Coronavirus latest news: Risk of a third wave

33 min readNov 29, 2020

The UK could experience a third wave of coronavirus infections after Christmas if restrictions are are eased too much over the coming weeks and months, Dominic Raab has warned.

Asked by BBC’s Andrew Marr whether Britain may suffer a resurgence of cases in January and February, the Foreign Secretary said: “There’s a risk of that if we don’t get the balance right.”

He added that the tiered approach and mass lockdown would be central to further suppress the pandemic before mass vaccination has taken place — a process he hopes will begin “before Christmas”.

Mr Raab’ comments come amid a growing Tory rebellion over the new tiered system.

In an attempt to appease MPs, the Prime Minister said last night he would allow the House of Commons to vote on the new tiers in late January, saying the regulations “have a sunset of 3 February” — a timeframe Mr Raab defended as “realistic”.

But scientists and public health experts have consistently warned that “rates are still too high, there are too many people coming into hospital and too many people dying” to lift restrictions yet.

“We scientists are very concerned indeed about relaxation of precautions at this stage,” Peter Openshaw, an immunologist from Imperial College who sits on Sage’s nine-strong clinical information group, told the BBC.

“If we take the breaks off at this stage, just when the end is in sight, I think we’d be making a huge mistake… I think we must keep this under control and just behave very very sensibly,” he said.

England reports 208 deaths in last 24 hours
The Government has reported an additional 208 deaths among people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 40,405.

The patients were aged between 39 and 100 years old. All except 13 had known underlying health conditions.

The dates of these fatalities range from 25 October to 28 November 2020, but the majority were on or after 25 November. Here is a breakdown of deaths by region:

East of England — 21
London — 15
Midlands — 63
North East & Yorkshire — 50
North West — 32
South East — 14
South West — 13

France: Court orders government to rethink limits on worship
France’s highest administrative court has ordered a rethink of a 30-person attendance limit for religious services put in place by the government to slow down the spread of coronavirus.

The measure took effect this weekend as France relaxes some virus restrictions, but it faced opposition by places of worship and the faithful for being arbitrary and unreasonable.

Even before the ruling, several bishops had announced they would not enforce the restrictions and some churches were expected defy it.

The Council of State today ordered that Prime Minister Jean Castex modify the measure within three days.

Jodie Whittaker: ‘The pandemic has skyrocketed my paranoia’
Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker has revealed her anxiety has “skyrocketed” in recent months, fuelled by worries about coronavirus. The first woman to play the Doctor told Francesca Babb that in disordered times she feels on the verge of an “apocalyptic panic attack”.

Filming for the BBC One show has been under way this November, as the cast prepare for the latest series including the Revolution Of The Daleks Christmas special. Here’s an extract from the interview, during which the actor talked how the pandemic has affected her personally:

It’s 3.30pm on a rainy Wednesday and Jodie Whittaker is just back from a medical appointment. Buoyant and bouncy, she’s thrilled to have had a negative result from her mandatory Covid test, so she can head off to Cardiff to don the Doctor’s coat, after almost a year of postponed filming.

‘That was the highlight of my day,’ she laughs. ‘Now I’ve got to sort the house out and pack my stuff — you take going away for granted so much until it’s gone.’

We’re chatting on Zoom, from her home in London, where she lives with her husband, American actor Christian Contreras, and their five-year-old daughter. Purposefully positioned in front of a white wall, adorned with only a smattering of Blu Tack (in case I scrutinise her interiors taste), she has been experiencing off-the-scale anxiety levels throughout the Covid roller coaster of 2020 and is craving some sense of normality.

‘I’m pretty anxious anyway, so it [the pandemic] has skyrocketed my paranoia,’ she says. ‘That worst-case scenario, that I cause someone ill health, I cause them long Covid… I’m a follower of a rule and I need things to be really clear, otherwise it sends me into an apocalyptic panic attack.’

Read more here.

Spain: Health workers protest against health service cuts
Dancing and banging drums in the street, doctors and nurses protested in Madrid on Sunday against cuts which they say have left them struggling to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reports.

Singing “less flags and more nurses”, about 4,000 protesters marched through the Spanish capital, the region hit hardest by the coronavirus. “They are segregating (health). In the private health companies it is a business. In the public, everyone comes. If you don’t have money, you don’t get,” said Lucia Tielvez, 65, an auxiliary health worker.

