Those who have called into question use of lateral flow tests as a safe way to open up care homes are simply “mischief making,” a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said.
While lateral flow tests are not as accurate as PCR testing, the rapid turn around of results gives the added benefit of catching infectious cases that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks, Callum Semple, Professor of Child Health and Outbreak Medicine at the University of Liverpool told the BBC Today programme.
“The problem with test, trace and isolate using the so-called gold standard of PCR is […] that it takes three days to get the results over while people are still infectious and transmitting the virus,” he said.
“Now we know that lateral flow is not as good as PCR – it’s detecting probably two out of three people, which are the most infectious – but this still allows us to increase the safety of people visiting care homes.”
“It allows us to increase the pick up with people who are working in the care homes and really good modelling has shown that serial repeated testing of these two groups, for example, does beat hands down the performance of a PCR test that’s done in one week and takes four days to get the result back.”
Ultimately the most important thing is to break transmission chains and lateral flow tests are perfectly suited for vulnerable settings, such as care homes, he said.
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09:55 AM
World can start dreaming of pandemic’s end, declares UN health chief
The United Nations’ health chief has declared that positive results from coronavirus vaccine trials mean the world “can begin to dream about the end of the pandemic”. But he said rich and powerful nations must not trample the poor and marginalised “in the stampede for vaccines”.
World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned that while the virus can be stopped, “the path ahead remains treacherous”.
He said the pandemic had shown humanity at “its best and worst”, pointing to “inspiring acts of compassion and self-sacrifice, breathtaking feats of science and innovation, and heartwarming demonstrations of solidarity, but also disturbing signs of self-interest, blame-shifting and divisions”.
Referring to the current upsurge in infections and deaths, Dr Tedros said without naming any countries that “where science is drowned out by conspiracy theories, where solidarity is undermined by division, where sacrifice is substituted with self-interest, the virus thrives, the virus spreads”.
In his address to the UN General Assembly’s first high-level session on the pandemic he warned that a vaccine “will not address the vulnerabilities that lie at its root” – poverty, hunger, inequality and climate change, which he said must be tackled once the pandemic ends.
On vaccines, Dr Tedros said that “the light at the end of the tunnel is growing steadily brighter” but vaccines “must be shared equally as global public goods, not as private commodities that widen inequalities and become yet another reason some people are left behind”.
09:26 AM
Doctors in England told to prepare Covid-19 vaccination centres by mid-December
GP surgeries in England have been told to be ready to start staffing Covid-19 vaccination centres by 14 December.
In a letter sent out across England’s primary care networks, NHS England and NHS Improvement warned the “scale and complexity” of the immunisation programme would make it “one of the greatest challenges the NHS has ever faced”.
The vaccination sites must be ready to administer 975 doses of the vaccine to priority patients within three and a half days of delivery on 14 December.
Speed is of the essence with the vaccine, as it is usually stored at -70C and will only remain stable at fridge temperatures of between 2C-8C for a limited period.
There are 975 doses in each of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine packs, which has posed a logistical problem of how they can be broken up and distributed to other key sites, such as care homes.
The first people to receive the vaccine in the centres will be those aged 80 and over, as long as their other risk factors, “clinical or otherwise”, have been taken into account.
09:04 AM
Moscow starts mass Covid-19 vaccination with its Sputnik V shot
Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V Covid-19 shot via 70 clinics on Saturday, marking Russia’s first mass vaccination against the disease, the city’s coronavirus task force said.
The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease.
“You are working at an educational institution and have top-priority for the Covid-19 vaccine, free of charge,” read a phone text message received by one Muscovite, an elementary school teacher, early on Saturday and seen by Reuters.
“Over the first five hours, 5,000 people signed up for the jab – teachers, doctors, social workers, those who are today risking their health and lives the most,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his personal website on Friday.
The age for those receiving shots is capped at 60. People with certain underlying health conditions, pregnant women and those who have had a respiratory illness for the past two weeks are barred from vaccination.
Russia has developed two Covid-19 vaccines, Sputnik V which is backed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund and another developed by Siberia’s Vector Institute, with final trials for the both yet to be completed.
Scientists have raised concerns about the speed at which Russia has worked, giving the regulatory go-ahead for its vaccines and launching mass vaccinations before full trials to test its safety and efficacy had been completed.
08:50 AM
Russia reports record 28,782 new cases in a day
Russia reported a record high of 28,782 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, including 7,993 in Moscow, taking the national total to 2,431,731 since the pandemic began.
Authorities confirmed 508 deaths related to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the official national death toll to 42,684.
08:40 AM
Pubs in Tier 2 say it’s not worth opening
Three-quarters of pubs are staying closed because it is not worth opening in Tier 2, the industry’s association has warned.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said many pubs that had reopened after lockdown were already planning to shut again because trade was so dire under the stringent revamped tier rules.
A survey of operators representing more than 8,000 pubs, conducted by the BBPA between November 24 and December 2, found that just 27 per cent reopened following the end of lockdown.
READ MORE: Three-quarters of pubs not reopening because of Covid tier restrictions, poll finds
08:37 AM
San Francisco lockdowns to kick off on Sunday
The mayor of San Francisco has ordered new lockdowns and business restrictions across the Bay Area in the face of the Covid-19 surge, as political leaders nationwide ramp up pressure on Americans to stay home until vaccines can be distributed.
