Coronavirus: Starbucks, Mattel and Big Tech earnings ride post-pandemic recovery - as it happened

Starbucks offered an upbeat sales outlook for the quarter ending in September, as Covid-19 vaccinations and the reopening of offices in the US send customers back into coffee shops.

Sales in the three months to the end of June hit a record $7.5bn, an increase of 78 per cent over a year-ago period hampered by coronavirus shutdowns. Comparable sales, which track revenues in locations open at least a year, were up 73 per cent. Both measures exceeded analysts’ forecasts.

Starbucks expects comparable sales to be 18-21 per cent higher year on year in its fiscal fourth quarter, higher than the 17.5 per cent increase that analysts predict.

Large restaurant chains have benefited as authorities relax limitations on travel and indoor dining, prompting more people to eat out again. Consumers’ growing preference for placing orders online, a trend fuelled by the pandemic, has also helped companies such as Starbucks, Chipotle and Domino’s Pizza generate higher sales.

The company updated its full-year forecast to call for 20-21 per cent comparable sales growth, compared with a previous range of 18-23 per cent. It raised its forecast for adjusted earnings to between $3.20 and $3.25 a share, up from $2.90 to $3, even as it noted the impact of higher costs in the supply chain and wage increases during its third quarter.

But the outlook in China weakened, with Starbucks estimating comparable sales growth of 18-20 per cent in the current fiscal year. That was down from a prior forecast of 27-32 per cent.

Rachel Ruggeri, chief financial officer, said during the earnings call that “sporadic” resurgences of coronavirus have impaired consumer mobility in some markets.

Starbucks’ results for its third fiscal quarter continued to show a bigger rebound in the Americas, where sales have benefited from the elimination of most Covid-19 restrictions across the US.

The Seattle-based company posted an 84 per cent rise in comparable sales in the Americas. Internationally, comparable sales advanced 41 per cent, including a 19 per cent increase in China.

Starbucks earned $1.15bn compared with a $678m loss in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings of $1.01 a share topped Wall Street’s forecast of 78 cents.

Shares in Starbucks fell 3 per cent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai credited a “rising tide of online activity in many parts of the world” for driving profits almost three times higher than in the same period of last year.

Expectations were already high for Alphabet, with last year’s second quarter hit heavily by a sharp pullback in global ad spending as companies reacted to the onset of the pandemic.

As Wall Street had hoped, ad sales on the platform surged in the second quarter, pushing net income to $18.53bn — beating analysts’ estimates by around 10 per cent. Revenue for the period topped $61.9bn.

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Microsoft ended its financial year on a strong note, posting a 21 per cent jump in revenue as it saw a flood of new business in areas like cloud computing, LinkedIn advertising and business applications.

The US software company’s sales and earnings comfortably topped most official Wall Street estimates, though its shares slipped back 2 per cent after a near-20 per cent rally in the last two months took its stock price to a record high.

Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, one of the main engines of its recent growth spurt, had seen revenue growth slow in recent quarters as it became a much bigger contributor to the overall business.

But in the three months to the end of June, Azure growth accelerated, reaching 51 per cent. That was up from growth of 46 per cent in the preceding three months, and the fastest expansion rate in five quarters.

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Apple’s profits almost doubled in its latest quarter to $21.7bn, as iPhone sales surged and anticipated component shortages failed to bite.

Apple’s overall revenues grew by 36 per cent compared to the same period last year, including a 50 per cent rise in iPhone sales, driving net income 93 per cent higher for the three months to June 26.

Though the pace of year-on-year growth was slightly slower than in the previous quarter, Apple still stretched far ahead of Wall Street’s targets on almost every metric.

Luca Maestri, Apple’s finance chief, told the FT that the quarter was “very, very strong across the board”, noting that its services revenues had hit a new record.

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A pandemic-driven toy frenzy continued to push up sales at Mattel, as parents buy Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars and WWE action figures to entertain their children at home.

Mattel booked more than $1bn in sales during the second quarter, a 40 per cent increase year on year, surpassing the $879m that most analysts predicted. That came on the heels of a 47 per cent rise in the March quarter.

Toy sales have been resilient through much of the pandemic. Board games, plush animals and dolls have flown off shelves at a time when other forms of entertainment are shut down or limited because of Covid-19.

Mattel has also attributed its growth to the strength of its well-known brands and a turnround plan aimed at turning several of those franchises into films and television shows.

Ynon Kreiz, chief executive, said Mattel has raised prices to offset higher costs related to ocean freight and some materials, but demand has not suffered as a result.

Mattel reported double-digit sales gains in each of its categories. Global revenues from dolls including Barbie and American Girl were up 51 per cent compared with the year-ago period. Demand for Hot Wheels and Matchbox products lifted toy car sales by 68 per cent.

The company posted a net loss of $5.5m, compared with a $111m loss a year ago. It earned 3 cents per share on an adjusted basis, better than analysts’ estimate for a per-share loss of 5 cents.

Shares in Mattel rose more than 1 per cent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

The top US public health agency revised its guidance for vaccinated people on wearing masks indoors, in a significant turnround from a decision it made just two months ago, spurred by the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends that vaccinated people should wear masks indoors in areas with “substantial and high transmission” of the virus, Rochelle Walensky, its director, announced on Tuesday.

Walensky said the Delta variant was “uniquely different” from previous strains of the virus and was “showing every day its willingness to outsmart us”. The strain now accounts for about eight in 10 sequenced genomes in the US.

Information from “several states” and other countries, received recently by health officials, showed that some vaccinated people, if infected with the Delta variant, may be contagious and spread the virus to others, she said, and that the viral load in so-called “breakthrough” cases was “pretty similar to the amount of virus in unvaccinated people.” Breakthrough cases represented a “very small” proportion of infections around the country, though.

“This new science is worrisome and unfortunately warrants an update” to the CDC’s mask guidance, she continued.

The CDC has also recommended that students, teachers and staff in K-12 schools should wear masks, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated.

Walensky said masks would be required in schools in areas with “substantial and high transmission of the virus”, regardless of an individual’s vaccination status, with the priority still to return students to in-person learning for the autumn term.

The CDC’s new recommendation on masking “is not a decision we have taken lightly”, Walensky said, and added that it had “weighed heavily” on her.

She acknowledged that “not only are people tired, they’re frustrated”, the country was faced with a lot of mental health challenges and the healthcare system was being overrun by a “preventable” situation. “It is not a welcome piece of news that masking is going to be a part of peoples’ lives who have been vaccinated,” she said.

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Boris Johnson is on Wednesday expected to approve the reopening of England’s doors to double-vaccinated tourists from the EU and the US, in a move that will bring relief to the country’s leisure sector.

Whitehall officials said UK ministers, led by chancellor Rishi Sunak, had pushed the prime minister to act, arguing that it was safe to start readmitting foreign tourists without the need for quarantine if they had received two jabs.