Madrid’s conservative regional government has denied cutting health services.

“In Madrid we are very aware of Covid,” tweeted Antonio R. Ajeno ironically, above a picture of crowds in Madrid.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged Spaniards to avoid large family gatherings this Christmas to avoid a rise in COVID-19 cases.

“The next few months will be decisive. Experts predict that we will attend a critical stage of the pandemic, coinciding with the first mass vaccines,” he told party supporters on Saturday.

Spain’s left-wing government is considering limiting Christmas gatherings to six people.

Quick economic recovery could see Treasury delay tax rises plan
Treasury ministers are hoping that a quick economic recovery in the middle of next year will mean that any consideration of significant tax rises can be delayed until 2022.

There has been speculation for months that personal taxes will start to increase in this spring’s Budget to start bringing down the deficit, which has surged during the pandemic.

However The Telegraph understands that senior Treasury ministers are keen to ensure the UK has gone past the worst of the pandemic before even considering tax rises.

This realistically pushes any large-scale increases in taxes to March 2022 at the earliest.

Last night a senior Treasury source told The Telegraph that people would have to wait “a bit longer” than the Budget to see whether tax increases were necessary.

Find out more here.

Another epidemic: 10,500 turkeys culled in North Yorkshire after bird flu outbreak
In other infectious disease news, more than 10,000 turkeys are set to be culled at a farm in North Yorkshire in an effort to contain an outbreak of Avian influenza, the Government has confirmed.

A 3km and 10km “temporary control zone” has been imposed around a turkey fattening premises near Northallerton, after a highly pathogenic strain of H5N8 was detected on Saturday.

The strain has recently been identified on several farms in Europe and led to the culling of more than 13,000 chickens in Cheshire earlier this month, but poses little risk to human health or food safety.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) H5N8 has also been identified in wild birds in Gloucestershire, Devon, Dorset, Lancashire and Lincolnshire, with reports last week that swans had been found spinning in circles and discharging blood from their nostrils.

Christine Middlemiss, England’s Chief Veterinary Officer, said on Sunday that “immediate steps have been taken to limit the risk of the disease spreading” in North Yorkshire, the source of which remains unclear.

Our Global Health Security team have more details here.

Relatives of pandemic virus found in labs in Cambodia and Japan
Scientists have discovered coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the pandemic, have been stored for several years in laboratory freezers in Cambodia and Japan, supporting a theory that Covid-19 may not have originally emerged from China.

The viruses are the first known relatives of SARS-CoV-2 to be found outside of China, according to a report in science journal Nature.

The virus in Cambodia was found in Shamel’s horseshoe bats captured in 2010, while a team in Japan reported the discovery of another closely related coronavirus, found in frozen bat droppings dating back to 2013.

The most popular hypothesis about the origins about the pandemic that has killed 1.41 million globally is that SARS-CoV-2 spread into humans from an intermediate host, an animal species that picked it up and then helped it to jump between bats and humans.

Nicola Smith has the full report here.

1:20pm
Keep current Covid position in perspective, experts urge
Amid growing debates around the new tiered system, Christine Pagel, a member of Independent Sage and director of the Clinical Operational Research Unit at University College London, has urged people to keep Covid numbers in perspective.

In a thread on Twitter, Prof Pagel stressed that while cases and hospital admissions are now coming down, these figures remain much higher across the UK compared to mid-September.

“It’s not “fixed”. The new tiers are trying to open some things while keeping things in right direction,” she said. “If we had a better test, trace and isolate system it would be much easier.

“But we don’t. And until we do, restrictions are necessary and they need to be tougher than pre lockdown because pre lockdown wasn’t working.”

You can read the full thread here:

Study: Autumn illnesses including flu up to halved by Covid restrictions
Coronavirus measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing haven’t just helped stopped the spread of Covid-19, they’ve also slashed cases of cold weather illnesses by up to 50 per cent, according to new data from Germany.

Instances of flu, bronchitis and pneumonia have all significantly decreased in north-eastern Germany, which includes Berlin, according to a study by health insurer AOK Nordost.

From September until mid-November, the number of people taking sick days off work due to the flu was halved compared to previous years.

Absence due to acute bronchitis fell by more than half, the study found, while sick days as a result of pneumonia and gastrointestinal infections dropped by a third.

The authors said this was likely due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions.

Daniel Wighton has more details here.

