Covid live: UK records 5,341 new cases; eradicating virus not ‘reasonable target’, says WHO official

According to a tally compiled by AFP, since the outbreak first emerged in December 2019, at least 3,723,381 people have died from Covid-19.

The US is the worst affected country, with 597,377 deaths from 33,357,240 cases.

After them, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 472,531 deaths, India with 346,759, Mexico with 228,754 and Peru with 186,073.

The WHO estimates that the pandemic’s overall toll could be two to three times higher than official records because of the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19.

Sunday is the first day for 12-16-year-olds in Israel to get vaccinated, after 55% of the population have so far received two doses in the country.

The move to vaccinate teenagers came despite the country’s health ministry recently releasing finding that suggests a “possible link” between the Pfizer/BioNTech jab and cases of myocarditis – inflammation of the heart muscle – among younger men.

Ministers are ‘absolutely open’ to delaying the 21 June reopening date in England if the Delta variant worsens the country’s recovery prospects, the health secretary said.

Matt Hancock, in what is thought to be the clearest indication yet that the target date could be missed, stressed that 21 June was a “not before” date and that it was only “pencilled in” as the next step out of lockdown, PA reports.

The minister also implied that social distancing could continue beyond the final stage of the roadmap.

Pushed on whether the removal of restrictions date could be postponed if the Delta variant data “gets bad”, Hancock told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “We are absolutely open to doing that if that’s what needs to happen.

“We said in the roadmap that June 21 is the date by which we would not take Step 4 before that date and that we would look at the data.

“That is exactly what we are doing, so the roadmap was set up in order to be able to take these sort of changes into account.”

As of Sunday, 27,957,453 people received their first dose in France, and 13,709,004 people have completed their vaccine cycle.

The country also reported 5,070 new Covid-19 cases.

France recorded 25 new deaths and 2 new ICU admissions on Sunday. The latest figures are added to a total of 83,572 deaths in hospital since the pandemic began and 2,527 people currently in the hospital for Covid-19.

Italy recorded 51 deaths and 2,275 new cases on Sunday, the health ministry has said. The latest figures are down from yesterday’s 57 deaths and 2,436 cases.

Patients in hospital with Covid-19, not including those in intensive care, were recorded at 4,963 on Sunday, down from 5,193 a day earlier.

There were 20 new admissions to intensive care units, unchanged from Saturday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 774 from a previous 788.

Since the pandemic began in February, Italy has registered 126,523 coronavirus-related deaths, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eight-highest in the world.

Portugal’s prime minister has criticised Britain for removing the country from the green list, allowing travellers to visit Portugal without quarantine on return.

On Sunday, Antonio Costa urged London to adhere to a European digital certificate scheme to ease travel.

Last week, Britain announced it was removing Portugal from its green list because of rising Covid-19 case numbers and the risk posed by coronavirus variants detected in Portugal.

Costa told reporters, “We can’t have this system of instability and changes every three weeks.It isn’t good for those who plan their holidays, nor for those who have to organise the tourism industry to receive tourists in good conditions.”

Costa adds that Portugal was maintaining a dialogue with the British government to “explain the decision is not justified and also the serious damage it causes to the British and to the Portuguese economy.”

Reuters reports that under the proposed European digital certificate scheme, which the EU plan to introduce from 1 July, EU citizens who can prove they have been vaccinated against Coivd-19, tested negative for the disease or recovered from it will be able to travel freely in the bloc.

However, the prime minister did not explain how Britain would adhere to the scheme after leaving the EU.

The Covid-19 situation in Portugal has seen a slight increase in positive cases since lifting lockdown restrictions last month. Hospitalisations remain low and daily deaths are near zero following the vaccination of nearly all its most vulnerable elderly citizens.

The UK records 5,341 positive coronavirus cases on Sunday and four new deaths, according to government data.

This is an increase of 2,101 on last Sunday when 3,111 cases were reported.

While daily deaths are down -1% in the last seven days, case numbers are up by 11,022 (49.0%) in the same period.

Here’s a round-up of today’s latest coronavirus news from around the world:

• Eradicating Covid-19 worldwide is not a “reasonable target”, according to a World Health Organization envoy on the virus. Dr David Nabarro said people will have to learn to live with the virus in circulation.
• Boris Johnson has outlined his ambition to see the planet vaccinated by the end of 2022, ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall starting on Friday. He will also call for a global watch system to identify new variants.
• Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are looking to develop their home-grown vaccines as supply shortages threaten efforts to tackle the pandemic.
• UK health secretary Matt Hancock says it’s “too early” to make a final decision on whether there will be a delay to restrictions being relaxed on 21 June.
• Former UK prime minister Tony Blair has called for the rules to be relaxed for people who have had both doses of the vaccine, and for Covid-certification for travel.
• More than 57m doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been given to people in England, latest NHS England data shows. Nearly 23.5 million people have had both doses of the vaccine, with 33.7 million having had at least one jab.
• UK government ministers are considering giving people a different type of Covid vaccine as an autumn booster, after early results from “mix and match” trials appeared to show promise for an enhanced immune response.
• Russia has reported 9,145 new Covid-19 cases and a further 399 deaths. A total of 5,117,274 people have tested positive and 123,436 have died. Russia’s own statistics service suggests the actual number to die from the virus may be higher.
• Germany has registered 2,440 new cases in the last 24 hours, and 24.7 cases per 100,000 people, according to the country’s Robert Koch Institute. A further 74 people have died from the virus, meaning the death toll stands at 89,222.

No deaths have been reported from Covid in Wales for the tenth day in a row, according to the latest public health statistics.

A total of 92 new cases have been confirmed, bringing the number of infections recorded in the country to 213,091. 5,569 people have died.

Campaigners have criticised Boris Johnson for his “audacity” in calling for the world’s population to be vaccinated by the end of next year (see 08:31), accusing him of blocking attempts to scale up production.

Global Justice Now said the UK is one of the countries, along with Germany, which is stopping an intellectual property waiver on vaccines and treatments at the World Trade Organization.

India and South Africa first proposed a waiver eight months ago, but some countries have obstructed it. The US said last month it would support a waiver.

The director of the charity, Nick Dearden, said: “The audacity of Boris Johnson preaching about the need to vaccinate the world is staggering. The UK is one of the last remaining countries blocking an intellectual property waiver on Covid-19 vaccines.

“Simply setting a deadline is not leadership. If the prime minister wants to achieve global vaccination by 2022, he should follow in Joe Biden’s footsteps and support an intellectual property waiver on Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.”

More than 57 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have now been given to people in the UK, latest NHS England data shows.

The total – 57,193,641 jabs – include both first and second jabs. The latest figures show a total of 590,645 people were vaccinated yesterday.

Nearly 23.5 million people have had both doses of the vaccine, with 33.7 million having had at least one jab.