Sunak was particularly concerned that tourist destinations like London would lose out to locations like Paris and Rome now that the EU had decided to admit US visitors.

“It could take effect from as early as next week,” said one Whitehall official briefed on the ministerial discussions. “Rishi has been leading the way on this.” Falling coronavirus case numbers in the UK made the decision easier.

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Chicago has added nine more states, including Kansas, Tennessee and Wyoming, to its travel advisory list due to their high rates of new coronavirus infections.

The advisory urges unvaccinated travellers from so-called “orange list” states to obtain a negative Covid-19 test result no more than 72 hours prior to arrival in Chicago or undertake a 10-day quarantine.

States are added to Chicago’s travel advisory list if their daily infection rates exceed a threshold of 15 per 100,000 residents. Illinois’ most populous city has averaged 6.1 new cases per 100,000 people a day, according to the health department.

Chicago officials on Tuesday added Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming to the advisory list.

Last week, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada and the US Virgin Islands were added, and the week before that, Missouri and Arkansas became the first states in the orange tier since early June.

The latest batch of additions means unvaccinated travellers from more than one-quarter of US states now face travel restrictions in Chicago.

Canada has enough Covid-19 vaccine doses to inoculate everyone who is eligible for the shot two months ahead of schedule, Justin Trudeau revealed.

That represents a milestone for the country, which had a rocky start to its vaccine programme and struggled to secure sufficient supply of doses during the early stages of the rollout.

“Back in the winter, I made a promise that we would have enough vaccine for all eligible Canadians by the end of September,” the prime minister said during a news conference on Tuesday. “Not only have we kept that promise, we’ve done it two months ahead of schedule.”

Canada, which has approved the BioNTech/Pfizer, Oxford/AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots, had received more than 66m doses so far, Trudeau said.

Canada has administered more than 48.1m doses so far and 56.5 per cent of its population is fully vaccinated, according to the Financial Times’ vaccine tracker. Trudeau urged Canadians to get vaccinated warning of the risks of the highly transmissible Delta variant, first discovered in India, and other variants of concern.

“Unfortunately the reality is that with the Delta variant and other variants of concern out there, it is likely that we will see a rise in cases in the coming months, but it will primarily be limited to unvaccinated people,” Trudeau said.

“The overwhelming majority of cases in Canada are in people who haven’t been fully vaccinated yet,” he added. “With enough doses for everyone there are no more excuses to get your shot.”

More than a quarter of the UK population would have had to be effectively shielded during the pandemic to prevent about 80 per cent of total Covid-related deaths, a study conducted in Scotland has found.

Researchers at the University of Glasgow examined the likelihood of vulnerable individuals contracting or dying from coronavirus, with the findings suggesting the government’s strategy to protect the most vulnerable groups may not have gone far enough.

People in the UK who were advised to shield were nonetheless eight times more likely to catch Covid-19 than the general population and five times more likely to die following infection, the researchers said. Because those shielding were more likely than others to get infected, they were also 49 times more likely to die overall.

Of the 1.3m people registered to family practitioners in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in the west of Scotland and included in the study, 1.2 per cent were advised to shield, most of whom had severe respiratory disease, were on immunosuppressive therapies or had cancer. Between March and May last year, they accounted for 13.2 per cent of Covid-related deaths.

A further 26 per cent of the general population were classified as at moderate risk from Covid-19 owing to their age or because they suffered from hypertension, had chronic lung disease or diabetes. They were not advised to shield, though.

People in this group accounted for 75.3 per cent of deaths, suggesting they too should have been asked to shield, according to the team at the University of Glasgow.

The findings of the study suggest the shielding strategy implemented by government to protect the most vulnerable groups “was not as effective as was hoped”, the researchers said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will reverse its mask guidance for vaccinated people on Tuesday, in a major climbdown from a decision it made just two months ago.

The public health agency will recommend that vaccinated people should wear masks in some indoor places when case rates are high, according to one person briefed on the decision, confirming an earlier report in the New York Times.

The CDC recommended earlier this summer that vaccinated people could remove their masks in all settings - a move that many experts criticised as premature. Now however, with the Delta variant causing a spike in infections across the US, the CDC has changed its mind.

The increase in US home prices accelerated in May, growing at the quickest annual pace on record, fuelled by a buying frenzy coupled with a dearth of homes listed for sale.

The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller national home price index jumped 16.6 per cent from a year earlier, the biggest gain since at least 1988. That eclipsed the previous record in April, when prices were up 14.8 per cent year on year.

“A month ago, I described April’s performance as ‘truly extraordinary,’ and this month I find myself running out of superlatives,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Price gains were evident across the country. Every major market in the group’s 20-city index posted a larger increase in home prices in May than they did in April. Prices in 18 of those cities are at record highs.

The 20-city composite index was up 17 per cent year on year. A gauge of home prices in 10 major markets registered a 16.4 per cent increase.

The jump in home prices is a further sign that the housing market remains red-hot as the US economy emerges from the pandemic-induced downturn.

The pace of existing home sales remains higher than levels seen before the pandemic, while supply has “modestly improved” in recent months, the National Association of Realtors said last week. Existing home sales were up 1.4 per cent month to month in June, and prices climbed to a new all-time high.

Demand has been strong since the early days of the pandemic in the US, as many Americans seek out more space in the suburbs and capitalise on record-low mortgage rates.

Lazzara said May’s home price figures continue to suggest that strength in the housing market “is being driven in part by reaction to the Covid pandemic, as potential buyers move from urban apartments to suburban homes”.

Prices in May were strongest in the west and south-west regions. Phoenix led the group of 20 major cities with homes prices that soared 25.9 per cent. San Diego and Seattle posted gains of 24.7 per cent and 23.4 per cent, respectively.

Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods in the US grew at a weaker pace in June, reflecting the sector’s struggles with supply shortages even as aircraft demand continued to improve following the pandemic-driven travel slowdown.

New durable goods orders rose 0.8 per cent from June to $257.6bn on a seasonally adjusted basis, the US Census Bureau said on Tuesday, falling short of the 2.1 per cent increase that economists anticipated.

The rise in new orders followed a 3.2 per cent gain in May.

Economists closely follow demand for durable goods, a category that includes laptops, cars and washing machines and provides a window into the state of business investment, one of the components of gross domestic product.

Factories have been grappling with a shortage of chips and other parts and materials due to bottlenecks in the supply chain. Labour shortages and rising costs also continue to drag on the manufacturing sector, hampering its ability to meet strong demand, the Institute for Supply Management said in a survey published earlier this month.

Commercial and defence aircraft, machinery and communications equipment drew an increase in new orders last month. Orders for computers, vehicles and fabricated metal products edged down from the previous month.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft — used as a gauge of business investment — were up 0.5 per cent, matching the previous month’s gain.

