Covid live: Novavax applies for WHO emergency use approval; UK reports 36,710 new cases | World news

Delta Air Lines wants other U.S. airlines to share lists of passengers who have been banned during the Covid-19 pandemic for disruptive behavior to help deter the rising number of incidents, according to a memo seen on Thursday by Reuters.
Delta said since the Covid-19 pandemic it has put more than 1,600 people on its “no fly” list. “We’ve also asked other airlines to share their ‘no fly’ list to further protect airline employees across the industry,” the memo seen by Reuters said. “A list of banned customers doesn’t work as well if that customer can fly with another airline.”

Life expectancy for men in the UK has fallen for the first time since current records began 40 years ago because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, figures show.

A boy born between 2018 and 2020 is expected to live until he is 79 years old, down from 79.2 for the period of 2015-17, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It is the first time there has been a decline when comparing non-overlapping time periods since the research began in the early 1980s.

Pamela Cobb, of the ONS centre for ageing and demography, said: “Life expectancy has increased in the UK over the last 40 years, albeit at a slower pace in the last decade. However, the coronavirus pandemic led to a greater number of deaths than normal in 2020.”

Here’s a round up of the latest key developments:

• Coronavirus has caused male life expectancy in the UK to drop for the first time since records began. A boy born between 2018 and 2020 is expected to live until he is 79 years old – a drop from 79.2 years for 2015-2017, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
• The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England has dropped to its lowest level since the end of June.
• Novavax has announced that it has applied to the World Health Organization for an emergency-use listing of its Covid-19 vaccine. The listing is a prerequisite for export to several countries participating in the Covax vaccine-sharing facility
• Covid-19 could resemble the common cold by spring next year as people’s immunity to the virus is boosted by vaccines and exposure, a leading British expert has said. Prof Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, said the UK was “over the worst”.
• Portugal will lift almost all remaining Covid-19 restrictions, allowing full occupancy in restaurants and cultural venues from 1 October, the prime minister, Antonio Costa, said on Thursday.
• Thailand is considering cutting hotel isolation requirements for vaccinated tourists in half to one week in a bid to attract foreign visitors again. It comes amid delays to plans to waive quarantine and reopen Bangkok and other tourist destinations from next month after the pandemic caused a collapse in the country’s tourism industry
• Covid deaths in Russia, where 820 people died from the virus in the last 24 hours, matched the all-time one-day high reached in August. Since the start of the pandemic, Russia has recorded 7,354,995 coronavirus cases.
• The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for those ages 65 and older and some high-risk Americans, paving the way for a quick rollout of the shots, Reuters reports.
• In the UK, record numbers of children and young people are seeking access to NHS mental health services, figures show, as the devastating toll of the pandemic is revealed in a new analysis. In just three months, nearly 200,000 young people have been referred to mental health services – almost double pre-pandemic levels, according to the report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
• More than 100 countries face cuts to public spending on health, education and social protection as the Covid-19 pandemic compounds already high levels of debt, a new report says. The International Monetary Fund believes that 35 to 40 countries are “debt distressed” – defined as when a country is experiencing difficulties in servicing its debt, such as when there are arrears or debt restructuring.
• A judge in the Netherlands has ruled that a 12-year-old boy can be administered a Covid vaccine against the wishes of his father. The unnamed boy in the city of Groningen had argued that he needed a vaccine to safely visit his dying grandmother.
• AstraZeneca has announced a deal with a startup founded by an Imperial College London vaccinologist to develop and sell drugs based on its self-amplifying RNA technology platform in other disease areas.

That’s it from me. I’m handing over to my colleague Nadeem Badshah now. Thanks so much for joining me today.

The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for those ages 65 and older and some high-risk Americans, paving the way for a quick rollout of the shots, Reuters reports.

The booster dose is to be administered at least six months after completion of the second dose, and the authorization would include people most susceptible to severe disease and those in jobs that left them at risk, the FDA said.

Those people include “healthcare workers, teachers and daycare staff, grocery workers and those in homeless shelters or prisons, among others,” said Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the FDA.

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This pandemic is dynamic and evolving, with new data about vaccine safety and effectiveness becoming available every day.

Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the agency will “continue to analyze data submitted to the FDA pertaining to the use of booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines and we will make further decisions as appropriate based on the data”.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panel could vote on Thursday on the use of a third shot of the vaccine, an agency official said at a public meeting of the panel on Wednesday. The CDC will have to approve any booster shot before it can be given.

Joe Biden announced in August the government’s intention to roll out booster shots for people ages 16 and older this week, pending approval by the FDA and CDC.

Read more here:

Portugal will lift almost all remaining Covid-19 restrictions, allowing full occupancy in restaurants and cultural venues from 1 October, the prime minister, Antonio Costa, said on Thursday.

Costa told a news conference:

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As most of the restrictions imposed by law disappear, we are going to enter a phase that is based on the responsibility of everyone.

We must not forget that the pandemic is not over.

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Among the few measures that remain in place, mask-wearing is compulsory in public transport, at large events, in nursing homes, hospitals, shopping malls and hypermarkets. Masks ceased being compulsory outdoors last week, Reuters reports.

As Portugal has now fully vaccinated more than 8.5 million people – or 83.4% of its population – nightclubs and bars will be allowed to reopen, after having been shut since March 2020, Costa said.

However, customers will have to show a digital vaccination certificate or a negative Covid-19 test.

Portugal reported 885 new coronavirus cases on Thursday and five deaths. That brings the total tally of cases to 1,064,876 – or around one in 10 Portuguese – and 17,938 deaths.

Italy reported 63 more coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, according to the latest figures.

On Wednesday, the figure was 67, the health ministry said.

