France could block vaccine shipments over shortages, health minister says March 5, 2021 France has suggested the country could block exports of Covid-19 vaccines, the French health minister said this morning, echoing Italy’s move which stopped 250,000 vaccines from reaching Australia yesterday. Health minister Olivier Veran said France “could” follow Italy’s steps when ask by French broadcaster BFM TV. The minister added that France received 800,000 doses of [...]
Cyprus to allow vaccinated Brits in from May March 5, 2021 Cyprus said vaccinated British tourists will be allowed into the country from the start of May. However, international travel from the UK is currently banned until 17 May. The Cypriot government said yesterday they had told officials in Westminster that from May 1 tourists who have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine would not [...]
Test and Trace to receive extra £15bn, bringing total funding to £37bn March 4, 2021 The Test and Trace scheme is set to receive an extra £15bn, bringing its total funding over two years to £37bn. The contact tracing scheme, which has been awarded £22bn so far, will receive a further £15bn over the next financial year. The new figures were first revealed by the Huffington Post. It also revealed [...]
Hotel giant Marriott will pay staff a bonus to get Covid-19 vaccine March 4, 2021 Hotel giant Marriott will pay staff a bonus to get Covid-19 vaccine
Italy blocks Astrazeneca shipment to Australia as vaccine shortage row escalates March 4, 2021 The Italian government has blocked the export of an Astrazeneca vaccine shipment to Australia as a row over EU shortages continues to escalate. Astrazeneca had requested permission from the Italian government to export around 250,000 vaccine doses made at its Anagni plant near Rome to Australia. However, Italian authorities blocked the request after the British-Swedish [...]
Matt Hancock urges ‘vigilance’ as decline in Covid infections starts to slow March 4, 2021 The health secretary has urged people to “remain vigilant” as the decline in coronavirus cases has slowed down across parts of the country and in some regions reversed, latest figures showed. Imperial College London’s latest React study found the prevalence of Covid across England slumped by two-thirds between 22 January and 13 February. However, the [...]
Chinese Covid vaccine prevents severe illness in all cases, study finds March 3, 2021 The vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech prevents hospitalisation and severe illness in all cases, researchers said on Wednesday. Murat Akova, head of the third phase trials in Turkey, said CoronaVac has an 83.5 per cent efficacy. Six people were hospitalised, but they were all in the placebo group. The figure was less than the [...]
Surge testing rolled out in more London boroughs over new South Africa Covid cases March 2, 2021 The London boroughs of Barnet and Merton have become the latest regions in the capital to receive surge testing, after officials identified new cases of the South Africa Covid variant. Residents in the N2 and NW4 regions of Barnet, as well as the Wimbledon Park area in Merton, are strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 [...]
Almost 20.5m Brits have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine March 2, 2021 Almost 20.5m Brits have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine
Search for mystery Brazil Covid variant narrows to 379 households March 2, 2021 The hunt for a mystery person infected with a new, more transmissible Brazil variant of coronavirus has narrowed to 379 households, the health secretary has announced. In total six cases of the new strain, also known as the P1 variant or Manaus variant, have been identified across England and Scotland. One case has still yet [...]