,000 at one level.

The UK well being secretary, Sajid Javid, will probably be showing throughout a variety of media programmes this morning, however I don’t suppose he’ll veer a lot from what he informed Sky Information of their 7am interview. Here’s what he stated concerning the continued floating of the concept within the media that there is perhaps some form of “October firebreak” in England, primarily based round college half-term holidays:

I don’t suppose that’s one thing we have to contemplate. It’s true that nobody is aware of the longer term pathway of this. I haven’t even considered that as an possibility at this level. The selections that we’ve made in the previous couple of weeks, and positively the time I’ve been well being secretary, I believe they’ve turned out to be the best choices.

Once we made the current resolution to begin opening up the nation, to take away the social distancing restrictions for instance, I believe that’s turned out to be precisely the best resolution. It’s not risk-free whenever you make these choices, none of them are threat free. Our greatest defence in opposition to one other wave or Covid ever taking off once more is the vaccine wall of defence.

On Sky Information, Kay Burley has been interviewing the UK’s well being secretary Sajid Javid about vaccines for youngsters, an October firebreak and the booster jab programme. Right here’s what he stated on the latter:

We’ve obtained interim recommendation on boosters and that was a couple of weeks in the past and I printed it. That was clear that there needs to be some form of booster programme. When it comes to that endeavour of who truly will get it, we’re ready for remaining recommendation which might come within the subsequent few days from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)

I have to see that recommendation as a result of they rightly are taking a look at research that they’ve executed to take a look at if, it needs to be mixing vaccines for instance, if ought to folks get the identical vaccine. They’re additionally taking a look at whether or not it is sensible to co-administer everybody with a flu jab, as effectively. In order that work is nearly executed, and primarily based on the timeline that they’ve given us, I’m assured that we are able to begin the booster programme this month.

Right here is that JCVI interim recommendation by the way in which, which was printed in June.

The JCVI’s interim recommendation is that any potential Covid-19 booster programme needs to be supplied in 2 phases from September, beginning with these most in danger from critical illness. This consists of care house residents, folks aged over 70, frontline well being and social care employees, clinically extraordinarily susceptible adults and people who are immunosuppressed.

A medical clinic in Melbourne’s japanese suburbs has been providing sufferers off-label prescriptions for the anti-parasite drug ivermectin to deal with Covid-19, regardless of a scarcity of proof for its use in treating the virus.

The clinic arrange a devoted on-line web page to use for a session to be prescribed the drug to deal with Covid-19 on its web site after receiving an “inflow of ivermectin inquiries”.

The clinic says there is no such thing as a assure a prescription for ivermectin will probably be given, and it’ll rely on a threat evaluation on points resembling location, work, contact with Covid-positive folks and medical historical past.

Every session prices $85 and doesn’t embrace a Medicare rebate.

Learn extra of Josh Taylor’s report right here: Melbourne clinic presents ivermectin regardless of it not being authorised as a Covid therapy

Good morning, it’s Martin Belam taking on from my colleague Helen Sullivan. I’ll be bringing you the newest world Covid information, and conserving my eye on UK well being secretary Sajid Javid who will probably be doing the media spherical this morning. He’ll be on Sky Information in a second. I think about that will probably be dominated by the Conservative tax hike introduced yesterday – right here’s how the UK’s papers reacted this morning.

Extra now on the World Fund’s report:

The affect of the pandemic on the struggle in opposition to TB worldwide had equally been “catastrophic”, the report stated.

The variety of folks handled for drug-resistant TB within the nations the place the World Fund invests dropped by “a staggering” 19%, with these on therapy for extensively drug-resistant TB registering a fair larger drop of 37%, it stated.

The fund calculated that round 4.7 million folks had been handled for TB in 2020, round a million fewer than in 2019.

Interventions to fight malaria “seem to have been much less badly affected by Covid-19 than the opposite two illnesses,” the report discovered.

“Due to adaptation measures and the diligence and innovation of group well being employees, prevention actions remained steady or elevated in comparison with 2019.”

The variety of mosquito nets distributed elevated by 17% to 188 million and constructions coated by indoor residual spraying elevated by 3%.

The pandemic had a “devastating” affect on the struggle in opposition to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in 2020, in accordance with a report launched by the World Fund on Wednesday.

“To mark our twentieth anniversary, we had hoped to focus this 12 months’s report on the extraordinary tales of braveness and resilience that made potential the progress we now have achieved in opposition to HIV, TB and malaria over the past twenty years,” stated Peter Sands, the World Fund’s govt director.

“However the 2020 numbers pressure a special focus. They affirm what we feared may occur when Covid-19 struck,” he stated.

