Today’s Covid news: UK health secretary apologises over ‘cower’ tweet; Indonesia extends virus restrictions

That’s it from the blog today. Thank you for your time.

Italy reported seven coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday compared with five the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 4,743 from 5,140 on Saturday.
Italy has registered 127,949 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world.
The country has reported more than 4.3 million cases to date.

In Tunisia violent demonstrations broke out on Sunday in several cities as protesters expressed anger at the deterioration of the North African nation’s health, economic and social situation, AP reports.
Thousands of people defied virus restrictions and scorching heat to demonstrate in the capital of Tunis and other cities. The largely young crowds chanted slogans calling for the dissolution of parliament and early elections.
The protests were called on the 64th anniversary of Tunisia’s independence by a new group called the July 25 Movement.
Security forces deployed in force, especially in Tunis where police blockades blocked all streets leading to the main artery of the capital, Avenue Bourguiba. Police also deployed around the parliament, preventing demonstrators from accessing it.

Police used tear gas to disperse some demonstrators throwing projectiles at officers and made several arrests. Clashes also took place in several other towns, notably in Nabeul, Sousse, Kairouan, Sfax and Tozeur. Protesters also stormed the offices of the Islamist movement Ennahdha, the dominant force in parliament.

Tunisia has reimposed lockdowns and other virus restrictions because it’s facing one of Africa’s worst virus outbreaks.

Top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that Americans who are immune compromised may end up needing COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, Reuters reports.
“Those who are transplant patients, cancer chemotherapy, auto-immune diseases, that are on immunosuppressant regimens, those are the kind of individuals that if there’s going to be a third booster, which might likely happen, would be among first the vulnerable,” Fauci said during a CNN interview.
Citing recent studies that show there might be waning immunity in vaccinated people, Fauci said U.S. health officials are reviewing data to determine when boosters might be needed.
*It*s a dynamic situation. It*s a work in progress, it evolves like in so many other areas of the pandemic,* said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Some key developments so far today:

• UK health secretary Sajid Javid has apologised for a tweet which suggested the nation need not “cower” from coronavirus.
• In the UK, it is being reported that only fully-vaccinated football fans may be able to attend Premier League matches and other events with more than 20,000 spectators from October under government plans
• Young people are getting “seriously ill” from Covid-19, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has warned, as he urged them to get vaccinated.
• In Australia, New South Wales logged its second-highest daily increase of the year in locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Sunday amid fears of a wave of new infections after thousands of people joined an anti-lockdown protest.
• Malaysia’s total coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic surpassed 1 million on Sunday after the country’s health ministry reported a record 17,045 new cases.
• Indonesia has extended its Covid-19 restrictions by a week to Aug. 2 to try to curb infections, President Joko Widodo announced on Sunday, after the government said it would add more intensive care units amid a rise in deaths.
• Russia reported 24,072 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, including 3,406 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 6,126,541.
• South Korea is to tighten social distancing rules across most of the country this week, warning that its worst-ever Covid-19 wave might spread further in the summer holiday season.
• Fresh concerns have been raised in the UK over police being forced into isolation over Covid-19 contacts after it was said the number of absent Metropolitan Police officers reached nearly one in five.
• Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike met on Sunday to discuss the Olympic Games being held in the capital and anti-coronavirus measures,

Indonesia has extended its Covid-19 restrictions by a week to 2 August to try to curb infections, President Joko Widodo announced on Sunday, after the government said it would add more intensive care units amid a rise in deaths (see earlier post at 09.42).

“I’d like to thank all Indonesians for their understanding and support for the curbs that have been effective for 23 days,” the president, known as Jokowi, said, adding that Covid infections and hospital bed occupancies had declined, without specifying by how much, Reuters reports.

Jokowi said the government would gradually adjust some restrictions on “some activities”, while allowing traditional markets and restaurants with outdoor areas to open, with some limitations. Some businesses, from salons and laundries to vehicle repair shops, are now allowed to open.

Indonesia last week reported record-high deaths on four separate days, the last of which was 1,566 deaths on Friday, bringing cumulative deaths to more than 83,000.

Total infections have climbed to more than 3.1 million, though health experts say both deaths and case numbers have been undercounted.

The average number of COVID-19 deaths reported each day in Indonesia has been increasing for 10 days straight, a Reuters tracker shows.