City officials in São Paulo have moved to crack down on “vaccine sommeliers” with a new law aimed at stopping residents from choosing which jab they receive.

Latin America’s most populous city is using multiple vaccines, including BioNTech/Pfizer, Oxford/AstraZeneca and the CoronaVac jab from China’s Sinovac. Many Brazilians, however, view the Chinese vaccine as less effective and are seeking out public health clinics that are giving out other jabs.

WhatsApp groups and websites have popped up crowdsourcing information and advice on which vaccines can be obtained where, even as health experts and officials urge residents to take whatever is most readily available.

On Tuesday, the city enacted a new law penalising residents who refuse to take the vaccine during their allocated time period. Those who skip their window — typically done in order to avoid receiving CoronaVac — will be placed at the end of the queue for vaccines and will only be eligible after the municipality has completed its first full round of immunisations later this year.

Developing economies’ limited access to Covid vaccines threatens to hinder the global economic recovery from the pandemic, the IMF has warned, as it upgraded its growth projections for advanced economies but lowered them for other parts of the world.

The Fund still expects overall global growth of 6 per cent this year — unchanged from its last projection in April — it said in its latest World Economic Outlook on Tuesday. But it warned that new waves of coronavirus infections since then, including the spread of the Delta variant, have made the outlook more uncertain and uneven.

“Vaccine access has emerged as the principal faultline along which the global recovery splits into two blocs,” the IMF said. Some countries “can look forward to further normalisation of activity later this year” but many others “still face resurgent infections and rising Covid death tolls”.

Even countries on the recovery track should not be complacent about this, the Fund warned: “The recovery . . . is not assured even in countries where infections are currently very low so long as the virus circulates elsewhere.”

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UK prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday warned the public against complacency after falling numbers of daily coronavirus infections raised hopes that Britain may have passed the peak of its latest wave.

Speaking during a visit to Surrey Police HQ in Guildford, Johnson was cautious, after the UK recorded 24,950 new infections on Monday, marking the sixth consecutive day of falling infections.

“I’ve noticed, obviously, that we are six days into some better figures”, Johnson said. “But it is very, very important that we don’t allow ourselves to run away with premature conclusions about this,” the prime minister added, noting that the impact of the lifting of nearly all of England’s remaining Covid restrictions on July 19 has yet to be seen.

“Step Four of the opening-up only took place a few days ago, people have got to remain very cautious and that remains the approach of the government,” he said.

The number of weekly deaths related to Covid-19 around the world jumped by a fifth in the seven days to July 19, representing the biggest week-on-week increase since April 2020, according to data from the World Health Organization.

A total of 69,132 people died from Covid-19 in the week to July 19, up from 57,245 the week before.

The surge was lead by a 29 per cent rise in weekly deaths across the Americas and a 30 per cent rise across south east Asia.

Deaths also ticked up in the eastern Mediterranean, Africa and the western Pacific, while falling marginally in Europe.

Global deaths have been rising since the last week of June, data from the WHO show, although the latest 20 per cent rise represents the biggest weekly increase since April 2020, soon after the pandemic began.

New cases have also been rising since mid-June, largely driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which the WHO has described as the “fastest and fittest” strain of Covid-19 to have so far emerged.

3M raised its full-year outlook and said sales across all its businesses was boosted in the second quarter by the global economic recovery from pandemic.

The company, which makes N95 masks and Post-it notes, on Tuesday said second quarter sales rose 24.7 per cent from a year ago to $8.9bn, ahead of expectations of $8.6bn, according to Refinitiv.

In its safety and industrial division, sales rose 22.4 per cent from a year ago to $3.3bn, boosted by the after-market for auto parts, industrial adhesives and tapes, although sales declined in personal safety.

Its consumer business reported a 20.4 per cent increase in sales to $1.5bn boosted by stationery and office supplies, consumer health and safety and home improvement as the US economy pushed ahead with its reopening.

3M reported net income of $1.5bn or $2.59 a share, up from $1.3bn or $2.25 a share in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings of $2.59 a share exceeded analyst estimates of $2.28.

Following a strong first half of the year, the company boosted its full-year earnings outlook to between $9.70 and $10.10 a share, up from $9.20 to $9.70 previously.

Mike Roman, chief executive, said the company remained “focused on investing in growth opportunities coming out of the pandemic”.

General Electric boosted its free cash flow outlook for the year and reported better than expected second-quarter results as its healthcare and aviation units started to recover from pandemic-driven setbacks.

The 129-year-old industrial group boosted its outlook for full year industrial cash flow, which is seen as a sign of its financial health and ability to pay down debts, to a range of $3.5bn to $5bn, up from its previous outlook of $2.5bn to $4.5bn.

In the second quarter, it reported industrial cash flow of $388m following cash burn of $845m in the first three months of the year.

The Boston-based company said revenues rose 9 per cent from a year ago to $18.3bn, just ahead of expectations of $18.15bn, according to analysts polled by Refinitiv. Adjusting for one-off items, earnings of 5 cents a share exceed expectations for 3 cents.

“Momentum is building across our businesses, driven by healthcare and services overall, with aviation showing early signs of recovery,” said chief executive Larry Culp, whose $230m pay package was rejected by shareholders in May.

Aviation revenues were up 10 per cent from a year ago to $4.8bn and orders rose 47 per cent, an improvement from the first quarter, when orders were down 26 per cent.

GE’s aviation business, which supplies aircraft engines and other components, suffered during the pandemic as demand for air travel plummeted. The company has previously said it expects the aviation market recovery to begin in the second half of the year.

Revenues in its healthcare business rose 14 per cent to $4.45bn, with growth in imaging and ultrasound as demand for elective procedures has recovered.

United Parcel Service reported a jump in quarterly profits and revenues despite a dip in residential deliveries as pandemic lockdowns lift.

The parcel delivery company said revenues jumped to $23.4bn in the second quarter, up 14.5 per cent from the year before. This was slightly ahead of analysts’ forecasts of $23.2bn, according to a Refinitiv survey.

Net income rose to $2.7bn or $3.05 per share, compared with $1.77bn or $2.03 a share in the year ago quarter. Adjusting for one-time items, the company reported earnings of $3.05 a share, a 50.2 per cent jump over last year’s second-quarter results, and above expectations of $2.82 a share.

In the US, revenue was up 10.2 per cent because of a strong improvement in all product lines. Adjusted operating profit was $1.7bn, up from $1.2bn in 2020’s second quarter. The adjusted operating margin for the segment rose to 11.6 per cent, the firm’s highest second quarter operating margin since 2017.

UPS’ gains in the US were in part due to the growth of weekend services, with Saturday ground delivery jumping by 13 per cent. The Atlanta-based firm expects to cover 90 per cent of the US population on Saturdays by the end of October, said Carol Tomé, chief executive officer.

“These improvements benefit all of our customers, large and small, by enabling faster time in transit and expanding capacity,” she said.  