12:48pm
Watch: Police clash with anti-lockdown demonstrators in central London
Police clashed with anti-lockdown protesters in Oxford Street on Saturday with activists hurling bottles and charging through ranks of officers, leading to over 60 arrests.

Grassroots activist group Save Our Rights UK had planned a series of demonstrations to take place across the weekend in London to protest against the second national lockdown.

Ignoring earlier requests by the Metropolitan Police and London Mayor Sadiq Khan to remain at home, demonstrators assembled at Marble Arch before marching through Hyde Park, Regent Street and Oxford Circus.

Find out more in this video:

Germany set to review anti-virus curbs in early January
Germany will decide in early January which coronavirus curbs can be lifted, the premier of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia said today, as he urged people to observe hygiene and distancing rules to help bring case numbers down.

“We have to see at the beginning of January what is possible again and what has to stay closed,” Armin Laschet said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.

Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states to extend and tighten measures against the coronavirus until at least December 20 and it is likely that they will be extended into January.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on yesterday the measures could last into early Spring if infections are not brought under control. But Mr Laschet, premier of Germany’s most populous state said restrictions should be eased as soon as possible and if the incidence of infections allow.

“I find it hard to imagine that we will be closing everything for months on end and contributing billions from the federal coffers month after month,” he added.

12:23pm
Fears grow of mass infection at Newcastle United as more players test positive
Newcastle United have received another two positive Covid tests and are now waiting nervously to learn whether they have suffered a mass infection within the first-team squad.

The two new cases identified take the total number at the club to five and there are growing concerns more will follow over the next 48 hours.

Given the nature of the pandemic, and the fact the new cases have come after two players and a member of staff were forced to self-isolate last week, it means the virus may well have still been on hard surfaces at the training ground.

That cannot be known for sure, given the players spend so much time together and the incubation period of the virus, but if Covid was still present within a closed indoor environment, the scale of the spread could be severe, leading to the decimation of the squad ahead of the next round of Premier League fixtures.

Luke Edwards has the full story here.

Morning news update
Just joining us? Here’s a quick reminder of today’s top stories:

England could face a third wave of coronavirus if ministers fail to “get the balance right” with restrictions, the Foreign Secretary has said, as he tried to persuade Tory rebels to back the tier system.
Meanwhile a Sage expert has warned “scientists are very concerned indeed about relaxation of precautions” as infection rates, hospitalisation rates and death rates are “too high”. “If we take the breaks off at this stage, just when the end is in sight, I think we’d be making a huge mistake,” Prof Peter Openshaw said.
The Government has secured another two million doses of the Moderna mRNA coronavirus vaccine, which trials suggest is 95 per cent effective.
Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has written to the region’s 27 MPs calling for cross-party support to demand more money for areas in Tier 3 lockdowns and to get some restrictions lifted in two weeks’ time.
Labour has urged the Government to suspend peak rail fares and provide mass coronavirus testing for transport workers to avoid travel “chaos” and ensure families are “kept safe” during the festive period.
And elsewhere across the globe:

A Singaporean woman, who was infected with the novel coronavirus in March when she was pregnant, has given birth to a baby with antibodies against the virus, offering a new clue as to whether the infection can be transferred from mother to child.
Hong Kong has reported 115 new cases, the first time it has seen cases in the triple digits since August 2, as many countries in Asia struggle to contain surging cases.
Indonesia has detected a record daily rise in infections, with 6,267 new cases, bringing the total to 534,266, according to data from the country’s Covid-19 task force.
Austria should expect further heavy restrictions when its current lockdown measures expire in just over a week, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has told the Austrian paper Kleine Zeitung.

And finally, a scientist at Russia’s research outpost in the Antarctic, populated by penguins as well as 22 other researchers, has got stuck there for a few more months after his planned replacement went down with Covid-19.

11:46am
Russia: Police hand out a million Covid fines
Russian police say they have handed out more than a million fines to people breaking rules designed to halt the spread of coronavirus, Theo Merz reports.

The fines have raised at least 1.7 billion rubles (£17m) since the start of the pandemic, according to estimates by the Russian state news agency TASS.

Most of those fined were failing to wear a mask or gloves, falling foul of a law that compels Russians “to comply with rules of conduct during an emergency, or threat of an emergency”.

England and Wales handed out fewer than 20,000 fines over the first six months of the pandemic.

