France reports more than 19,000 new coronavirus infections – latest updates

Sunday, February 7, 2021

France reports 19,175 daily infections

France has recorded 19,175 new confirmed Covid-19 infections compared with 20,586 the previous day and marking a fourth daily fall. Over 170 additional deaths were also reported. 

However, the number of patients treated in hospital for the disease rose to 27,694 from 27,369 the previous day, breaking a four-day decline, the data showed.

The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care also rose, to 3,272 from 3,225 the day before.

UK reports 373 deaths and 15,845 new cases

Britain reported a further 15,845 cases and 373 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, figures showed.

A total of 12,014,288 Britons have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to government data released on Sunday, as the authorities race to roll out the injections.

Turkey reports over 6,600 new infections

Turkey has reported 6,670 additional coronavirus cases, including 623 symptomatic patients, according to the Health Ministry.

The country's case tally passed 2.53 million, while the nationwide death toll reached 26,797, with 112 fatalities over the past day.

As many as 8,201 more patients in the country won the battle against the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to over 2.44 million.

More than 30.61 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in Turkey to date, with 129,715 since Saturday.

The latest figures show that the number of Covid-19 patients in critical condition dropped to 1,317.

Italy reports 270 coronavirus deaths 

Italy has reported 270 coronavirus-related deaths, down from 385 the day before. 

The daily tally of new infections fell to 11,641 from 13,442 on Saturday, the Health Ministry said.

AstraZeneca fails against mild and moderate cases of S Africa strain

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine fails to prevent mild and moderate cases of the South African coronavirus strain, researchers have said.

The University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, which conducted the trial, said in a statement that the vaccine "provides minimal protection against mild-moderate Covid-19 infection" from the variant.

But in a full paper due to be published on Monday, AstraZeneca said that none of the 2,000 participants developed serious symptoms.

That could mean it will still have an effect on severe disease, although there is not yet enough data to make a definitive judgment.

The data, which has not yet undergone peer review, "appear to confirm the theoretical observation that mutations in the virus seen in South Africa will allow ongoing transmission of the virus in vaccinated populations," it said.

Czech minister says pandemic worse than WWII

A Czech minister has said the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were worse than those of World War II as she argued in favour of reopening schools.

Schools, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, and most shops have been closed on and off since March last year in the country of 10.7 million people.

"Even World War II didn't cause as much trouble as Covid. Children went to school," Labour Minister Jana Malacova said in a TV debate.

The Czech Republic has registered more than one million confirmed coronavirus cases including over 17,000 deaths, and ranks among Europe's worst-hit countries in terms of cases and deaths per capita.

Israel begins exit from third virus lockdown

Israeli barbershops and some other businesses have reopened as the country began easing its third coronavirus lockdown amid an aggressive vaccination campaign.

Early on Friday, the government announced it was lifting some restrictions imposed since December when the country saw a rise in Covid-19 infections.

Jerusalem barber Eli Aroas was among those re-opening on Sunday morning, the start of the working week.

While shops were not formally permitted to open, many small stores were making transactions with clients standing outside.

Bangladesh begins Covid-19 vaccinations

Bangladesh has launched a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive with the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine, aiming to inoculate 3.5 million people in the first month.

The South Asian country is seeking to inoculate 80 percent of its population of around 170 million, with each person getting two doses administered four weeks apart.

However, the government has nearly halved its target for the first month from 6 million people as only a little over 328,000 people had registered for the vaccine by Saturday.

Bangladesh has received 5 million of the 30 million doses of the COVISHIELD vaccine it has ordered from the Serum Institute of India, which is the world's biggest vaccine producer and is making the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The country has also received two million doses of COVISHIELD as a gift from India.

China delivers 600,000 vaccine doses to ally Cambodia

China has delivered 600,000 doses of its Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to ally Cambodia, making the kingdom the latest country to use Chinese jabs despite concerns about their efficacy compared to Western alternatives.

Cambodian leader Hun Sen announced last month that China would donate one million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the kingdom, which will cover 500,000 people because two doses are required.

The strongman premier greeted the arrival of the first batch at Phnom Penh's international airport. It's unclear when the remaining doses are scheduled to touch down.