However, average daily volume in the US was down 2.9 per cent, led by declines in its residential ground service SurePost which fell by 15.8 per cent. The firm’s business-to-business channel grew by 25.7 per cent as more retail foot traffic returned to brick-and-mortar locations, said Brian Newman, UPS’ chief financial officer.

“As expected, last year’s surge in essential goods delivered to homes created tough comparisons on a year-over-year basis,” he said. “As a result, total average daily volume in the US in the second quarter of this year was down 619 pieces per day.”

Overseas revenue increased by 30 per cent to $4.8bn, driven by a strong performance in Europe, while operating profit rose to $1.2bn from $842m a year ago. Average daily volumes in the retail channel internationally slid by a smaller percentage than the US contraction — 4.1 per cent — and business to business grew 25 per cent.

“These year-over-year comparisons reflect the unique pandemic effects from last year as [business to consumer] doubled in the second quarter of 2020,” Newman said.

Retail sales in the UK continued to grow strongly in July, although retailers were reporting stock shortages that were set to worsen as staff were forced to self-isolate, the CBI said on Tuesday.

The group’s monthly distributive trades survey gave no sign of consumers becoming more cautious as the spread of the coronavirus Delta variant drove a rise in the number of new cases. Sales growth continued at the same strong pace as in June, with new orders rising at the faster rate since 2010.

This was driven by the reopening of physical stores, with internet sales flat in the year to July – although clothing and footwear stores had not yet seen demand return to pre-pandemic levels.

But retailers said stock levels were at record lows relative to expected sales.

“While demand may be more stable, operational issues worsen . . . the number one worry for many firms at the minute is labour shortages throughout the supply chain as staff self-isolate,” said Ben Jones, principal economist at the CBI.

He added that disruption would continue without a more effective system to allow fully vaccinated people who were not infectious to continue working. 

Seven in ten adults in the EU have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has announced.

Earlier this year, amid criticism from the World Health Organization for its “unacceptably slow” rollout of jabs, the European Commission said it hoped to have fully inoculated 70 per cent of adults by September. It later brought the target date forward by two months following a ramp up in vaccine manufacturing capacity.

Despite just 57 per cent of the bloc’s 446m residents having received both doses, von der Leyen said in a statement on Tuesday that “the EU has kept its word and delivered”.

“These figures put Europe among the world leaders,” she added. “The catch-up process has been very successful — but we need to keep up the effort.”

Half of trade show and exhibition organisers reported a loss in 2020, according to data from industry body UFI, and a slightly higher proportion had to reduce their workforce.

Covid-19 hit the global events industry hard, with lockdowns forcing the cancellation of trade shows and exhibitions around the world.

However the pandemic “confirmed the value of face-to-face events”, according to over three quarters of participants UFI’s twice yearly survey, and the body expects the industry’s 2021 revenues to reach 47 per cent of 2019 levels as international travel restrictions are lifted.

The share of companies recording “no activity” fell to 10 per cent, down from 53 per cent in January. Half of participants described their current activity as “normal”.

“The bounceback is on its way,” said Kai Hattendorf, UFI chief executive.

A regional breakdown indicated that companies in the Middle East and Africa, and Central and South America were hardest hit by lockdowns, received less financial support, and made heavier staff cutbacks.

The coronavirus infection rate is “dramatically falling” in Scotland and vaccines are reducing the mortality rate, the national clinical director for the Scottish government has said.

Coronavirus caseloads in parts of Scotland were formerly among the highest in the UK.

“We had five of the top 10 local authorities in the UK about four weeks ago, now we have none in the top 150,” said Jason Leitch in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.

Scotland’s exit from the Euro 2020 football tournament enabled the government to track the spread of the virus amongst sports fans.

“The Scotland-England game definitely gave us a spike, principally with travel, [with] the buses, and the tubes, and the indoor environments...we definitely had a spike,” said Leitch.

“Unfortunately, from a sporting perspective...Scotland went out far too early. But epidemiologically [speaking], that probably did us some favours...that gave us the ability to test a lot of those fans,” he said.

“We had 1,000 cases yesterday, which is the lowest we’ve had for some time, but [it’s] still too high...and that’s why we’re still suggesting caution as we open,” he added.

Leitch said Scotland had vaccinated about 73 per cent of the population, which altered the link between infections, hospitalisations and death.

“We’ve now seen hospitalisations fall,” he said. “About 3 per cent of positive [people] get admitted to hospital, but they’re younger, they’re relatively healthier and they’re being discharged quicker. But some still stay...and we have had far too many deaths over the last few days.”

Tokyo confirmed 2,848 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday — its highest figure — as the Olympic host city struggles to stem a steady rise in infections caused by the spread of the Delta variant.

The figure was double the number of cases recorded a week earlier and easily surpassed the previous peak of 2,520 set in January.

The steady rush of medals Japanese athletes have won has helped to improve public sentiment about holding the Games during a pandemic. But the government’s approval rate continues to decline as a result of the slow rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, with only about a quarter of the population fully vaccinated.

Seven new cases related to the Olympics were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infected people to 155.

England needs to remain “agile” in its fight against coronavirus, a government minister had said, but he added that it was “looking good” for a change to the self-isolation rules next month.

“We’ll have to wait and see . . . we’re at this period of anticipation, of looking at what happens . . . because we’ve come out of the restrictions,” said policing minister Kit Malthouse in an interview with Sky News on Tuesday.

The country is due to ease self-isolation rules for people who come into contact with someone who has contracted Covid-19 on August 16.

“There are wiser heads than mine, more scientifically trained heads than mine looking at all the data . . . for the moment [things are] looking good so far — fingers crossed for August,” he added.

However, Malthouse said people needed to remain agile.

“Agile means having to adapt to the path of the virus . . . and that means moving quickly,” he said.

England reported its sixth consecutive daily drop in coronavirus cases on Tuesday. 

Revenues at online card retailer Moonpig more than doubled in the year to April, but the company said on Tuesday that sales had started to decline as coronavirus restrictions were lifted.  

Moonpig benefited from Covid lockdowns, as shop closures and a ban on social occasions prompted many people to send cards and gifts instead. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange with a £1.2bn valuation in early February. 

The retailer’s revenues rose 113 per cent to £368m and profits also jumped, thanks to a slower easing of lockdown restrictions than anticipated. It added that activity had started to “normalise from elevated levels” as restrictions have been eased.

Moonpig expects revenues of £250m to £260m for the current year, which would be 45-50 per cent higher than in 2020, as the economy reopens and in-person celebrations are no longer limited.

Profits at UK-based recruiter Robert Walters rose sharply to a record level in the first half, as the company reaped the rewards of a “war for talent” driven by staff shortages during the pandemic.

The company said that pre-tax profit rose to £22.1m in the six months to June 30, up by 414 per cent on the same period last year and by 6 per cent compared with 2019, as demand for workers in almost all professions outstripped supply.