Russia is the fourth worst-hit country worldwide in terms of cases, with more than two million Coronavirus infections.

It has registered around 40,000 deaths, a lower proportion of fatalities than other badly hit countries, prompting charges that it is underreporting figures. Officials deny the charges.

Despite continuing to report record numbers of infections and deaths in recent weeks, authorities are loath to hurt an already struggling economy with a repeat of the full lockdown that Russia saw in the spring.

Moscow has, however, brought in a number of targeted measures, including closing bars and restaurants from 11pm and shutting museums.

11:35am
Company connected with Iraq abuse claims wins Covid marshals contracts
A company that employed private investigators to probe the conduct of British troops in Iraq has been awarded a series of contracts to recruit Covid marshals.

Red Snapper recruitment, which has a turnover of almost £30 million, is advertising for applicants for the posts across a number of local authorities in England.

Successful candidates are told they can expect to earn around £100 a day for the four-month, full time contracts.

They will be expected to patrol town centres to ensure people are not breaking the rules around social distancing and complying with the laws on wearing face coverings in public places.

Martin Evans and Robert Mendick have more on this story here.

11:23am
Burnham: Tier 3 areas deserve added financial support
Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has written to the region’s 27 MPs calling for cross-party support to demand more money for areas in Tier 3 lockdowns and to get some restrictions lifted in two weeks’ time, PA reports.

Greater Manchester’s 2.8 million residents, along with much of the rest of the North, will be under Tier 3, the highest level of restrictions when England’s national lockdown ends at midnight on Tuesday.

Mr Burnham said he wants more financial support from the Government for Tier 3 areas when the issue is debated in Parliament on Tuesday. He also said on current infection trends in Greater Manchester, the area will be in a similar position as many areas which have been placed in Tier 2.

Although the Government has indicated it is unlikely to make any major changes on the first review date in a fortnight’s time, Mr Burnham has called for a “meaningful review” to challenge the decision.

“It simply cannot be right or fair that Tier 1 Cornwall and the Isle of Wight are receiving the same level of business support as cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Hull.

“MPs representing Tier 3 areas on all sides of the House need to come together and demand a much fairer support package from the Government,” he added.

Austria: Chancellor warns ‘tough measures’ will continue and apres-ski will not open this year
Austria should expect further heavy restrictions when its current lockdown measures expire in just over a week, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has told the Austrian paper Kleine Zeitung.

The country’s nationwide lockdown is due to be lifted on December 7, but it is not yet clear what that will mean for the ski industry — cornerstone of a tourism sector which accounts for some 15 per cent of economic output — or overall life in Austria.

“The higher the infection numbers, the harder it will be to introduce steps for reopening,” Kurz said, adding that new measures will be announced on Wednesday. “We will have to live with further massive restrictions after December 7.”

Asked about the potential for a ski season, Kurz said that sports and leisure facilities would not be part of the first easing measures, but the government intended to enable more outdoor and individual sports in the foreseeable future.

“Separate from that is the question of tourism,” he said. “What’s already clear, apres-ski will happen at the earliest in one year,” he said, referring to the tradition of a post-ski drink in mountain bars and restaurants.

France, Italy, Austria and Germany have all ordered even the high-altitude lifts that could be running this early in the winter to remain closed for now in the hope that all resorts can benefit at peak season, if and when the infection rate slows.

10:46am
RNA vaccines ‘like snapchat messages that expire’
Are RNA vaccines safe? It’s a question we have heard over and over in the last few weeks after positive early data from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which both use this technology.

Prof Shane Crotty, a virologist at La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California, has pulled together a brilliant Twitter thread answering this very question.

“RNA is like snapchat messages that expire”, he writes. The vaccines do not become a permanent part of your body and, after instructing cells to make one viral protein temporarily, they disintegrate.

The RNA Covid vaccines include a message telling our bodies to make just one single coronavirus protein. But “it takes 25 different coronavirus proteins to make a coronavirus, so there is no worry about the RNA making a virus.”

If a vaccine is going to generate side effects, this usually happens within days or weeks of being given the jab. To date 70,000 doses of Covid-19 RNA vaccines have been given to people and independent safety boards — which are not controlled by pharma companies — have not reported any serious concerns. 70,000 is a big number.

