Despite recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stating that K-12 students should wear masks for in-person learning, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed an executive order on 30 July that bars school districts from putting mask mandates in place, even though children under 12 cannot yet receive a vaccine.
This has left some Florida parents making difficult individual decisions to have their children wear masks, often going up against the political and social norms of their schools and communities.
Ecuador is the latest country to announce it will administer booster jabs to people with weak immune systems, health minister Ximena Garzon has said.
With the current evidence base limited, the country will also carry out tests to determine if the rest of the inoculated population also needs a third shot, he said.
“At an international level, it has already been shown that people who have some type of immunodeficiency will need a third dose,” Garzon said. “We will apply it, three months after the second dose, to people who meet certain parameters of immune disorders.”
Experts have warned the scientific and public health case for large-scale boosting has not been made and could have far-reaching consequences in other countries. On Saturday, the World Health Organization renewed its call for a suspension of booster shot campaigns.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus(@DrTedros)
Countries with high coverage are seeing a decoupling of #COVID19 cases & deaths, whereas countries that can’t access vaccines are seeing high cases drive steep rises in death.
No one is safe until everyone is safe & that’s why we need a moratorium on boosters. #VaccinEquityhttps://t.co/Mp4LM2S6tX
Official data shows that as of Sunday, Ecuador has vaccinated 4.8m people with two doses and almost 10m with one dose.
The country is using Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac shots as part of a broad vaccination plan. This week it began to use the single-dose vaccine developed by the China’s CanSino Biologics in hard-to-reach areas and in prisons. “We are already seeing … decreases in the percentage [of hospital bed occupancy],” Garzon said.
Ecuador, population 17m, has reported about 500,000 infections and around 31,900 deaths confirmed or likely Covid-19 deaths, Reuters reports.
Russia’s single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine against Covid-19 has demonstrated 93.5% efficacy in Paraguay, with data taken from the South American country’s vaccination campaign, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has said.
Developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, Sputnik Light had shown 79.4% efficacy when it was first authorised for use in May, Reuters reports.
The RDIF, citing data from Paraguay’s health ministry collected by 30 July, said the vaccine had proved highly effective among more than 320,000 people – though it was unclear whether the study accounted for any possible seasonal change affecting the spread of the virus.
“The use of the single-component vaccine Sputnik Light allows the Paraguayan authorities to shorten vaccination periods for the population and speed up the formation of collective immunity,” RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev said.
A person receives the vaccine against Covid-19, in the Club Fomento de Barrio Obrero in Asuncion, Paraguay, 21 July. Photograph: Nathalia Aguilar/EPA
Hello and greetings to everyone reading, wherever you are in the world. Mattha Busby here to take you through the next few hours of global Covid developments. Thanks to my colleague Robyn Vinter for covering the blog up until now. Please feel free to drop me a line on Twitter or message me via email (mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk) with any tips or thoughts on our coverage.
The Australian federal parliament will sit as scheduled next week, despite the ACT lockdown, as the government faces deadlines on key pieces of legislation it must have passed.
The sitting had been placed in limbo after the ACT went into lockdown at the end of last week, following its first positive community-transmitted Covid case in 14 months.
That’s it from me. I’ll leave you with a summary of today’s events before handing over to my colleague Mattha Busby.
New restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid took effect in Israel after the largely vaccinated country reported the highest daily infection rate since January. The measures, announced on Sunday, require vaccination certificates or negative coronavirus tests to enter a range of public spaces.
New Zealand’s coronavirus cluster has grown to 10, with genomic sequencing linking it to the Delta outbreak that began in Sydney, as the country woke up to day one of a snap lockdown stemming from just one case.
Australia is on track to break its daily coronavirus case record with surging infections and more deaths in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, fuelling national concern. The state, which is under lockdown, reported a record-breaking 633 new cases in the past 24 hours.
Qantas airlines will require all of its frontline employees, including cabin crew, pilots and airport workers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
India reported on 35,178 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, nearly 40% higher than yesterday. Deaths remained low, with 440 reported in the past 24 hours.
Pope Francis has encouraged people to get Covid vaccines in a new media campaign. Getting vaccinated is “an act of love”, the pontiff says in a public service advert that will circulate online and on television from Wednesday.