The new measures announced by Mayor London Breed, a first-term Democrat, apply across five Bay Area counties and are among the harshest of any major US city, closing all personal services, outdoor dining and most public gatherings.
“What we are seeing in our city, our region, our state and our country is a virus that is taking over,” Ms Breed said in announcing the new clampdown.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, said on Thursday he would impose similar stay-at-home orders statewide, to take effect region-by-region as intensive care beds reach capacity.
Ms Breed said she was unwilling to wait for Mr Newsom’s mandate to take effect in the Bay Area, adding: “If you’re not working to stay ahead of this virus you’re falling far, far behind and very quickly.”
Starting at 10pm this Sunday, San Francisco will close all outdoor dining, outdoor playgrounds, zoos and aquariums along with other measures.
07:27 AM
Third wave clusters emerge in South Korea
South Korean authorities urged vigilance on Saturday as small coronavirus clusters emerged in a third wave, centred in the Seoul area, with infections near nine-month highs.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 583 new infections, down from the 629 reported on Friday, which was the highest since the first wave peaked in February and early March.
After implementing tighter restrictions on Saturday, the government will decide on Sunday whether to further tighten curbs in a country that had seen initial success through aggressive contact tracing and other steps.
07:02 AM
Ford among US companies preparing for vaccine storage
With the imminent arrival of coronavirus vaccines that will need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, American companies are gearing up for a massive logistical effort to aid their distribution.
Automaker Ford has ordered its own freezers while meat-processing giant Smithfield said it is ready to put the cold room at its abattoirs at the disposal of vaccine roll-out operations.
Companies specialising in insulated containers have been on a war footing for weeks after Pfizer and BioNTech said the vaccine they had jointly developed needs to be stored at -70C.
US logistics giant UPS is already producing 500kg of dry ice an hour in its depots and has developed portable freezers capable of storing the vaccines.
But companies not directly linked to the manufacture, storage or transport of vaccines are also stepping up.
“We have assessed our ultra-low freezer capabilities and capacity and are ready and willing to assist health agencies if storage capacity becomes constrained,” Smithfield chief administrative director Keira Lombardo said.
The meatpacker, which suffered a large number of cases of Covid-19 in some of its slaughterhouses, said it now stands ready to help authorities distribute the vaccine.
Ford has ordered a dozen ultra-cold freezers in anticipation of the arrival of vaccines, to offer them to employees who want them when they are available.
When the virus began to spread in the spring in the US, the company had to temporarily close its factories. The group has since resumed its activities but with strict health precautions.
06:38 AM
US records more than 225,000 new cases in a day
For the second day in a row, the United States on Friday notched a record number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours, reaching 225,201 new infections.
In that same period, the country recorded 2,506 Covid-related deaths.
The US – the country with the most coronavirus cases and deaths in the world – has seen a dramatic resurgence in its epidemic in recent weeks.
It surpassed 200,000 new daily cases three times in the past month, peaking at more than 210,000 between Wednesday and Thursday.
US health officials warned of a surge after millions of Americans travelled to celebrate last week’s Thanksgiving holiday, despite pleas from authorities to stay home.
The country has recorded more than 14.3 million cases and 278,000 deaths.
06:31 AM
Bahrain gives vaccine the green light
The island kingdom of Bahrain said it has become the second nation in the world to grant an emergency-use authorisation for the vaccine made by Pfizer/BioNTech.
The state-run Bahrain News Agency made the announcement on Friday night.
Bahrain did not say how may vaccines it had purchased, nor when vaccinations would begin.
The challenge for Bahrain would be the conditions in which the vaccine must be kept. It must be stored and shipped at ultra-cold temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit). Bahrain is a Middle-Eastern nation that regularly sees temperatures in the summer of around 40C (104F) with high humidity.
06:23 AM
Mexicans urged to cancel Christmas celebrations
Mexicans should cancel Christmas celebrations and even avoid exchanging presents to beat coronavirus, the president said on Friday, pitching a frugal festive season to one of the world’s largest capital cities as infections scaled new heights.
“Let’s leave Christmas presents for another time,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, urging people to scale down or forego traditional family gatherings over Christmas and New Year.
Mr Lopez Obrador said people should stay at home unless they had something “truly important to do” as he announced hospitals would increase patient capacity, equipment and staff.
However, he said there would be no mandatory lockdowns.
Mexico reported 12,127 new infections on Friday, a record number for a single day rise, barring one day in October that the government said was due to a statistical blip. It was also the first time Mexico had recorded more than 10,000 new cases three days in a row.
Mexico has recorded just over 1.15 million cases and almost 110,000 deaths, the fourth-highest death toll worldwide. Officials acknowledge the true extent of the pandemic is likely significantly higher due to limited testing, while the World Health Organisation warned the country was in “bad shape”.
06:12 AM
Care homes accused of playing God by banning hugs
Care homes have been accused of “playing God” by denying access to relatives, as increasing numbers of providers refuse contact between loved ones.
Earlier this week, the Department for Health and Social Care performed a U-turn on its previous guidance, by announcing that care home residents will be allowed to hug and hold the hands of family members and friends.
The new guidance was drawn up after care home bosses called for clarity around visits during the festive period.
While the new guidance – which stipulated that visitors should receive a negative test and wear PPE – was welcomed as “good news” by elderly care charities, it has since emerged that some relatives in parts of England have been stopped from hugging their loved ones.
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