“We enter the second half of the year with cautious optimism and confidence that we will continue to take advantage of market opportunities as they arise,” said chief executive Robert Walters, who added that “a war for talent and significant wage inflation is beginning to emerge”.

Staff shortages were “uniquely acute” during the first half because of restrictions on movement caused by the pandemic, the company said. Robert Walters was helped by a hiring spree in the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for 45 per cent of its net fee income.

In the UK, the company said hiring was strongest in London in the finance, legal and technology sectors, with salary uplifts of between 20 and 30 per cent “now commonplace” for hard-to-source roles.

The darkest days of the pandemic may be over for businesses in London’s West End, according to Covent Garden owner Capital & Counties. 

The value of shops, restaurants and office buildings around the central London piazza have tumbled during the pandemic as lockdowns kept tourists away and businesses shuttered. 

But there are signs of trade improving and valuation declines moderating – indications “that the worst of the pandemic may be behind us,” said Capco boss Ian Hawksworth. 

Covent Garden’s valuation fell 5 per cent in the six months to June 30 to a total of £1.7bn. Over the course of 2020, the estate lost more than a quarter of its value.

Net rental income that for long periods during the pandemic was reduced to a trickle also picked up, totalling £21m over the past six months compared to £18.2m for the same period a year ago. 

“There are challenges in the near term, as the economy moves towards more normal levels of activity,” said Hawksworth.

The easing of Covid restrictions, coupled with signs that new daily cases appear to be falling, are likely to boost commercial landlords such as Capco, which said on Tuesday that it would recommence paying dividends of 0.5 pence per share.

Reckitt Benckiser has become the latest consumer goods group to feel a squeeze from inflation as commodity costs picked up in its second quarter.

The FTSE 100 maker of Dettol disinfectants, Clearasil skin cream and Cillit Bang surface cleaner also reported a dip in sales as booming demand for cleaning products during the pandemic began to moderate.

While revenues remain comfortably above pre-pandemic levels, results on Tuesday showed like-for-like sales for the three months to June 30 dipped 1 per cent from a year ago.

Operating profit margins meanwhile declined 2.9 percentage points in the first half of the year to 21.6 per cent, which Reckitt said partly reflected higher commodity costs.

Net revenues in the first half dipped from £6.9bn a year ago to £6.6bn.

The slowdown reflects a strong comparative period last year. Consumers’ increased tendency to stay in the house during the pandemic led them to wash and cook at home more often, fuelling demand for hand soaps, surface cleaners and other household staples.

Reckitt said the while demand for disinfectant “remains significantly higher than pre-Covid levels”, there had been “some reduction in frequency of usage” from peak levels.

As coronavirus restrictions have eased in several global markets, however, products for which demand depends on social mixing — such as Durex condoms — have recovered.

New Zealand authorities will grant an exception to the Australian rugby union team to enable the hotly contested Bledisloe Cup to be played, despite a suspension of the trans-Tasman travel agreement over outbreaks in Sydney.

Wellington issued an “economic exemption” for the Wallabies to enter the country despite its tight border restrictions. “This is important economically,” said Grant Robertson, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister and finance minister. 

“A test match is estimated to be worth between NZ$17-20m (US$12-14m) in spending for host regions, while the broadcast rights provide much needed income for the sport, which positively affects all levels of the game,” he said.

The first test will be played at Auckland’s Eden Park on August 7. It is not yet clear if the All Blacks will be cleared for travel to Perth for the second test on August 21 or if either team can return for the third test in Wellington on August 28.

Travel between Australia and New Zealand was suspended on Friday for at least eight weeks following the worsening of the Covid-19 outbreaks across the Tasman. New Zealanders were given seven days to return home.

The US’s top vaccine diplomat has urged domestic pharmaceutical companies to support the development of low-cost manufacturing hubs overseas to boost the production of cheaper Covid-19 jabs for developing countries. 

Gayle Smith, head of the global coronavirus response at the US state department, told the Financial Times she wanted vaccine makers such as Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson to share technological expertise with international rivals who can make the shots at a lower cost. 

“We need to increase the capacity of regions to produce more of the vaccines than they consume,” Smith told the FT. “Then they can start exporting to countries around them.”

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Pakistan’s government is considering tighter measures against people who have not taken coronavirus vaccines, as the country witnesses a surge in the number of infections. 

A senior government official said measures under consideration range from blocking SIMs on cellphones to a ban on opening new bank accounts.

“We are looking at the normal rights of any citizen,” the official told the Financial Times. “For people who don’t take their coronavirus vaccines, some of their normal citizenship rights could be taken away.” 

News of the new restrictions under consideration coincides with confirmation of more than 23,000 deaths across the South Asian country since the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020.

On Monday, Pakistan’s southern Sindh province re-enforced a ban on restaurants and other public places such as halls for wedding ceremonies after witnessing a surge in cases, notably in parts of the southern port city, Karachi.

Arif Alvi, Pakistan’s president and a dentist, warned the country to “get serious” in a post on Twitter. 

“Cases have shot up post-Eid,” he said, referring to Eid-al-Adha, a Muslim festival held on July 21. “I was expecting and warning about it as I saw carelessness in streets, bazaars, weddings and mosques.”

In the past, Pakistan’s leaders and officials have taken credit for successfully tackling the spread of Covid-19 by comparison with neighbouring India. 

But medical experts have warned that without tough measures, the country faces the risk of a rapid surge as it confronts the more contagious Delta variant.

The Asian Development Bank has approved a $400m loan to support the Philippines’ efforts to expand youth employment and skills programmes as the jobless rates have soared amid the pandemic.

The bank said the programmes aim to shorten the time young Filipinos spend to find work after leaving school.    

“The pandemic has led to job losses in many sectors, especially among young people,” said Jose Antonio Tan, ADB director for public management, financial sector, and trade for south-east Asia. 

“This new loan reflects our long-term commitment to ensuring that young people find jobs to improve their lives and create a wider employment base for post-pandemic economic growth.”

The loan follows two others approved in 2017 and 2019. Those loans helped more than 20,000 at-risk youth with life skills training and paid internships, and strengthened apprenticeships, Tan said.

“This loan will help young job seekers, especially women, access training opportunities and enhance their skills development,” said Stephen Schuster, the bank’s principal financial sector specialist for south-east Asia.

“It will strengthen labour market policies and provide assistance to returning Filipino workers who lost jobs overseas because of the pandemic,” he added.

The Australian state of Victoria plans to ease a range of restrictions on Tuesday following a reduction in community transmission of coronavirus.

However, thousands of residents remain in quarantine and authorities urged Victorians to get vaccinated when eligible, wearing masks in public places and checking in to venues using an app.

Residents of the state will be able to leave their homes for any reason from midnight. “Today is welcome news but with thousands of Victorians in quarantine, we need to remain vigilant to keep each other safe,” said Martin Foley, state health minister.

