Covid latest news: France to scrap travel testing requirements

The Government has been accused of using Covid vaccine donations to developing countries to cut aid spending “on the sly,”

Analysis by the Center for Global Development (CGD) claimed that the government could reduce funding by £171 million by overestimating the cost of providing vaccine doses.

The UK has pledged to donate 80 million AstraZeneca doses and 20 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses to developing countries by June, which are estimated to cost $3 and $8.50 respectively, making the UK’s average cost per dose $4.40.

However, proposals being discussed by major donors would allow countries to claim they cost $6.72 per dose when calculating their spending on international aid.

Ranil Dissanayake, a policy fellow at the CGD, said: “The UK has made many bad calls with its aid budget, but this one is truly scandalous: they plan to make a fiscal ‘profit’ on donated vaccines by claiming a larger ODA [official development assistance] value than we paid for them.”

A group of 30 international development organisations, which includes ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children, has called for plans to count vaccine donations towards aid spending to be scrapped entirely.

The group said: “These vaccine doses were never purchased in the interest of development partners and should not be counted as such.

“Indeed, excess purchases of doses in a context of limited global supply were directly responsible for denying access to these life-saving tools in developing countries.”

Adam Forrest has the full story:

Hong Kong reported another record number of daily coronavirus cases Wednesday after infections nearly doubled to 1,161.

Over the past two weeks alone the city has reported nearly 4,000 new cases up from just two in December.

In line with its zero-Covid strategy, Hong Kong has increased restrictions. On Tuesday it was announced that public gatherings of more than two people would be banned and churches and hair salons would be forced to close along with other public venues including schools and gyms.

The latest restrictions are the toughest since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

City leader Carrie Lam said the city had to go down the zero-Covid route, rather than attempting to live with the virus, because more than 50 percent of the elderly have not been vaccinated.

Global Covid case figures dropped by 17 percent over the last week compared to the previous week, according to WHO figures, while global deaths fell by 7 percent.

From January 31 to February 6, the WHO reported more than 19 million new cases and under 68,000 deaths, however the figures are believed to underestimate the real toll.

The weekly report also said that the Omicron variant made up nearly 97 percent of all cases tallied by the international virus-tracking platform known as GISAID. Just over 3 percent were of the delta variant.

“The prevalence of the omicron variant has increased globally and is now detected in almost all countries,” WHO said. “However, many of the countries which reported an early rise in the number of cases due to the Omicron variant have now reported a decline in the total number of new cases since the beginning of January 2022.”

Case counts fell by 7 percent in Europe, 36 percent in the Americas and 50 percent in the United States.

However, the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean zone saw a 36 percent jump in cases, with Afghanistan, Iran and Jordan reporting increases.

France is set to relax travel restrictions placed on people entering the country, France’s Europe minister has said.

Currently, people entering the country – including the double-vaccinated – need proof of a negative test from the previous 48-hours to get in.

Clément Beaune told France 2 TV: “We again required tests in December over the Omicron variant. In the coming days we will announce that tests are no longer needed for vaccinated people.”

It comes just in time for the half-term holidays and follows Greece and Portugal’s decision to also scrap the requirement.

Sweden has decided to end wide-spread free Covid tests across the country, putting it at odds with most of Europe.

Instead, only healthcare and elderly care workers, as well as the most vulnerable, will be entitled to free PCR tests if they are symptomatic. Others will be asked to stay at home if they show symptoms of coronavirus.

However, people will be able to purchase antigen tests and private healthcare providers will perform tests for international travel, but the cost won’t be reimbursed by the state or health insurance, AP reported.

Swedish Public Health Agency chief Karin Tegmark Wisell said the cost is “no longer justifiable”.

She told the national broadcast SVT: “We have reached a point where the cost and relevance of the testing is no longer justifiable.” She added: “If we were to have extensive testing adapted to everyone who has Covid-19, that would mean half a billion kronor a week (about £40 million) and 2 billion a month (around £160 million).”

Health minister Gillian Keegan has apologized for continuing with an in-person meeting with bereaved parents after she was told that she had tested positive for Covid.

The Conservative MP said it was informed that a lateral flow test had returned a positive result on Tuesday whilst speaking to a group in her role as minister for care and mental health.

Adam Forrest has the full story:

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Professor Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia said there would be little point vaccinating the over-5s age group.

He said that infection rates are dropping and vaccines haven’t “done a huge amount” to stop interruptions to schooling.

Mr Hunter said: “I would lean against offering it to this age group for a number of reasons, particularly although you’ve said we’ve seen very high infection rates in children in recent weeks, they’re actually falling really quickly at the moment.

“And we’re seeing fewer than half the cases in this age group even little more than a week ago, so I think in many ways we’re past the point where vaccines are actually going to make much difference.”

He added: “We haven’t seen that vaccines have actually done a huge amount to stop these interruptions, so I think the benefits are marginal, and it’s probably too late, because most kids have already had Omicron.”

The health secretary has promised to recruit 15,000 more health workers by the end of March to help with the NHS backlog.

It comes after the government was warned waiting lists might not go down until 2024.

Of the 15,000 recruits, 10,000 would be overseas nurses and 5,000 would be healthcare support workers.

About six million people in England are on the NHS waiting list for treatment and there could be more who did not come forward during the pandemic.

UK families are canceling their half-term holidays to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands in droves as new rules were implemented meaning children over the age of 12 would need to be double-vaccinated to enter.

According to the BBC, hoteliers are calling on the government to relax the rules after some have lost out on “millions” in trade.

Portugal and Greece have both announced an easing of their entry rules this week while holiday provider TUI said Mexico and turkey are providing to be popular alternatives.

Coronavirus numbers in the UK are still “absolutely staggering” senior advisor to the World Health Organization director-general has said.

Asked whether the premise of learning to live with the virus was dangerous, Dr Bruce Aylward pointed to the two million daily cases and 5,000 daily deaths still being recorded.

I’ve told BBC Radio 4’s Today Program: “The numbers are absolutely staggering, and what we’re learning to live with is not just this virus, but what should be an unacceptable burden of disease, an unacceptable number of deaths every single day, especially when there are the tools to stop or at least slow this thing, manage it, control it.”

“But you can’t do it with only half of the world protected, half of the world testing.

“You need that 16 billion dollar investment. It’s an extremely good buy to get out of this pandemic, or at least the acute phase.”

“That sounds like a lot of money, but it is less than what the world is losing every single month right now,” he said.