"The Cambodian government owes gratitude to the Chinese government," Hun Sen said during a handover ceremony at the airport.

Britain won't issue coronavirus vaccine passports

Britain will not introduce and issue Covid-19 vaccine passports, but people will be required to provide official proof from their doctor if they intend to travel to other countries, vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi said.

"We are certainly not looking to introduce it as part of the vaccine deployment programme," Zahawi told Sky News.

Russia reports 16,048 new cases, 432 deaths

Russia reported 16,048 new cases across the country, including 2,028 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,967,281 since the pandemic began.

Authorities confirmed 432 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 76,661.

Murray questions LTA's protocols after positive test

Former world number one Andy Murray has raised doubts about the Lawn Tennis Association's (LTA) health protocols at its high-performance training facility after he tested positive and had to miss the Australian Open.

The three-time Grand Slam winner was forced to pull out of the first major of 2021 in Melbourne after he was unable to find what he called a "workable quarantine" following a positive test on January 14.

"I stuck to all of the protocols. I couldn't pick it up anywhere else because I hadn't left my house or National Tenn is Centre (NTC) for 10 weeks, and then there were some positive cases there," the 33-year-old told British media.

"When we went to the NTC in April, if there were six indoor courts, you could only practise on one, three and five. There wasn't any testing, but the gym was closed and it was restricted access.

"Whereas after Christmas you have an indoor venue where they are using all six courts and tonnes of people in the gym."

The LTA said it had consistently followed government guidance.

Murray said his wife Kim and three children had also tested positive.

First doses of vaccine arrive in Afghanistan from India

Afghanistan received 500,000 doses of AztraZeneca's vaccine from India, the first to arrive in the country, which is still waiting for emergency approval from the World Health Organisation before it can use them.

Ghulam Dastagir Nazari, head of the immunisation program at the health ministry said the doses would be stored in Kabul until the emergency authorisation was received, which it hoped would happen in a week.

The vaccines were produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), which is producing the AstraZenecca/Oxford University vaccine for mid- and low-income countries.

Health workers, security force members, teachers and government employees would receive the vaccine first.

Nazari said China also planned to send 200,000 doses of the vaccine.

Anti-lockdown protests in Denmark continue

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Copenhagen to protest Denmark's Covid-19 restrictions and the country's plans for a digital vaccination certificate.

Organised by a group calling itself "Men in Black Denmark," some 600 people gathered in the bitter cold in front of the parliament building to protest the "dictatorship" of Denmark's partial lockdown.

Plans for a digital vaccine "passport" were a main target of their anger.

Like other European countries, Denmark intends to develop a digital certificate for Covid-19 vaccination for travel.

It could also potentially be used for sports and cultural events as well as restaurants.

Protest organisers say such a passport implies an obligation to be vaccinated and amounts to a further restriction on individual freedom. Vaccination is not compulsory in Denmark.

Demonstrators, including some wearing hoods, marched with torches in the centre of the Danish capital, chanting "we have had enough" and "freedom for Denmark."

Malaysia reports 3,731 new cases, 15 new deaths

Malaysian health authorities reported 3,731 new cases, raising the total number of infections so far to 242,452.

There were also 15 new deaths reported, taking the cumulative fatalities to 872.

UK eyes Covid-19 booster in autumn, then annual vaccinations

A Covid-19 booster and annual vaccinations are very probable, vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi said as countries race to administer jabs in the face of new variants.

"We see very much probably an annual or a booster in the autumn and then an annual (vaccination), in the way we do with flu vaccinations where you look at what variant of virus is spreading around the world," Zahawi told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

Germany's confirmed cases rise by 8,616

The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 8,616 to 2,284,010, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. 

The reported death toll rose by 231 to 61,517, the tally showed. 

Brazil gets first active ingredients for AstraZeneca vaccine

A first shipment of 88 liters of active ingredients to make AstraZeneca's vaccine in Brazil arrived from China, essential input to speed the country's troubled vaccination programme.

With those supplies flown into Rio de Janeiro on a cargo plane, the Fiocruz biomedical center can begin filling and finishing 2.8 million doses. The federally funded center expects to receive more ingredients this month to make a total of 15 million shots of the vaccine developed with Oxford University.