Restaurants and cafes can reopen for dine-in services, while retail stores — including hairdressers, beauty salons and personal care facilities — can open in line with density limits.

Entertainment venues will also reopen. Live music venues, dance classes and physical recreation facilities, including gyms, will all open with density requirements of 1 person per 4 sq m.

Children can return to school from Wednesday. Public gatherings will be allowed with up to 10 people, with infants under 12 months not included in the cap.

“However, due to the significant transmission risk we have seen throughout the pandemic, gatherings in the home are still not permitted,” the state government said in a statement. “People will only be able to book accommodation with their household, intimate partner or single bubble person.”

The state’s snowfields will reopen but due to a higher risk, alpine resorts will require proof of a negative Covid-19 test from within 72 hours prior to visiting. Children under 12 years of age are not required to be tested.

A maximum of 50 people will be permitted at weddings. Funerals will also have a limit of 50 mourners, plus those conducting the funeral.

New Zealand authorities will test wastewater in the city of New Plymouth for another week to determine whether there are any undetected Covid-19 cases.

A positive test result was detected on Friday from a wastewater sample and further tests are being taken from sites around the Taranaki region.

The latest wastewater test results from a 24 hour period between Saturday and Sunday, from 6 sites, show no further virus has been detected, the health ministry said on Tuesday.  

The ministry asked Taranaki residents with symptoms to be tested and asked recent arrivals from Australia to also have a test.

The ministry also provided an update on the crew of three vessels who reported positive Covid-19 test results. The container ship Mattina remains in quarantine in the remote southern port of Bluff.

The crew of the fishing vessel Playa Zahara are now all recovered and no one remains onshore in managed isolation. The boat remains in quarantine at Lyttelton Port. 

Of the crew of the Viking Bay, 14 are now back aboard the fishing vessel, which remains in quarantine at Queens Wharf in Wellington. The other six crew members remain in managed isolation in Wellington.

Aberdeen Standard Investments is rolling out its first retail sustainability funds in Singapore, but has faced delays in bringing the strategies to the city-state, while more than a dozen global peers have already launched environmental, social and governance funds after the regulator called on firms to do so last year.

The UK-headquartered manager has two Luxembourg-domiciled equities fund products focusing on sustainable investing that are currently pending recognition from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for sale to retail investors.

The MAS put out a call more than 12 months ago in June last year for global asset managers to bring more sustainability-focused products to the city-state in anticipation of future demand, but the coronavirus pandemic has caused hold-ups for some companies in doing so.

David Smith, Aberdeen Standard’s Singapore-based senior investment director for Asian equities, told Ignites Asia that Covid-19 travel restrictions introduced some operational challenges, such as the need for physical signatures in order for the strategies to be approved for some markets.

A US House of Representatives member has tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the second Republican lawmaker to contract the disease in a week.

Clay Higgins of Louisiana said his wife Becca and one of his children also tested positive for the virus. “I have Covid, Becca has Covid, my son has Covid,” Higgins wrote on Facebook on Monday.

Several congressional staffers, including some who had already been vaccinated, have also tested positive in recent days.

Higgins is an outspoken coronavirus sceptic who co-drafted legislation to make vaccine mandates a federal crime.  

But it is the second time Higgins and his wife have contracted the potentially deadly virus. “Becca and I had Covid before, early on, in January 2020, before the world really knew what it was,” he added.

Higgins said he planned to be treated with “western, eastern, and holistic variables”, adding: “We are all under excellent care, and our prognosis is positive. We are very healthy generally speaking.”

After his announcement, Higgins would not disclose whether he had been vaccinated, The Advocate, a newspaper in Baton Rouge, reported. 

Higgins has repeatedly side-stepped questions about whether he has been inoculated and has been a vocal critic of pandemic-related restrictions, calling for the full re-opening of the economy, The Advocate said.

The eastern Chinese city of Nanjing has restricted outbound travel and locked down residential compounds after a small-scale outbreak of coronavirus emerged, threatening Beijing’s zero-Covid attempts.

The National Health Commission on Tuesday reported 31 new cases of Covid-19 in Jiangsu province. More than 100 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 in the wealthy industrial hub, the majority of whom were in Nanjing, the capital city of 9m.

Many of the earlier infections were tied to the city’s main airport, Lukou International. Several infections deemed linked to the Nanjing outbreak by health officials have also been found scattered across Anhui, Liaoning, Sichuan and Guangdong provinces.

In response, new restrictions on travel from Nanjing have been imposed. Lukou airport last week temporarily cancelled the majority of flights. Local taxis are not allowed to leave the city and bus stations temporarily halted some long-distance services.

Late on Monday, Nanjing authorities ordered neighbourhoods to adopt restrictions on entry for non-residents. If a case is discovered in a stairwell, then all residents would be sent to centralised quarantine. Public spaces would be closed in medium-risk districts.

China’s leaders have called for continued vigilance against new outbreaks in the country, after recent clusters in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces included infections from the more transmissible Delta variant. 

Beijing has shown no sign of easing strict border controls as it is determined to target zero Covid-19 cases in the country.

French luxury goods group LVMH has steamed ahead again in the second quarter, selling more Louis Vuitton handbags and Moët champagne to affluent consumers and putting it on track to far exceed its pre-pandemic sales this year. 

The group, which is controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault, benefited from strong demand in the US and China, its biggest markets, which has not faded despite concerns among some investors that luxury would suffer once people were able to spend on travel and entertainment again. 

Revenue in the second quarter was €14.7bn, 14 per cent higher than the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, excluding the impact of acquisitions and currency moves. That was ahead of analyst forecasts for €14.2bn in sales, according to Refinitiv data.

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The Canadian government said on Monday it would strengthen protections for temporary foreign workers, whose roles have been spotlighted by the coronavirus pandemic during lockdowns and restrictions on movements.

The federal government said the pandemic has highlighted the need for further action to improve conditions for the influx of mostly seasonal agricultural labourers. 

“Year after year, these workers come to Canada to support our agriculture and agri-food industry and contribute greatly to Canada’s food security,” the government said in a statement. 

“Their hard work and expertise has been instrumental over the years and especially during the pandemic, and they deserve to be safe,” it added.

A joint statement by Carla Qualtrough, labour minister and Marco Mendicino, immigration minister, announced proposed new regulations to help prevent the mistreatment or abuse of temporary foreign workers during their stay in Canada.

They outlined 14 regulatory amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Temporary Foreign Workers) Act, which they said would address three objectives:

• Improving protections for temporary foreign workers by mandating employers to provide temporary foreign workers with information about their rights in Canada;

• Prohibiting reprisals against workers who come forward with complaints, and;

• Mandating employers to provide reasonable access to health-care services and health insurance when needed.

“We know that temporary foreign workers need better information about their rights, and better health and safety protections,” said Qualtrough.