Stuck with penguins: Russia’s Antarctic scientist can’t go home because of Covid-19
A scientist at Russia’s research outpost in the Antarctic, populated by penguins as well as 22 other researchers, got stuck there for a few more months after his planned replacement went down with Covid-19, Nataliya Vasilyeva reports.

Denis Melnikov, a geophysicist with a penchant for Instagram selfies with penguins, arrived at the Mirny research station in January before the coronavirus pandemic hit the planet.

His mission was supposed to end in November when the scientist who was supposed to replace his contracted Covid-19 and had to go to hospital. The vessel carrying the new expedition and supplies has set sail from St Petersburg for the South Pole without his replacement.

Mr Melnikov, 33, says he has always dreamt of working in the Antarctic but he is beginning to miss “cold beer and home.”

“So I’m stuck here for a few more months,” the researcher wrote last week in an Instagram post with the picture of a crimson sunset over the Antarctic’s snow-covered shores.

“It wasn’t something I was prepared for but I’m not too upset. At least, I’m expecting a parcel from home with a new camera, home-made cookies and a whole jar of Nutella. So might as well stare at the icebergs for two more months.”

10:16am
UK secures 2 million more doses of Moderna vaccine
Another two million doses of a vaccine which trials suggest is 95 per cent effective have been secured by the Government.

It brings the total number of jabs on order from the US firm Moderna to seven million — enough for around 3.5 million people in the UK.

The vaccine has yet to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), but doses could begin being delivered next spring if it meets the standards.

Interim data suggests the jab is highly effective in preventing people getting ill and may work across all age groups, including the elderly.

The UK has placed orders for 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine — enough to vaccinate most of the population — with rollout expected in the coming weeks if the jab is approved by the MHRA.

It also has orders for 40 million doses of the jab from Pfizer and BioNTech, which has been shown to be 95 per cent effective.

10:06am
Restrictions eased in Czech Republic as surge eases
The Czech government will allow restaurants and non-essential shops to reopen on Thursday as the current wave of the coronavirus pandemic eases, Health Mister Jan Blatny announced today.

The country will move down one notch to level three on its 5-level risk scale, which means all shops and restaurants can open but must limit customer numbers to allow for social distancing. A night-time curfew will be lifted and limited sports activities can resume.

Here’s a look at the trajectory of the country’s outbreak:

Raab: Risk of a third wave ‘if we don’t get the balance right’
Asked whether we could face a third wave of restrictions in January and February, Dominic Raab said: “There’s a risk of that if we don’t get the balance right.”

But he added that so far the R rate is coming down. “That is why we are starting with the tiered approach, which is more restrictive than some people would like but allows us to ease measures when possible.”

He added that the government are doing “everything we can” to avoid another national lockdown after Christmas.

9:53am
Raab: Vaccination to start before Christmas
The BBC’s Andrew Marr has asked the Foreign Secretary whether Chris Whitty or the Tory MP Steve Baker are “more important to Number 10.”

“What’s important is the welfare of this country, saving lives and livelihoods, its a balanced approach,” Dominic Raab responded, dodging the question. “If you look at the approach it is a tiered approach, we want to come out of a national lockdown sustainably.

“Some people have argued [the restrictions] are too tough, but we have heard the public health arguments for this. Having them at this level allows us to ease off when we are confidence to do so,” he added, suggesting that another vote in January would provide the “right balance”.

Dominic Raab also repeated many of the comments he made on the Sky this morning, emphasising that the tiered system and mass testing would be central to keeping the virus under control until a vaccine is ready.

He added that the process of vaccination would start as soon as regulators “have given us the green light”.

“We would like to start doing that before Christmas,” Mr Raab said.

9:46am
‘We scientists are very concerned about relaxation of precautions’
Prof Peter Openshaw added that he is concerned that restrictions will be eased too soon and could trigger a surge in cases when “the end is in sight”.

“We scientists are very concerned indeed about relaxation of precautions at this stage,” he told the Andrew Marr show. “The rates are still too high, there are too many people coming into hospital and too many people dying.

“If we take the breaks off at this stage, just when the end is in sight, I think we’d be making a huge mistake. We’ve all sacrificed so much, everyone has sacrificed enormously in order to get the transmission rate down.

“With only a few months to go until we all get vaccinated, I think it would just be a terrible mistake. I think we must keep this under control and just behave very very sensibly.”

This has echoes of what Julian Tang, a virologist, told the Telegraph — he suggested that a “ring lockdown” strategy is required to suppress the virus (see 8:50am).