The International Federation of Red Cross has called for south-east Asian countries to be given more help securing Covid-19 vaccines, as the region struggles to contain record infections and deaths driven by the Delta variant.
New York has become the first US city to require proof of vaccination to enter gyms, theatres and restaurants.
Japan’s government expanded a coronavirus state of emergency to seven more regions on Tuesday as it battles a record wave of infections a week before the Paralympic Games.
Young people in Mexico City are being encouraged to wear costumes to make receiving their Covid-19 vaccinations more fun.
A young woman wears a chicken mask on the esplanade of the Municipal Palace of Nezahualcóyotl, State of Mexico, while receiving the first dose of the Sinovac biological vaccine against Covid-19. Photograph: Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
The country could tip over into a quarter of a million recorded deaths when the figures for yesterday are published today.
Mexico registered 14,814 new Covid-19 infections and 877 more deaths, health ministry data showed on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 3,123,252 and the death toll to 249,529.
A woman dressed as a unicorn heads to the esplanade of the Municipal Palace of Nezahualcóyotl, State of Mexico, to receive the first dose of the Sinovac vaccine. Photograph: Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
Over the weekend, seven states reported growth in the virus, with health authorities in San Luis Potosí declaring the state was now red on the country’s traffic light system, with Covid-19 now affecting more younger people.
A young woman dressed as a skeleton waits to receive the first dose of the Sinovac vaccine. Photograph: Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
New restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid took effect in Israel on Wednesday, after the largely vaccinated country reported the highest daily infection rate since January.
The measures, announced on Sunday, require vaccination certificates or negative coronavirus tests to enter a range of public spaces, including restaurants and bars, cultural and sports venues, hotels and gyms, the health ministry said.
The same applies to worshippers wanting to enter synagogues, mosques or churches with more than 50 people in attendance, Agence France-Presse reports.
In addition, the capacity of stores, shopping malls and industrial parks will be limited to one person per seven square metres (75 sq ft).
After its launch in December, Israel’s widely praised vaccination drive helped to drastically bring down infections. But that trend has since reversed, driven by the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of the virus, with restrictions that were lifted in June reimposed since July.
In recent weeks, the state has begun administering booster shots to Israelis aged 50 and over, while urging anyone aged 12 and older to get vaccinated.
About 1 million Israelis have not been vaccinated even though they are eligible.
According to the health ministry, more than 8,700 people tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday, the highest number for a single day since January.
The prime minister, Naftali Bennett, has been imploring Israelis to get vaccinated, warning of a possible lockdown that could affect the Jewish high holidays next month unless inoculation numbers rise.
Russia reported 20,914 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, including 1,590 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 6,663,473.
The government coronavirus taskforce said 799 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 172,909.
The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and has said Russia recorded about 315,000 deaths related to Covid-19 from April 2020 to June 2021.
The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has put out a video on social media after testing positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, saying he has no symptoms of the virus and is fully vaccinated.
The Republican spent weeks banning local mask requirements and meeting maskless crowds in the US state.
Texas has once again emerged as a hotspot for coronavirus, with only 314 available intensive care unit beds statewide. Paediatric ICUs are running out of space while children head back to class.
Texas governor who opposed masks tests positive for Covid – video
There’s more on New Zealand’s lockdown from Eva Corlett in Wellington and Tess McClure here:
New Zealand’s coronavirus cluster has grown to 10, with genomic sequencing linking it to the Delta outbreak that began in Sydney, as the country woke up to day one of a snap lockdown stemming from just one case.
Owing to staff from private hospitals across greater Sydney and some regional areas being deployed to assist the response to Covid-19 in New South Wales, Australia’s health department has announced non-urgent elective surgery at just under 30 private hospitals will be postponed from Monday 23 August.
The federal government has agreed to the temporary suspension. Emergency and urgent elective surgery will continue as normal.
Price cutting by clothing and footwear retailers after the prolonged spring lockdown helped push down the annual rate of UK inflation by more than expected last month, from 2.5% to 2%, according to official figures.
The return of the traditional summer sales after the hiatus last year caused by the coronavirus pandemic was a factor in bringing the government’s main measure of the cost of living back to its target rate, the Office for National Statistics said.