The proposed changes would also prohibit the charging of recruitment fees to workers, and hold employers accountable for the actions of recruiters.

The government said it wanted to more effectively exclude “bad actors” from participating in foreign labour programmes.

“These amendments will help us further improve worker protection and strengthen our ability to ensure employers follow the rules,” said Mendicino.

South Korea’s economy grew at the fastest pace in a decade in the second quarter on robust exports and rebounding consumption, but a new wave of Covid-19 infections is raising concerns about its economic outlook in the coming quarters.

Gross domestic product grew 5.9 per cent from a year earlier in the April-June quarter, following a 1.9 per cent expansion in the first quarter, according to the Bank of Korea. 

But the growth momentum slowed with GDP rising 0.7 per cent from the previous quarter, following a 1.7 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

The sharp economic recovery was underpinned by a jump in exports amid strong demand for ships, chips and cars. 

The country’s exports surged 22.4 per cent on year in the second quarter from a pandemic-induced slump a year earlier. Private consumption and government spending rose 3.5 per cent and 3.9 per cent quarter on quarter.

But the latest surge in Covid-19 infections is increasing uncertainty over the country’s economic prospects as health authorities struggle to contain the country’s worst virus outbreak even with their toughest coronavirus restrictions. 

Daily coronavirus cases have topped 1,000 since early July, driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Despite tougher distancing measures, the virus is spreading fast beyond the Seoul metropolitan area amid the summer holiday season, with just one third of the population having at least one dose of vaccine due to supply shortages.

The government is trying to cushion the negative impact that tougher containment measures will have on domestic consumption with its second-largest extra budget worth nearly Won35tn ($30bn) to provide a Won250,000 cash handout to most people in the country.

Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi has begun a phase 1 trial of an antiviral pill for Covid-19 patients with minor symptoms, joining peers worldwide in seeking a therapy to treat infected people at home.

Shionogi’s treatment would require just one oral dose daily for several days, while similar drugs in development in Japan would need to be taken at least twice daily, the company said Monday.

At-home treatments for Covid-19 hold the potential to ease the strain on hospitals as Delta variant infections rise.

The Osaka-based Shionogi’s drug inhibits the activity of an enzyme necessary for the coronavirus to replicate. The treatment is designed to alleviate symptoms such as fever and coughing.

The first-stage trial, launched Thursday, covers 75 healthy adults aged 20 to 55. The schedule for later phases has yet to be confirmed.

Four Israeli medical experts arrived in the Philippines on Monday to observe the south-east Asian archipelago’s pandemic response, health officials said.

They are the second group of Israeli experts to monitor the pandemic’s progress in the country. A team visited Manila in June to offer advice on a successful vaccine rollout.

The team comprises Ichilov Hospital infectious diseases and Covid-19 specialist Guy Choshen, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center head nurse Shira Peleg, Galilee Medical Center trauma coordinator Eyad Jeries and disaster management coordinator Chaim Rafalowski from Magen David Adom, Israel’s Red Cross/Red Crescent equivalent.

Philippines officials said the group would visit hospitals and meet the country’s pandemic response team this week to share clinical guidelines for Covid-19 infection control protocols, hospital management and other practices.

Singapore officials on Monday acknowledged that Covid-19 transmissions cannot be stopped completely, due to the emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant. 

Ong Ye Kung, the city-state’s health minister, told parliament that the only possible way to eradicate infections would be to enter another hard lockdown for “at least a month or probably two”.

He said another lockdown was impractical and if it was imposed cases would only rise again once it was over.

“Eradication is therefore not possible nor sustainable,” Ong said. “We must instead find ways to live with this virus, safely.”

He said vaccinations are key. “As of 25 July, 54 per cent of our population has received two doses of a [messenger RNA] vaccine.” 

Ong expected the fully jabbed rate would reach 70 per cent by August 9, Singapore’s national day, and 80 per cent by early September.

“This means Singapore will have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world,” he said.  “It puts us in a strong position to transit to a Covid-resilient society.” 

Student and university leaders have hit out at a suggestion that “Covid passports” could be required at universities in England as the government looks to boost vaccination uptake among the young.

The National Union of Students on Monday said it was “appalling” that plans for mandatory immunisation had been pushed without consultation with the higher education sector.

University leaders raised ethical and practical concerns, but Downing Street attempted to maintain pressure on the estimated 32 per cent of under-30s who have not taken up the offer of a jab, according to FT analysis of data from Public Health England, to do so.

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Singapore is unlikely to penalise patrons and hostesses at karaoke lounges that were the sources of an unexpected Covid-19 infection cluster, the city-state’s health minister said on Monday.

Xie Yao Quan, a legislator from the ruling People’s Action Party, asked in parliament if the government would consider making the individuals in the karaoke cluster pay for their Covid-19 medical expenses in full. 

But Ong Ye Kung, health minister, said that while the cluster was due to “irresponsible behaviour”, the government had a duty to “ensure that everyone receives the medical care that they need”. 

He said he did not want potentially infected people to avoid getting tested and treated, or hide from contact tracers, because they are afraid of getting penalised. “This will make it harder to contain the spread, and could cost us more in the long run,” Ong said.

He described the karaoke cluster as a “major unexpected bump on the road’‘ towards reopening the economy. Ong added that advice from medical experts suggested the cluster “ought not significantly change our plans to open up”. 

The minister said nightlife establishments such as karaoke lounges would not be able to resume operations until they pass inspections to ensure that safe management measure protocols are in place, and they have received written approval.  

New York state plans to allocate $15m to promote Covid-19 vaccinations among groups hardest hit by the pandemic.

The funds will be used to strengthen communication, expand public education and enhance outreach efforts throughout diverse communities, said Andrew Cuomo, the state’s governor.

“Covid-19 exposed longstanding inequities in our society and we’ve seen evidence of that in both the positivity rate and the vaccination rate in communities that were hardest hit by the virus,” he said.

Recipients across the state would include the Hispanic Federation and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies ($5.5m each), and the New York Immigration Coalition, Asian American Federation, Charles B Wang Community Center and the Apicha Community Health Center ($1m each).

The organisations would coordinate local resources such as vaccine providers or pharmacies, food pantries and health care services  as well as facilitate training and outreach materials, particularly translations.

“New York is pulling out all the stops to get shots in arms and this budget funding will help us target outreach efforts in the state’s most vulnerable communities to make sure that everyone is able to get vaccinated,” Cuomo added.

Tasmania, Australia’s island state that has so far been little affected by the coronavirus pandemic, will gain an extra top-tier Australian rules football match this month as other states battle a surge of the Delta variant.

The Australian Football League match between Hawthorn and Brisbane has been shifted to the University of Tasmania’s stadium on Sunday, a day after a previously scheduled game between North Melbourne and Geelong at Blundstone Arena in Hobart.