9:43am
‘First vaccine regulatory approval could happen within a fortnight’
Peter Openshaw, an immunologist from Imperial College who sits on Sage’s nine-strong clinical information group, has raised doubts on reports that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could be approved by regulators.

“I would be surprised if it’s next week,” he told the BBC. “But I know that the regulators are looking very hard and they’re doing everything they can to scrutinise all the data. My understanding is there’s been quite an interactive process with the regulators while these trials are going on.

“I wouldn’t be too surprised if an announcement is made within the next two weeks, possibly the next week, but we will have to wait and see and this must not be rushed.”

He added the Oxford-AstraZeneca trial results are good news “based on the press releases”.

On Monday scientists published a press release putting the headline figure for the vaccine’s overall efficacy at an average of 70 per cent. In most participants this figure was 62 per cent, but in a sub-group who were given a lower dose regime, the efficacy rose to 90 per cent.

When asked whether the figure of 70 per cent efficacy was a “real figure”, Prof Openshaw said that this “came about by merging two slightly different studies” and more data is needed to analyse success than a press release.

But he added: “I think even more important is that it looks like several trials are reporting very good efficacy. That means for sure that this is a virus we can defeat via vaccination. We didn’t know that, and that is tremendously good news.”

9:29am
Watch: WHO says it needs to evaluate Covid-19 vaccine on more than just a press release
The World Health Organisation has reiterated calls for further trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, to provide “definitive answers” on efficacy.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO chief scientist, said it would be “great” if a smaller dose could trigger a greater immune response, as this would allow limited vaccine supplies to reach more people.

But she added that a “full trial” is needed to confirm whether these results in a larger and more diverse group of people.

The UN agency has also called for the full data to be published, rather than a press release — read more here or watch the clip below:

Labour: We will vote for tiered system if Government answer two questions
Labour’s shadow Foreign Secretary has told the BBC that the party does not share the view of backbench Tory MPs that we can let the virus “rip through” communities, but added that before supporting the new tiered system Labour need clarity on two key points.

First, whether the measures are sufficient to get on top of the virus. And secondly whether people will be able to comply with the restrictions.

“We need to see proper support in place so that people can comply, otherwise we may be in a worse position in January,” Lisa Nandy told Andrew Marr.

She added that “our support is not unconditional”.

“We need to be sure that these measures are sufficient to gain control of the virus, otherwise we are asking businesses to suffer economic pain without anything to show that this is worth it. That it will actually set us on a path in the future.”

But pushed on whether Labour would vote these measures down without these assurances, Nandy said: “It’s not too late for the government to come forward with those assurances and we are not in favour of rejecting public health measures… but we want to know that the government is coming forward with that help.”

9:19am
Hong Kong reports four month high, with 115 new Covid cases
Hong Kong reported 115 new coronavirus infections today, including 109 locally transmitted, the highest in nearly four months, as authorities battle a surge of Covid-19.

The figure was up from 84 yesterday and was the highest since August 1, when 125 cases were reported. It compares with the July 30 record of 149.

Hong Kong has closed bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues for the third time this year after authorities warn the resurgence is worsening rapidly.

The latest jump in cases forced a delay in the launch of a “travel bubble” between Hong Kong and Singapore, originally scheduled for November 22, for at least two weeks. Authorities are also reopening a temporary Covid-19 treatment hall near the city’s airport.

Hong Kong is not the only place in Asia struggling to contain a new surge in cases. Japan and South Korea have both tightened restrictions this week in an attempt to curb the virus, with authorities concerned about a rise in asymptomatic, difficult to trace clusters.

Read more about these challenges from our Global Health Security team here.

9:12am
Raab: PM’s assertion tiered system will end come February is ‘realistic’
Dominic Raab has insisted that the Prime Minister is being “realistic” in his assertions that the tiered system could end in nine weeks, in early February.

While the government originally suggested the restrictions would last until Easter, Boris Johnson told Tory MPs last night that regulations “have a sunset of 3 February” in an attempt to head off a major rebellion.

Asked if the Prime Minister’s message needs to be more “realistic” by Sky’s Sophy Ridge, the Foreign Secretary replied: “We do, and I think he is in fairness.”

He added: “We’ve seen the success of the vaccine through the trial process, we’re not there yet we need to make sure that they’re safe, but we’ve got to the stage where we’ve secured over 350 million doses.