The daily tally of new infections rose to 4,061 from 3,970.

Italy has registered 130,551 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year.

The country has reported 4.65 million cases of the virus to date.

The British government said a further 182 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Thursday, bringing the UK total to 135,803.

Meanwhile, separate figures show that 158,664 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

As of 9am on Thursday, there had been a further 36,710 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK, the government said. That’s an increase of 9,799 on last Wednesday.

There have been 231,241 confirmed cases in the last seven days, which is a 9.4% rise on the previous week.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in New York as part of a push to urge leaders to adopt a vaccine equity policy to help end the Covid-19 pandemic.

The couple will take part in a worldwide event on Saturday to raise awareness of the importance of equity in vaccine distribution.

They are joining the 24-hour broadcast Global Citizen Live, which is being staged in New York’s Central Park and around the world.

It is part of a number of shows being held in cities from London to Lagos by the organisation Global Citizen, with artists including Ed Sheeran, Sir Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Metallica and Coldplay scheduled to perform.

As part of their visit, the duke and duchess were shown around One World Trade Center, built on the site of the twin towers destroyed in the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The couple were dressed sombrely for the occasion, which comes two weeks after the 20th anniversary of the terrorist atrocity.

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A judge in the Netherlands has ruled that a 12-year-old boy can be administered a Covid vaccine against the wishes of his father. The unnamed boy in the city of Groningen had argued that he needed a vaccine to safely visit his dying grandmother.

Children aged 12 to 17 in the Netherlands can choose to be vaccinated but need permission from both parents. In this case, the boy’s parents were divorced and only his mother agreed. Dutch law says judges can make decisions in the best interests of children if their parents cannot agree.

The French news agency AFP reported that court papers from the case said the boy’s father was critical of the Covid vaccine and testing for coronavirus. The court papers said:

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The boy wanted to be vaccinated because he did not want to get infected and wanted to limit the chance of infecting others.

On top of this, his grandmother is suffering from metastatic lung cancer and is in the final stages of her life.

The minor wants to spend as much time as possible with her, but he is not vaccinated. He is afraid that he may infect his granny and is convinced that if he did it would be life-threatening.

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His father argued that vaccines “were still in a test phase” and said it was possible there would be “great risks for the reproductive organs in the long term”. But Judge Bart Tromp, of Groningen district court, said there appeared to be no scientific basis for such concerns. He ordered that the boy be administered the vaccine “shortly” because his interests were more important than any possible appeal by the father’s lawyers.

Covid vaccine scepticism is growing in the Netherlands, with the leader of one far-right party espousing anti-vaccine views in parliament. Protests are also expected this weekend when the government introduces a Covid pass to enter restaurants and bars.

More than 123,000 deaths have been prevented in England by Covid vaccinations, according to figures calculated by Public Health England and Cambridge University.

About 23.9 million infections have also been prevented by the vaccine rollout, along with 230,800 hospital admissions among people aged 45 and over, according to the calculations, which cover the period up to 17 September.

More than 89% of all people aged 16 and over in England have now received one dose of vaccine. Nearly 82% have received two doses. Third doses are being made available for some people who had their second dose six or more months ago.

Vaccine take-up continued to be lower among younger age groups. An estimated 83% of 30- to 39-year-olds in England have had one jab, along with just under 74% of people aged 18 to 29, the PA news agency reported.

Novavax has announced that it has applied to the World Health Organization for an emergency-use listing of its Covid-19 vaccine. The listing is a prerequisite for export to several countries participating in the Covax vaccine-sharing facility, the UN-led initiative to get vaccines to poorer countries.

The company has already signed an agreement to provide 1.1bn doses to Covax. They will be manufactured by Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine producer. It also has manufacturing agreements in Britain, which has ordered 60m doses, and where some clinical trials were carried out.

The protein-based Novavax vaccine has shown 90.4% efficacy overall, according to clinical trials.

On 14 September, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced “the first substantial decline in weekly [Covid] cases in more than two months” after new infections during the week of 6 September totalled four million.

That number fell again the following week to 3.6 million as did the number of deaths, to “just under 60,000”, the WHO said in its most recent update this week.

But it’s far too soon to declare victory, say experts, who warn that unequal vaccine access could still lead to the emergence of new and more deadly variants of the virus.

The virologist Julian Tang told AFP that statements about how the pandemic is progressing “have to be very country- or region-specific”.

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I think it is too early to say just yet for everyone, though in the highly vaccinated parts of the world, this will be more true.

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There are now clear inequalities in terms of vaccination coverage across the world.

Less than 2% of the world’s poorest populations have received even a first dose of vaccine, Antoine Flahault, the director of the University of Geneva’s Institute of Global Health, said.

In certain places – eastern and central Europe, Africa, Asia, Israel, Canada, El Salvador, Belize – cases are increasing exponentially, so we can’t say the pandemic is behind us.

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Even in rich, well-vaccinated countries showing a downward trend, things could reverse, experts caution. As the northern hemisphere approaches winter, people will once again gravitate toward large, indoor gatherings that boost circulation of the virus.

Flahault said:

What we know about this pandemic is that it is unpredictable.

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No one foresaw the appearance of the Delta variant in India last spring, even though we feared that kind of thing might happen.

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If a mutation of the Delta variant made it more resistant to existing vaccines, it could reverse the improvement we are currently seeing.

Since a huge proportion of the population of poor countries is not vaccinated, it is likely that major spikes in infections could cause new variants to emerge, he added.

“As long as the virus is circulating at a high rate somewhere in the world, we won’t be safe from new waves,” Flahault said.

“Right now for world safety we must vaccinate as many people on Earth as possible.”