South Korea is to tighten social distancing rules across most of the country this week, warning that its worst-ever Covid-19 wave might spread further in the summer holiday season.
The curbs will be increased to Level 3 on a four-level scale, which will mean a 10 p.m. dining curfew and ban on gatherings of more than four people, from Tuesday for two weeks for most areas except for some small counties, Reuters reports.
“What’s most concerning is the virus’ recent spread in the non-capital areas,” President Moon Jae-in told an intra-agency meeting reviewing efforts in the campaign against coronavirus
“There has been an increase in movements nationwide, especially around vacation spots.”
South Korea managed to largely avoid major COVID-19 outbreaks with an extensive testing and tracing campaign for the first year of the pandemic.
But the latest spikes in infections have dented public confidence even though there have been relatively few critical cases and deaths.
The government early this month imposed the toughest Level 4 curbs, which include a ban on gatherings of more than two people after 6 p.m., in the capital Seoul and neighbouring areas.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Sunday reported 1,487 cases for Saturday, the highest increase recorded on any weekend.
South Korea’s total infections have risen to 188,848, with 2,073 deaths.

The United States is considering giving more coronavirus vaccines to Vietnam, its ambassador to the United States said on Sunday, as the Southeast Asian country struggles to control outbreaks of the fast-spreading Delta variant of the virus.

Vietnam has been facing rapid outbreaks of infections, with daily cases repeatedly hitting new highs.

The country’s health ministry reported 7,531 coronavirus infections on Sunday, down from Saturday’s record daily increase of 7,968. Most of the cases are in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbouring provinces in southern Vietnam, according to the ministry.

It took delivery of a shipment of 3 million Moderna doses from the United States on Sunday, taking the amount given by the United States, via the global COVAX vaccine scheme, to 5 million doses, Reuters reports.

“The U.S. side has said it is also considering more vaccine donations to Vietnam soon,” the ambassador to the United States, Ha Kim Ngoc, said speech posted on a government web site.

Vietnam is also in talks with the United States on domestic production of mRNA vaccines, its foreign ministry said on Thursday, adding that production could begin in the fourth quarter or early in 2022.

Vietnam kept the virus at bay for the first year of the pandemic but infections have been spreading quickly since late April.

In all, it has recorded nearly 95,000 infections and at least 370 deaths, most in the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City. Nearly half of the latest shipment of Moderna vaccines will be sent to that city, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said on Saturday.

Russia reported 24,072 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, including 3,406 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 6,126,541.
The government coronavirus task force said 779 people had died of coronavirus linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 153,874.
Russia has been in the grip of a surge in cases that authorities blame on the more contagious Delta variant, though some officials have suggested in recent days that cases, at least in Moscow, have started to decline, Reuters reports.

Fresh concerns have been raised in the UK over police being forced into isolation over Covid-19 contacts after it was said the number of absent Metropolitan Police officers reached nearly one in five, the PA reports.
Policing minister Kit Malthouse said on Sunday there has been a “challenge” but insisted changes to isolation rules for critical workers will help ease the so-called “pingdemic”.
He suggested calls from businesses and MPs for the wider exemption for fully vaccinated individuals to be brought forward from August 16 would be rejected.
Ken Marsh, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation representing rank-and-file officers in the capital, said there is confusion over the exemptions for critical workers.
He said “a huge strain” was being heaped on officers on the frontline, with 15% in the capital being off on Saturday, down from a high of 17% last week.
But Marsh said the critical workers exemption introduced amid widespread criticism is not responsible for the slight reduction in absence rates.
He told the PA news agency: “It has no bearing whatsoever on this new Government nonsense around exemptions - we’re not even sure we’re on the list.
“We’re being told that officers have to apply for it if they’re specialist drivers and all sorts, it’s not just a carte blanche all police.”
Malthouse said that the 200 new daily testing sites being introduced from Monday in order to facilitate isolation exemptions would help, particularly for critical roles.
“We have had a challenge across the whole of policing on what’s been called the pingdemic,” he told Times Radio.
“Not least because there are particular functions of course where police officers do gather together in close groups, often inside.
“So as you might have seen there has been an announcement where there will be more availability of this daily testing for those who have been double-vaccinated so they can go about their business, particularly in critical roles where we need to maintain capacity like control rooms, like armed response.”
But he suggested the wider relaxation of isolation rules for all fully vaccinated people would not be brought forward from August 16.

Scotland Yard declined to comment on the number of officers who are absent due to Covid-19. “Despite the challenges of Covid-19, the Met is continuing to provide a resilient and strong policing service to London. We are not providing details on sickness or isolation,” a spokesman said.

Here is our story on Sajid Javid’s apology.

In the UK, Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol and a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said young people are getting “seriously ill” due to Covid.
Speaking on LBC on Sunday, he said there have been close to 200 admissions in Bristol with a mean age of 40 and added:

We have had people under 30 on our intensive care unit and also requiring high-level oxygen therapy.

This is not always trivial in young adults. There are younger people really getting seriously ill at the moment, so that’s one good reason to think about having the vaccine.

But the other one is these vaccines now, it’s clear, do reduce the risk of not only getting the infection but passing it on to other people.

Getting immunised is going to reduce the risk of spreading this infection around amongst young people and enable them to get back to normal.