“We think by the Spring, we don’t know but we think by the Spring that we will be in a position to move to a whole different world because the vaccine will have been distributed to key workers and the most vulnerable, particularly by age.

“The question is how we avoid the virus getting out of control and damaging lives and livelihoods and putting undue pressure on the NHS. So I do think this feels like an exit strategy. And I do think with that comes some cautious grounds for hope.”

In a separate exchange, Mr Raab also defended the broad geographical restrictions as a necessity to prevent the virus from “shooting up”. Watch that clip below:

‘Ring lockdown’ strategy needed to keep cases low pre-Christmas, experts warn
The public are underestimating the importance of “ring lockdowns”, a leading virologist has warned amid the backlash against the new tiered system announced by Boris Johnson this week (details of that here).

Julian Tang, a consultant virologist at Leicester Royal Infirmary, told the Telegraph that he is concerned “people don’t see the longer term benefit approach”:

“If there’s a central postcode hotspot the postcodes around that will be affected if you relax tiers adjacent. That’s how the virus spread.
“So you do a ring lockdown around the hotspot by putting the whole region in tier 3. We are creating a firebreak around that hotspot.”
He added that the lower the numbers are driven before Christmas, the safer people will be when mixing over the festive period.

But Dr Tang said he was concerned that the lack of travel restrictions across the country could trigger a resurgence of cases in regions that are currently low risk.

“If we get down to 5,000 to 10,000 cases a day by Christmas new cases, you might see a doubling of that after Christmas,” he warned, urging people to take care not to “kill Granny” over Christmas.

8:42am
Indonesia: Record increase in daily new cases reported
Indonesia has detected a record daily rise in coronavirus infections today, 6,267 new cases, bringing the total to 534,266, according to data from the country’s Covid-19 task force.

This is the third record high in the last week for for the Southeast Asian country. An additional 169 new deaths were also reported, taking the total fatalities to 16,815.

Below is a look at the trajectory of the country’s outbreak. But Indonesia is not alone in Asia struggling to contain a surge of Covid — read about why Japan and South Korea are struggling here.

Britons to get ‘vaccine stamps’ in their passports
British travellers who have been inoculated against coronavirus could have their passports stamped to show they have had the vaccine in a boost for the tourism industry, The Telegraph can disclose.

The new ‘vaccine stamps’ would allow tourists to avoid being held up at borders if the international travel industry starts to pick up in the middle of next year as the pandemic subsides.

The stamps are being considered by ministers at the Department for Transport (DfT) as a significant way to boost the aviation industry by giving a degree of certainty to travellers planning overseas holidays next summer.

Christopher Hope and Nicola Smith have all the details you need to know here.

7:50am
Turkey’s new virus figures confirm experts’ worst fears
When Turkey changed the way it reports daily infections, it confirmed what medical groups and opposition parties have long suspected — that the country is faced with an alarming surge of cases that is fast exhausting the Turkish health system.

In an about-face, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government this week resumed reporting all positive coronavirus tests — not just the number of patients being treated for symptoms — pushing the number of daily cases to above 30,000.

With the new data, the country jumped from being one of the least-affected countries in Europe to one of the worst-hit.

That came as no surprise to the Turkish Medical Association, which has been warning for months that the government’s previous figures were concealing the graveness of the spread and that the lack of transparency was contributing to the surge.

The group maintains, however, that the ministry’s figures are still low compared with its estimate of at least 50,000 new infections per day.

Lockdown-related posts more likely to be sceptical of Government policy
Lockdown-related posts on social media are five times more likely to be sceptical of Government policy than in favour, according to a new study.

Data collected from over 94,000 public posts across social media websites in England reveal that just four per cent of the 67,000 authors were in favour of the second national lockdown.

70 per cent of the posts were categorised as ‘neutral’ on lockdown with 26 per cent criticising the restrictions.

The study, carried out by data analysis company Impact Social, only examined ‘original’ posts from ‘unique’ authors, meaning any ‘retweets’ or ‘shares’ of lockdown posts were excluded.

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6:35am
Singaporean gives birth to baby with Covid antibodies
A Singaporean woman, who was infected with the novel coronavirus in March when she was pregnant, has given birth to a baby with antibodies against the virus, offering a new clue as to whether the infection can be transferred from mother to child.