The Fiocruz production line, originally scheduled to start producing in December, has sat idle due to delays getting the first shipment of supplies from China.

The AstraZeneca Plc vaccine is the central pillar of Brazil's national inoculation program and the federal government has ordered material for Fiocruz to make up to 100 million shots. To start inoculating its 210 million people, Brazil has relied initially on the Chinese vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd and 2 million ready-to-use AstraZeneca shots imported from India last month.

Sao Paulo's Butantan biomedical institute said on Saturday it has begun to fill-and-finish 8.6 million doses of Sinovac's vaccine called Coronavac with ingredients that arrived from China on Wednesday.

Butantan said it expects to receive another supply of ingredients on Wednesday to make an additional 8.7 million doses. 

Australia reports no new local cases ahead of Australian Open

Australia reported no new local cases for a third day on Sunday, as tennis players geared up for the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne on Monday.

The Australian Open will have a reduced attendance of 30,000 fans a day, about 50 percent lower than usual because of Covid-19 protocols.

Those public health protocols, which have been credited with making Australia one of the most successful nations in battling the novel coronavirus, forced players into a two-week hotel quarantine upon their arrival in Melbourne in January.

More than 500 staff and players tested negative for the coronavirus virus on Friday in re-testing required after a worker at their quarantine hotel caught the virus.

Nearly 1,200 close contacts of the infected worker have now tested negative to the virus, said health officials in the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is the capital.

There were also no new local coronavirus cases reported in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, where there had been infections in past weeks.

Australia has reported under 29,000 total coronavirus infections and 909 deaths because of border closures, high rates of community compliance with social distancing measures, and aggressive testing and contact tracing.

Brazil reports 50,630 new cases, 978 deaths

Brazil has had 50,630 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 978 deaths from Covid-19, the health ministry said.

The South American country has now registered 9,497,795 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 231,012, according to ministry data, in the world's third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.

Mexico's death toll rises to 164,290

Mexico's health ministry has reported 1,368 new confirmed deaths from Covid-19, bringing the total in the country to 164,290.

South Africa records 3,184 new infections

South Africa has recorded 3,184 new coronavirus infections, taking the country’s total to 1,473,700, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.

“Regrettably, we report a further 278 Covid-19 related deaths,” Mlkhize said, adding that it brings the number of fatalities to 46,180.

The coastal city of Kwa-Zulu Natal had the highest death toll Saturday with 109, followed by the tourism province of Western Cape which recorded 57 deaths.

Gauteng province, which includes the capital of Pretoria and the largest city, Johannesburg, registered 50 deaths. While the remaining six provinces each have less than 47 deaths reported.

South Africa has the highest number of Covid-19 cases on the continent and is also struggling with a newly discovered variant that has spread to several countries.

Africa’s most advanced economy has conducted 8,469,756 tests with 33,187 new tests recorded since Friday.

AstraZeneca thinks shot can stop severe disease from South Africa Covid variant 

British drugmaker AstraZeneca has said it believes its Covid-19 vaccine developed with the University of Oxford could protect against severe disease caused by the South African variant of the virus.

AstraZeneca confirmed that early data from a small trial, first reported by the Financial Times, had shown limited efficacy for the vaccine against mild disease primarily due to this variant.

"We do believe our vaccine could protect against severe disease, as neutralising antibody activity is equivalent to that of other Covid-19 vaccines that have demonstrated activity against more severe disease, particularly when the dosing interval is optimised to 8-12 weeks," a spokesman said in a statement.

Greece imposes curfew in Attica Region to combat virus

Streets and squares in the Greek capital of Athens were empty on Saturday night as an extended curfew to stop the spread of the coronavirus took effect.

The Greek government announced on Friday a new curfew in the Attica region and two more regions which will remain in place every weekend until at least February 15.

The curfew began at 16:00GMT and will run until 03:00GMT.

The country of 11 million people is currently vaccinating those 80 and over, as well as health care workers.

Greek authorities said on Saturday a further 1,113 new virus cases and 29 new deaths had been reported in the past 24 hours.

Greece's total number of confirmed coronavirus cases is now 163,213, with 5,951 dead.