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EU 'to stop short of vaccine export ban' – as it happened

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Tue 26 Jan 2021 18.34 ESTFirst published on Mon 25 Jan 2021 18.54 EST
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People queue to receive a dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine in Jerusalem.
People queue to receive a dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine in Jerusalem. Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
People queue to receive a dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine in Jerusalem. Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

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Hotel quarantine system for arrivals into Britain from 'high-risk' countries

Jessica Elgot
Jessica Elgot
Passengers arrive at Heathrow airport on 17 January 2021. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

A hotel quarantine system targeted at arrivals into the UK from high-risk countries will be announced by the home secretary, Priti Patel, on Wednesday, after ministers met to sign off the more targeted approach.

Boris Johnson rejected calls at Tuesday evening’s meeting for a blanket policy in favour of imposing hotel quarantine on British citizens from a limited number of countries such as South Africa and Brazil.

Ministers were presented with a number of options, with some – including Patel and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, in favour of a more blanket approach, a larger number of countries on the list or even a temporary closure of UK borders.

Labour said a country-by-country quarantine policy would be “half-baked” and leave the UK’s vaccination programme vulnerable to as-yet unknown strains of coronavirus.

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Portugal’s government has been urged to transfer Covid patients abroad as deaths hit a record high and the oxygen supply at a hospital near Lisbon partly failed from overuse, Reuters reports.

Deaths in the last 24 hours reached 291, meaning 11,012 people in the country have died from the virus during the pandemic.

A hospital in the Amadora region had to transfer 48 of its patients to other centres in the capital late on Tuesday as oxygen pressure wasn’t high enough for the large amount of patients.

News reports showed ambulances rushing through the hospital’s main gates to get the patients, while some left escorted by police.

Twenty patients were transferred to Lisbon’s largest hospital, Santa Maria, which on Tuesday installed two fridges outside its morgue with the capacity for 30 bodies, its spokesman said.

Nicolás Maduro is promoting another “miracle” cure to save Venezuelans from Covid-19, backing a secretive solution with no scientific evidence published, Associated Press reports.

The president told TV on Sunday:

“Ten drops under the tongue every four hours and the miracle is done. It’s a powerful antiviral, very powerful, that neutralizes the coronavirus.”

His government hasn’t released any details of the substance’s contents, praising a “brilliant Venezuelan mind” behind it. The country’s National Academy of Medicine said it appeared to be derived from the herb thyme.

It’s not the first time the Venezuelan leader has promoted a cure. In October, he notified the Pan American Health Organization that Venezuelan scientists discovered a molecule that nullifies the replication capacity of the new coronavirus.

Summary

Here’s a round-up of this evening’s coronavirus news

  • AstraZeneca’s chief executive has insisted the UK will come first for vaccines as he rejected calls to divert doses to the European Union following a breakdown in supply.
  • US states will get a 17% increase in the amount of vaccines from next week after shortages across the country. The government will supply 10.1 million first and second doses, up from this week’s allocation of 8.6 million.
  • Leaders of tribes in the Amazon rainforest have urged governments to ensure vaccine rollouts reach all its communities, according to Reuters. Head of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin (COICA), Jose Gregorio Diaz, said his people faced a “health emergency”.
  • The death toll in France rose to more than 74,000 on Tuesday, as its new case figures stayed above 20,000 for the fourth day in a row. President Emmanuel Macron hopes a new 6pm curfew will be enough to contain the surge.
  • Iceland has issued its first vaccine “passports” in an attempt to ease international travel for people who have had the jab, AFP reports.
  • Lebanon has hit a new daily record of Covid-19 deaths amid a second day of protests against strict lockdown measures. Another 73 people died in the last 24 hours from the virus, according to Associated Press.
  • Brazil has had 61,963 new recorded cases and another 1,214 deaths. The South American country has now had 8,933,356 confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic, while the death toll has risen to 218,878.
  • The Gambian health ministry has said it will “name and shame” people refusing to self-isolate, after 40 refused to do so last week or escaped treatment clinics. The west African country has recorded 128 deaths since the pandemic began.
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Lebanon has hit a new daily record of Covid-19 deaths amid a second day of protests against strict lockdown measures.

Another 73 people died in the last 24 hours from the virus, Associated Press reports. The total number of deaths has reached nearly 2,500 in the Middle Eastern country.

Daily infections have soared in recent weeks and hospitals have seen nearly full ICU occupancy. Almost 286,000 infections have been recorded since the pandemic began.

The country is in the early stages of a month-long national lockdown, which started in mid-January. Many have criticised the new measures for coming too late, after a relaxation in restrictions during Christmas.

Protests were seen in the capital Beirut and Lebanon’s second largest city, Tripoli. The latter saw dozens pelt government offices with stones and block a main square. The army was deployed to contain the demonstrators, who also torched a vehicle nearby.

Brazil has had 61,963 new recorded cases of Covid-19, and another 1,214 deaths, Reuters reports.

The South American country has now had 8,933,356 confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic, while the death toll has risen to 218,878.

The number of deaths is the world’s third worst, with only India and the US recording more fatalities.

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A custody sergeant in the UK has become the fifth Metropolitan police staff member to die from Covid-19 in recent weeks.

The passing of the officer, who worked in the Met’s detention department comes after the deaths of three police constables and a traffic police community officer since 11 January, according to the Press Association.

PC John Fabrizi died on Sunday, a week after the death of his 37-year-old colleague PC Michael Warren.

The Met’s commissioner Cressida Dick said:

I’m deeply saddened by the news that in recent days and weeks Covid has taken five of our colleagues from us.

“Policing is a family and the scale of our loss is truly shocking. My deepest condolences are with the families, friends and colleagues of Fabrizi, Warren, traffic police community support officer Chris Barkshire, PC Sukh Singh and our colleague from Met Detention, who will be named soon.”

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US states to get boost in vaccine next week after shortages

US states will get a 17% increase in the amount of vaccines from next week after shortages across the country.

Some vaccination sites have had to cancel tens of thousands of appointments, with people still waiting for their first dose, according to Associated Press.

Figures from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that next week the government will supply 10.1 million first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, up from this week’s allocation of 8.6 million.

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AstraZeneca has said the EU’s decision to strike a late agreement with it for a Covid-19 vaccine is the reason for delays to it being supplied.

It meant that the company didn’t have enough time to iron out glitches in setting up production lines with external partners, according to the drugmaker’s chief executive Pascal Soriot. He said it had led to a three-month delay.

He told German daily Die Welt:

“And the issue here is we’ve had also teething issues like this in the UK supply chain,” he added. “As for Europe, we are three months behind in fixing those glitches.”

The company said it would cut supplies to the EU in the first quarter of the year due to production problems. A senior EU official said at the time that it meant a 60% reduction to 31 million doses, in the period.

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