“Both games will be subject to strict conditions to ensure the games can proceed in a Covid-safe way,” said Peter Gutwein, Tasmanian premier. 

“The Melbourne teams [will fly] in and out of Tasmania on the day of the game, and both games are subject to the Covid-19 risk continuing to be monitored.”

Long-term coronavirus symptoms could qualify as a disability under US law, protecting sufferers from discrimination, according to new guidance from the country’s health and justice departments.

The US health department and the justice department jointly issued guidance on Monday on how “long Covid”, the condition  when individuals are suffering the symptoms of coronavirus for weeks or months, “can be a disability” under the relevant section of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

President Joe Biden threw his support behind the move, which coincided with the 31st anniversary of the ADA.

“We’re bringing agencies together to make sure Americans with long Covid who have a disability have access to the rights and resources that are due under the disability law, which includes accommodations and services in the workplace and school, and our health care system so they can live their lives in dignity,” he said at an event marking the ADA anniversary.

The ceremony in the White House Rose Garden included disabled artist Tyree Brown and US vice-president Kamala Harris.

So-called long-haulers, as individuals with the condition of long Covid are sometimes known, can suffer from lingering symptoms including breathing problems, brain fog, chronic pain and fatigue, Biden said.

“Today’s guidance makes clear that these individuals are entitled to equal opportunities and full participation in all aspects of life,” Robinsue Frohboese, acting director of the health department’s Office for Civil Rights, said in a statement.

Greece will start to vaccinate children aged 12 to 15 against Covid-19 from Friday, health officials announced on Monday.

Marios Themistocleous, the country’s secretary-general for health, said online appointments would be opened, and parents would have to accompany their children to the vaccination centres.

He said that while an overall 46.8 per cent of Greek residents were fully vaccinated, only 5 per cent of those aged 15-17 had been jabbed.

Nearly 1,400 people had used the government’s jab-at-home service, while another 5,000 people in the country’s remote areas have also been vaccinated, he noted.

Maria Theodoridou, chair of the National Vaccination Committee, said a rapid increase in new cases of coronavirus infections in children and teenagers has been observed in Greece.

She said children were a major source of the virus’s dispersion in the country.

Greece confirmed 2,070 new coronavirus infections on Monday, with just 13 imported cases, the public health agency said.

Since the pandemic began, Greece has confirmed 477,975 infections. The five new deaths recorded brought the total of pandemic victims to 12,903. 

Malawi reopened its vaccination centres on Monday, a month after the east African country had to suspend its jabs due to shortages.

Media reported thousands of Malawians were waiting in cold weather to queue for hours to get vaccinated. Little more than 1 per cent of the country’s 17.5m people have been jabbed, reflecting low levels of supplies and a high rate of vaccine hesitancy.

Malawi ran out of vaccines in June but at the weekend received 192,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab donated by France through the international Covax distribution facility.

All New York City workers, including police, fire and education employees, will be required to be vaccinated by mid-September or else submit to a weekly test, the city’s mayor announced.

The deadline for the mandate will be September 13, when the autumn school term begins, and healthcare will next week become the first sector that will be subject to the requirement, Bill de Blasio told a press conference on Monday.

The mayor also urged private entities to consider setting similar vaccine mandates for their workplaces.

De Blasio last week said public healthcare workers would be required to be vaccinated or else be tested for Covid-19 weekly, but did not announce anything for other employees of the city.

That left New York City shy of efforts in San Francisco, which earlier this month became one of the first major cities in the US to mandate vaccinations for its public employees.

New York City’s new mandate will apply to employees in operations such as the police department, fire department and schools, and workers in offices as well as in the field.

Those who do not get vaccinated will have to take a weekly test for Covid-19, and unvaccinated individuals will need to wear a mask in indoor public settings. “September is when the rubber hits the road,” de Blasio said.

The mayor said private entities might consider mandating vaccinations among their employees. Last week, officials in three counties in the San Francisco Bay area urged employers in those areas to institute vaccine mandates, although the request was not binding.

The historic city of Savannah, Georgia has reinstated its mask mandate, owing to the “steep” increases in daily Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations across the city and the state of Georgia.

A reinstated mask mandate went into effect on Monday in St Louis, Missouri, one of the US hotspots for the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Los Angeles county brought back its mask order earlier this month, while a group representing 300 bars in San Francisco has introduced a “no vaccine, no entry” policy — unless patrons are able to produce a negative Covid-19 test carried out within the previous 72 hours.

Formula 1 fans will be required to certify their fully vaccinated status against Covid-19 for Friday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, officials said on Monday.

Wristbands certifying immunity against the coronavirus will be required to enter the area around the Hungaroring from Friday.

Racegoers who buy tickets at the track will get their Covid-19 immunity wristband with their purchase, but those who have already bought tickets must pick up their wristbands before arriving at the Hungaroring.

Separately, Hungary signed its 20th deal to mutually recognise Covid-19 immunity certificates.

Péter Szijjártó, foreign minister, said that under the latest agreement, Hungarians with an immunity card can travel to Uzbekistan without restrictions.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs will require its medical staff to get the Covid-19 shot, becoming the first federal agency to announce a vaccination mandate for employees. VA secretary Denis McDonough said doctors, nurses and other healthcare personnel must complete the vaccination regimen in the next eight weeks.

The governor of Missouri — a hotspot for the Delta variant of Covid-19 in the US — has criticised universal mask mandates as “eroding public trust” and undermining the incentive to get vaccinated, coinciding with the reinstatement of a mask order in St Louis, one of his state’s biggest cities.

California will require all its government workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or else be tested regularly, marking the most aggressive move by a state to boost take-up of vaccines, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Monday. Local governments and businesses were urged to do the same, he said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has placed Spain on its highest tier for Covid-19 levels, urging Americans not to visit the country on the same day the Biden administration said its pandemic-related travel restrictions would remain in effect for the foreseeable future.

US toymaker Hasbro reported better than expected revenues in the second quarter as the end of lockdowns helped fuel entertainment revenues. The Rhode Island company behind Monopoly and Play-Doh said net revenues rose 54 per cent from a year ago to $1.3bn in the second quarter ended June 27. 

Heathrow airport could welcome fewer travellers in 2021 than in 2020, despite the introduction of the UK’s traffic light system for overseas destinations. Fewer than 4m people travelled through Heathrow in the first half of the year, a number that would have taken just 18 days to reach in 2019.

Ryanair reported a “surge” in bookings and raised its forecast for passenger numbers over the next year after travel restrictions were eased across Europe. The low-cost carrier said the recovery was down to vaccinations and the introduction of an EU digital travel pass at the start of this month.

The German biotech group behind one of the most successful Covid-19 vaccines is aiming to develop a more effective vaccine against malaria. Ugur Sahin, BioNTech’s co-founder and chief executive, told the Financial Times: “Either the malaria vaccines don’t work at all, or they work for a short period of time.”