Covid live: testing for fully vaccinated travellers to UK to be scrapped; new vaccine pass rules in France

Here are all the main coronavirus-related developments from around the world today:

  • Italy said that the Omicron wave had peaked in the country as case numbers begin to fall.
  • Japan announced plans to extend coronavirus restrictions beyond the current 9pm curfew in a bid to tackle the spread of Omicron.
  • The UK announced plans to end testing rules for all doubly vaccinated travellers from 11 February.
  • Rules requiring a vaccine passport to enter hospitality businesses and take public transport came into force in France.
  • World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave a press conference in which he warned that conditions remain ideal for more coronavirus variants to emerge and said it was dangerous to assume Omicron was the last one, but added that the acute phase of the pandemic could end this year if some key targets were met.

We’re pausing the blog for a while. You can follow the latest happenings in UK politics, including some coronavirus-related news, over on our live blog.

The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said the Covid pandemic has proven that health is “an international issue” and called for a paradigm shift in the way it is funded, Peter Beaumont reports.

The head of the World Health Organization has warned member countries that the UN’s global health body is being “set up to fail” without a “paradigm shift” in the way that it is funded and supported.

In stark language delivered to the WHO’s executive board, the organisation’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 5.5 million lives, had underlined the need to strengthen health systems as well as pandemic preparedness plans.

Addressing the specific issue of Covid-19, Tedros also cautioned that conditions remained ideal for more variants to emerge. He said it was dangerous for countries to assume Omicron is the last variant or that “we are in the endgame”.

There are different scenarios for how the pandemic could play out and how the acute phase could end,” he said.

“But it’s dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame,” he added. “On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.”

He insisted, however, that “we can end Covid-19 as a global health emergency, and we can do it this year,” by reaching goals such as the WHO’s target to vaccinate 70% of the population of each country by the middle of this year, with a focus on people who are at the highest risk of Covid-19.

“It’s true that we will be living with Covid for the foreseeable future and that we will need to learn to manage it through a sustained and integrated system for acute respiratory diseases” to help prepare for future pandemics, he said.

“But learning to live with Covid cannot mean that we give this virus a free ride. It cannot mean that we accept almost 50,000 deaths a week from a preventable and treatable disease.”

The full story is here: ‘Paradigm shift’ needed in way WHO is funded, says director general

The Omicron wave pushed UK business growth to an 11-year-low in January, dealing a particularly heavy blow to consumer-facing businesses in hospitality, travel and leisure, our economics editor Larry Elliot reports.

The UK economy grew at its slowest pace in almost a year in January as hospitality, leisure and travel businesses felt the impact of the Omicronvariant.

The monthly flash PMI (purchasing managers’ index) estimate of activity from IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply reported a two-speed recovery with an easing of supply-chain bottlenecks for manufacturing offset by weakness in consumer-facing service companies.

Service sector growth eased for a third month, according to the survey, amid reports from businesses of a loss of momentum caused by pandemic disruptions and very subdued demand.

Amid widespread reports of severe cost pressures, the IHS Markit/Cips measure of output fell from 53.6 to 53.4 in January – its lowest level in 11 months. Any finding above 50 denotes that the economy is expanding rather than contracting.

Chris Williamson, IHS Markit’s chief business economist, said:

A resilient rate of economic growth in the UK during January masks wide variations across different sectors. Consumer-facing businesses have been hit hard by Omicron, and manufacturers have reported a further worrying weakening of order book growth but other business sectors have remained encouragingly robust.

Looking ahead, while the Omicron wave meant the hospitality sector has sunk into a third steep downturn, these restrictions are now easing, meaning this downturn should be brief. Many business and financial services companies have, meanwhile, been far less affected by Omicron and saw business growth accelerate at the start of the year.

Read more here: Omicron pushes UK business growth to 11-year low

The Guardian

Related posts

Leave a Comment