The baby was born this month without Covid-19 but with the virus antibodies, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Sunday, citing the mother.

“My doctor suspects I have transferred my Covid-19 antibodies to him during my pregnancy,” Celine Ng-Chan told the paper.
Ng-Chan had been mildly ill from the disease and was discharged from hospital after two-and-a-half weeks, the Straits Times said.

Ng-Chan and the National University Hospital (NUH), where she gave birth, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The World Health Organisation says it is not yet known whether a pregnant woman with Covid-19 can pass the virus to her foetus or baby during pregnancy or delivery.

To date, the active virus has not been found in samples of fluid around the baby in the womb or in breast milk.

4:48am
North Korea toughens rules of entry to sea to fight virus
North Korea is further toughening restrictions on entering seawaters as part of elevated steps to fight the coronavirus pandemic, state media said Sunday, two days after South Korea said the North had banned sea fishing.

The Korean Central News Agency reported the country is mobilising more anti-virus units and establishing strong steps to “completely remove uncivilized and unhygienic elements that could help make room for the spread of an epidemic” at winter.

KCNA said officials were building firm anti-epidemic measures along border areas to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country. In front-line coastal areas, authorities were working out more stringent rules for venturing out at sea and collecting filthy materials in the waters, according to KCNA.

North Korea has maintained no single virus case has been found on its territory, a claim widely questioned by outside experts.

4:26am
News in brief from around the world
The number of cases in Germany increased by 14,611 to 1,042,700, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Sunday and the reported death toll rose by 158 to 16,123.

China on Sunday reported 11 new cases in the mainland for Nov. 28, compared with six cases a day earlier, the health authority said.

Mexico reported 10,008 new infections and 586 additional deaths on Saturday, health ministry data showed, bringing the official number of cases to 1,100,683 with a total death toll of 105,459.

In the US, a surge in cases will put San Francisco under a curfew beginning on Monday and trigger other restrictions related to the virus, the city announced.

Brazil has registered 51,922 additional cases over the last 24 hours and 587 new deaths, the nation’s Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has been ordered to isolate at home after his wife tested positive for Covid-19, the government’s spokesman said on Saturday.

Delayed Olympics could cost an extra £1.4 billion
The coronavirus-delayed Tokyo Olympics could cost $1.9 billion (£1.4 billion) more than its original budget of $13 billion, a 15 percent increase, a report said on Sunday.

The Olympics organisers will formally decide the increased budget for the Games as early as mid-December after communicating with the Japanese government and the host city Tokyo, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, citing unnamed Olympic sources.

The 2020 Games were pushed back a year as Covid-19 spread around the globe, and are now scheduled to open on July 23, 2021.

But the delay has thrown up a plethora of new costs, from rebooking venues and transport to retaining the huge organising committee staff.

With many countries experiencing second or even third waves of infection, there have been doubts about whether the event can be staged, but organisers and Olympic officials insist it can be done safely.

South Korea considers tougher restrictions
South Korean authorities will consider tighter social distancing restrictions on Sunday to clamp down on economic activities after last week saw the fastest spread of infections since the early days of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is to meet with health authority officials at 3 p.m. (0600 GMT) to decide whether virus curbs need to be tightened further to slow transmissions, Yonhap News said.

South Korea reported 450 infections of the new coronavirus on Sunday after reporting more than 500 new coronavirus cases for three days in a row, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Today’s tops stories

The coronavirus tier system could end in just nine weeks, Boris Johnson told his MPs on Saturday night in an attempt to head off a major rebellion by furious Conservative MPs.

Treasury ministers are hoping that a quick economic recovery in the middle of next year will mean that any consideration of significant tax rises can be delayed until 2022.

PM’s decision to impose tougher tiers of restrictions on much of the country this week will cost the economy £900 million a day, according to a leading economic forecaster.

A company that employed private investigators to probe the conduct of British troops in Iraq has been awarded a series of contracts to recruit Covid marshals.

Hundreds of thousands of GCSE students in England will be told their exam topics in advance and marked more generously under plans expected to be unveiled this week.

British travellers who have been inoculated against coronavirus could have their passports stamped to show they have had the vaccine in a boost for the tourism industry, The Telegraph can disclose.

Lockdown-related posts on social media are five times more likely to be sceptical of Government policy than in favour, according to a new study.

Coronavirus latest news: Risk of a third wave

Written by Ayas biyas

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