Asian markets rallied on Wednesday as investors engaged in bargain hunting despite losses on Wall Street and a surge of the coronavirus Delta variant stoking fears about the global economic recovery, Agence France-Presse reports.
A fresh lockdown in New Zealand and a curfew imposed in Australia’s second-largest city of Melbourne over a Delta outbreak added to concerns about lockdowns along with travel restrictions in China, the world’s second-largest economy.
A lacklustre US retail sales report also exacerbated worries about the latest Covid-19 wave, bringing Wall Street’s streak of five straight records for the Dow and S&P 500 indices to a stuttering halt.
Tokyo closed higher on Wednesday after a four-day losing streak brought on by fears of a Covid-19 resurgence caused by the Delta variant. Photograph: Koji Sasahara/AP
But Asian markets appeared unmoved by gloomy prospects, with Tokyo snapping a four-day losing streak to close higher Wednesday.
Hong Kong also enjoyed gains, with investors seemingly broadly unfazed by new antitrust plans from Beijing designed to rein in China’s burgeoning tech giants – plans that saw Chinese firms listed on Wall Street slide overnight.
In China, markets were well up, recouping losses after disappointing economic data from Beijing earlier in the week. Seoul rose, while Australia was steady.
New Zealand made gains despite fears over fresh virus cases as the country’s Reserve Bank chose to keep interest rates unchanged, opting against a move that would have seen it become the first advanced economy in the Asia Pacific to normalise policy.
Malaysia has reported 22,242 cases yesterday, a new daily record for the country.
Research should focus on diseases of the airways to help patients with long Covid, experts in the UK have said.
International bodies and governments are being advised of the research priorities which have been identified to address the long-term effects of coronavirus in airways diseases, PA reports.
This includes conditions such as in cystic fibrosis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Professor Tony De Soyza, professor of pulmonary medicine at Newcastle University, who led the research on behalf of the International Group of Airways Diseases, said:
The challenges of long Covid cannot be understated – this is an entirely new disease which we need to understand better so we can treat better.
Symptoms of the condition can include extreme tiredness, shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness, and range from joint pain to depression and anxiety.
The international team adapted the established Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) method to set research priorities.
This uses the principle of crowdsourcing to independently generate research ideas from a large group of experts and score these against a predefined set of criteria.
They also considered patients’ views.
Dr Samantha Walker, Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation director of research and innovation, said:
We’re really pleased that these research priorities, which will guide the direction of future research into the long-term effects of Covid-19 on respiratory diseases, have been developed with patient needs at their heart.
Far too often the hugely valuable lived experiences of patients have been peripheral or absent.
By embedding the needs of those living with long Covid into the very structure of the research questions, people across the globe will benefit from this effort to deepen our understanding of the impact of Covid-19 and help improve the range and effectiveness of treatments in years to come.
Here is more detail on Red Cross’s call for more vaccines support for south-east Asia, from the Guardian’s correspondent Rebecca Ratcliffe:
The UK has called for an immediate and sustained pause in clashes and unrest in Myanmar to allow vaccinations as an intense Covid-19 surge is ravaging the country.
Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, told reporters after closed Security Council discussions:
Prior to the coup, Myanmar had a strong vaccination record and was developing a COVID-19 plan. Now, Myanmar’s health system is barely functioning, unacceptable attacks on hospitals, doctors and nurses continue, and only 3% of the population are vaccinated.
Myanmar has been struggling with one of the worst Covid-19 surges in Southeast Asia, and the military leadership that ousted Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government 1 February has been accused of diverting critical medical supplies to itself and its supporters.
Kariuki said: “The UK is calling for an immediate and sustained humanitarian pause to allow vaccines to get to all in need, and for medical and humanitarian staff to work without fear or attack.”
Hello, Robyn Vinter here (actually in the north of England).
The US reported more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, or about 42 fatalities an hour, according to a Reuters tally, as the Delta variant continues to ravage parts of the country with low vaccination rates.
Coronavirus-related deaths have spiked in the past month and are averaging 769 per day, the highest since mid-April, according to a Reuters tally. Since the start of the pandemic, the country has lost 622,813 people to Covid-19, the highest number of deaths for any country in the world.
That’s all from me on the blog today. I will now be handing over to my colleague Robyn Vinter in London
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