Covid live: 633 new Omicron cases detected in the UK with 54,073 daily infections overall | World news

Boris Johnson faces further questions about whether he violated Covid’s laws after images emerged of him organizing a Christmas quiz on Downing Street while London was under level 2 restrictions.

The prime minister was photographed on a screen reading questions while staff sat behind computers and giving answers, the Mirror reported.

London was then under restrictions prohibiting any social mixing between households.

The official guide also said, “You shouldn’t have a work lunch or a Christmas party, when this is a primarily social activity and is not allowed by the rules of your level.”

Staff working for the Secretary of Labor and Pensions (DWP) a England he drank alcohol and ate takeaway food “late in the evening” on several occasions while there were coronavirus restrictions, the department confirmed.

It comes after the Sunday Mirror reported that political staff and officials often drank after work until the wee hours of the morning and asked for food at Therese Coffey’s office in the Department of Labor and Pensions (DWP).

The newspaper said some of those nights took place while hospitality and office parties were banned by Covid regulations.

The DWP has confirmed that there were times when alcohol was consumed in a workspace outside the cabinet minister’s Whitehall office, but stressed that it took place while work continued beyond working hours. normal.

A source told the PA news agency that the office desks are socially distant and that “there was no party atmosphere.”

A DWP spokesman said: “During the pandemic, DWP officials have followed government guidelines as they continue to provide vital services to millions of people.

“Staff worked from home when possible, but a basic team working directly with the Secretary of State worked regularly from the office, in accordance with Covid-19 standards as they evolved.

“The team worked regularly until late at night and on several occasions ate takeaway food and drank some alcohol. No karaoke was done.”

Asked about the Sunday Mirror’s suggestion that Coffey give gifts to staff while they were late one night during last year’s holiday season, the spokesman replied: “On one occasion near Christmas, the Secretary of State gave gifts to her basic team, as she does every year. “

The Treasury has confirmed that there were “makeshift drinks” when England was closed.

People in the UK They should be able to receive their Covid-19 blows while doing their Christmas shopping, Labor said, as the opposition party calls for a “national effort” to raise the rate of booster blows.

With recent research by UK scientists finding that booster injections are likely to be effective against the Omicron variant, Labor is calling on ministers to open more vaccination sites and open spaces to reserve all adults with double punctures. .

Emerging vaccination centers should be set up in supermarkets and malls so that people can receive their third vaccine while on the main street doing Christmas shopping, the party has suggested.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting is urging the government to “take all measures” to achieve the prime minister’s goal of offering a boost to all those over the age of 18 by the end of January. informs PA.

Brazil has recorded 53 new deaths from Covid-19, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday, with a total of 616,744 fatalities in the country.

The country had 3,355 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, reaching a total of 22.19 million, Reuters reports.

Australia has said it will shorten the waiting time for people to receive Covid-19 booster vaccines after an increase in Omicron variant cases.

He had previously said he would offer reinforcements to all those over the age of 18 and that they received the second dose of the vaccine six months earlier, Reuters reports.

But with the rise in cases of the Omicron variant, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said the time interval would be shortened to five months after the second dose.

“A booster dose, five or more months after the second dose, will ensure that primary course protection is even stronger and longer lasting and should help prevent the spread of the virus,” Hunt said in a statement. press release.

that of Brazil Supreme Court Judge Luis Roberto Barroso has ruled that the country should require vaccination tests for visitors who want to enter the country.

President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied requests from state health regulator Anvisa to require vaccination tests on visitors, Reuters reports.

But Barroso said in his decision that Brazil should avoid supporting what he called “vaccine tourism.”

The court said the vaccination test requirement can only be waived when the traveler comes from a country where no vaccines are available or when the individual was not vaccinated for health reasons.

The government has delayed a regulation for a week that would force unvaccinated visitors to be quarantined for five days due to a cyberattack on the health ministry on Friday.

You can follow the latest news from Covid at Australia on our dedicated blog:

Israeli the researchers said they found that a three-stroke course of the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine provided significant protection against the Omicron variant, Reuters reports.

The findings were similar to those presented by BioNTech and Pfizer earlier in the week, which were an early sign that booster injections could be key to protecting against the newly identified variant infection.

The study compared the blood of 20 people who had received two doses of vaccine five to six months earlier with the same number of individuals who had received a booster a month earlier.

“People who received the second dose five or six months ago have no neutralizing ability against Omicron. Although they have it against Delta (strain),” Gili Regev-Yochay, director of Sheba’s Infectious Diseases Unit.

The first six cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected Turkey, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told state broadcaster TRT Haber on Saturday.

Five of the cases occurred in the western city of Izmir and one in Istanbul, but none of those affected needed hospital treatment, state news agency Anadolu reported.

Three West Indies Cricket players and a member of the management team tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving Pakistan for the next tour.

There was confusion on Saturday about which age groups England they are now eligible to book a booster with the NHS, after an apparent mistake allowed the younger ones to book earlier than expected to qualify.
People aged 30 and over in England were expected to be able to book a Covid-19 booster on Monday, as long as three months had passed since their second dose of vaccine, but many in their 30s reported social networks that had been able to do so. Book your appointments now.

The NHS website still said on Saturday evening that “the NHS is working on plans to offer a booster dose to all people between the ages of 18 and 39,” and that people should keep in mind that this service is not yet available for booking through its portal.

“Please wait to be contacted by the NHS,” he added a disclaimer on the website.

Nearly twice the number of coronavirus patients could be admitted to hospital England compared to last year due to the Omicron variant, suggests a new model.

Experts at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have calculated figures that suggest a big wave of infections could occur in the coming months if tougher Covid measures are not introduced, PA reports.

The study projects an average peak of 7,190 daily hospital admissions in England in the worst case scenario, which could see the vaccine evading variant at a high rate and low effectiveness against the reinforcement variant.

The most optimistic scenario (low rate of vaccines evading variants, high effectiveness of reinforcements) “is expected to lead to a maximum daily hospital admission of about 60% higher than the peak of January 2021 in England “.

That would mean an average peak of 2,410 daily admissions compared to 3,800 daily admissions in January this year, according to the study.

France It has also reported 120,383 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic, Reuters reports.

France has reported 53,720 new cases of coronavirus.
The country has had more than 8.1 million cases in total.