“The affect of Covid-19 on the struggle in opposition to HIV, TB and malaria and the communities we help has been devastating. For the primary time within the historical past of the worldwide fund, key programmatic outcomes have gone backwards.”

There have been “important” declines in HIV testing and prevention providers, the fund stated. In contrast with 2019, the variety of folks reached with HIV prevention and therapy dropped by 11% final 12 months, whereas HIV testing dropped by 22%, holding again new therapy in most nations.

Nonetheless, the quantity of people that obtained life-saving antiretroviral remedy for HIV in 2020, rose by 8.8% to 21.9 million “regardless of Covid-19”.

Idaho public well being leaders introduced Tuesday that they activated “disaster requirements of care” permitting well being care rationing for the state’s northern hospitals as a result of there are extra coronavirus sufferers than the establishments can deal with, the Related Press reviews.

The Idaho Division of Well being and Welfare quietly enacted the transfer Monday and publicly introduced it in a press release Tuesday morning — warning residents that they might not get the care they’d usually count on in the event that they have to be hospitalised.

The transfer got here because the state’s confirmed coronavirus circumstances skyrocketed in current weeks. Idaho has one of many lowest vaccination charges within the US.

The state well being company cited “a extreme scarcity of staffing and obtainable beds within the northern space of the state brought on by an enormous enhance in sufferers with Covid who require hospitalisation.”

The designation consists of 10 hospitals and healthcare methods within the Idaho panhandle and in north-central Idaho. The company stated its purpose is to increase care to as many sufferers as potential and to save lots of as many lives as potential.

The transfer permits hospitals to allot scarce assets like intensive care unit rooms to sufferers most certainly to outlive and make different dramatic adjustments to the way in which they deal with sufferers. Different sufferers will nonetheless obtain care, however they might be positioned in hospital lecture rooms or convention rooms slightly than conventional hospital rooms or go with out some life-saving medical gear.

Hiya and welcome to immediately’s dwell protection of the coronavirus pandemic.

Idaho public well being leaders introduced Tuesday that they activated “disaster requirements of care” permitting well being care rationing for the state’s northern hospitals as a result of there are extra coronavirus sufferers than the establishments can deal with.

And the pandemic had a “devastating” affect on the struggle in opposition to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in 2020, in accordance with a report launched by the World Fund on Wednesday.

Extra on these tales shortly. Within the meantime, listed here are the opposite key current developments:

• 4 in 5 over-16s in Britain have been totally vaccinated in accordance with the newest knowledge, with 43,535,098 second doses delivered since vaccinations started. In the meantime, Britain recorded 209 Covid deaths on Tuesday, the best quantity since March.
• Italy’s well being minister, Roberto Speranza, has introduced that third doses of Covid-19 will probably be made obtainable to teams of “clinically susceptible” folks this month. “Now we have the third dose in Italy,” Speranza stated. “We’ll begin in September with fragile sufferers like oncology and transplant sufferers.”
• A coalition of environmental teams have known as for this 12 months’s Cop26 local weather summit to be postponed, arguing that too little has been executed to make sure the protection of members amid the persevering with risk from Covid-19.
• Indonesia’s day by day coronavirus positivity price dropped under the World Well being Group’s (WHO) benchmark normal of 5%, an indicator the nation’s second wave might be easing.
• The Philippines backtracked on easing lockdown within the capital Manila, deciding to delay a transfer to localised lockdowns for one more week. The change was on account of begin on Wednesday.
• Sweden will take away just about all coronavirus restrictions on 29 September with the pandemic beneath management and the vaccination rollout well-advanced, the federal government stated.
• UK vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has stated he isn’t conscious of any planning for an “October firebreak” if case numbers in England start to rise following the return of colleges however the authorities has refused to rule it out.
• Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief govt of NHS Suppliers, which represents NHS trusts, stated the NHS within the UK wants £10bn subsequent 12 months to make inroads into the backlog of care and sustain with the prices related to Covid-19.
• Singapore recorded its highest variety of circumstances in a 12 months, with 328 reported on Tuesday. Worryingly for authorities, the variety of circumstances they may not observe again to a supply has tripled in contrast with per week in the past.
• Specialists in India are calling for colleges to reopen, warning that the advantages would outweigh the chance of an infection spreading. In accordance a current survey, solely 8% of youngsters in rural areas frequently studied on-line.
• Well being authorities in Chile have authorised the usage of the Sinovac vaccine for youngsters six and older. Heriberto García, director of Chile’s Public Well being Institute, stated the establishment authorised the brand new measure by 5 votes in favour and one in opposition to.
• A examine from China taking a look at mixing Covid-19 vaccines confirmed that receiving a booster shot of CanSino Biologics’ vaccine after one or two doses of Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine yielded a a lot stronger antibody response than utilizing the Sinovac shot as a booster.