Coronavirus live: China’s Sinopharm jab gets WHO approval; Turkey, Maldives and Nepal added to England ‘red list’

The Australian government has battled a significant backlash from within its own ranks over the controversial decision to criminalise returning to Australia from Covid-ravaged India. More than 9,000 Australians remained trapped in India by the travel ban. Many travelled before the crisis to visit sick and dying relatives, and say they are angry at their treatment. Here is some of the reaction to that decision in the week after it was announced:

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India’s opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, has demanded that the government rapidly vaccinate the entire country in order to slow the surge in coronavirus, in which 1.5 million new cases were recorded in one week.

Reuters reports:

“Your government’s lack of a clear and coherent Covid and vaccination strategy, as well as its hubris in declaring premature victory as the virus was exponentially spreading, has placed India in a highly dangerous position,” Gandhi said in a letter addressed to prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Modi has been widely criticised for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave, after religious festivals and political rallies drew tens of thousands of people in recent weeks and became “super spreader” events.

His government has also been criticised for lifting social restrictions too soon following the first wave and for delays in the country’s vaccination programme, which medical experts say is India’s only hope of controlling the second Covid-19 wave.

Japan’s government is set to extend a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas on Friday until the end of May, in order to prevent a surge in coronavirus cases ahead of the start of the Tokyo Olympics.

My colleague, Justin McCurry, reports from Tokyo that the economy minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, conceded on Friday that targeted measures introduced at the end of last month that were due to end on 11 May had failed to check a dramatic rise in infections.

7 May 202102.04 EDT

Tobi Thomas

Tobi Thomas here, taking over from my colleague Helen Sullivan. If you would like to get in touch with any tips for the blog please do email me: tobi.thomas@theguardian.com

Thanks!

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today.

May bring to your attention, for a bit of relief before the more serious news, this phallic fuss-maker:

UK holidaymakers will finally discover which destinations they can visit this summer without quarantining, with Portugal, Iceland and Malta among those expected to be on the travel green list, PA Media reports.

Gibraltar and Israel could also make the cut when the list is published on Friday following weeks of speculation.

Quarantine and coronavirus testing requirements for people arriving in England once foreign holidays are permitted from 17 May will be based on a new traffic light system, with destinations placed on green, amber and red lists.

People arriving from a green location will not need to quarantine on their return and will have to take one post-arrival test.

Those returning from an amber list country must self-isolate for at least five days and take two tests.

The red list requires an 11-night stay in a quarantine hotel at a cost of 1,750 for solo travellers.

Assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country’s population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

A bold US bid to waive patents on much-needed coronavirus vaccines was strongly opposed by Germany on Thursday, threatening to derail the proposal that requires the consensus of World Trade Organization members to pass, AFP reports.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla meanwhile told AFP his company was “not at all” in favor of the measure, insisting intellectual property is not the main roadblock to more production and that building new plants would be counterproductive.

Rich nations have faced accusations of hoarding shots while poor countries struggle to get inoculation programs off the ground, with the virus surging across the developing world in contrast to the easing of restrictions in Europe and the US.

The problem was highlighted as India, one of the worst-hit countries, registered record Covid-19 cases and deaths on Thursday.

Under intense pressure to ease protections for vaccine manufacturers, Washington’s Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Wednesday that the US “supports the waiver of those protections for Covid-19 vaccines”.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the announcement as “a monumental moment in the fight against Covid-19”.

The move was also praised by the African Union, Paris, Rome and Vienna as well as World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who previously voiced reluctance on the issue, said Brussels was ready to discuss the proposal.

Momentum built as Russian president Vladimir Putin said he too supported the idea of a patent waiver, as Russia registered a single-dose virus shot called Sputnik Light.

But Berlin’s decision to come out strongly against the proposal has now left its fate unclear.

The World Health Organization on Thursday warned of a new wave of Covid-19 infections in Africa due to delayed vaccine supplies, a slow rollout and new variants, AFP reports.

The African bureau of the UN agency said the continent had to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of vaccine rollouts.

“The delay in the delivery of vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India earmarked for Africa, the delay in the deployment of vaccines and the emergence of new variants means that the risk of a new wave of infections remains very high in Africa,” it said in a statement.

It added that new variants such as the ones that emerged in India and South Africa could unleash a “third wave” on the continent.

“The tragedy in India does not have to happen here in Africa, but we must all be on the highest possible alert,” said regional WHO director Matshidiso Moeti.

“While we call for vaccine equity, Africa must also knuckle down and make the best of what we have. We must get all the doses we have into people’s arms.”

Some African countries had been exemplary in deploying vaccines, the WHO said, without naming them.

But it added that in spite of this, only just under “half of the 37 million doses received in Africa have been administered so far”.

Africa now accounts for only one percent of vaccine doses administered globally, the WHO said - down from two percent a few weeks ago, as other regions’ rollouts are progressing much faster.

The first vaccines deliveries to 41 African countries under the Covax scheme began in March but nine countries have so far administered only a quarter of the doses received, while 15 countries have used less than half of their allocations.

The vaccination rate in Africa is the world’s lowest. Globally an average of 150 vaccine doses per 1,000 people have been administered, but in sub-Saharan Africa it is hardly eight doses per 1,000, according to the WHO.

India on Friday reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases of 414,188, while deaths from Covid-19 swelled by 3,915, according to health ministry data.

India’s total coronavirus infections now stand at 21.49 million, while its total fatalities have reached 234,083.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

We’ll be bringing you the latest developments for the next while.

The World Health Organization on Thursday warned of a new wave of Covid-19 infections in Africa due to delayed vaccine supplies, a slow rollout and new variants. The African bureau of the UN agency said the continent had to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of vaccine rollouts.

India on Friday reported a record daily rise in coronvirus cases of 414,188, while deaths from Covid-19 swelled by 3,915, according to health ministry data.

Here are the other key recent developments:

• Denmark has eased more Covid restrictions with a “corona pass.” Gyms, theatres and cinemas opened on Thursday as part of the country’s Covid-19 relaxation programme.
• Support for vaccine patent waivers grows across the globe despite Germany’s opposition.
• England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty has said that Covid-19 is unlikely ever to be eradicated, and the outlook for the pandemic remains “pretty bleak” in the medium term.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of a new wave of Covid-19 infections in Africa due to delayed vaccine supplies, a slow rollout and new variants.
• The United States has administered 251,973,752 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country and distributed 324,610,185 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday.
• Brazil registers 73,380 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases above the 15 million mark.