Tag Archives: VACCIN

World

Locked-down Sydney warned worse may be ahead, COVID-19 cases at 2021 high

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A man walks under a public health message about social distancing displayed at a shopping plaza in the city centre during a lockdown to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sydney, Australia, July 6, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

MELBOURNE, July 10 (Reuters) – Australia’s New South Wales state reported its biggest daily rise in locally acquired coronavirus infections this year on Saturday, with authorities warning that worse may yet to come for Sydney, which is in a three-week hard lockdown.

There were 50 new cases of community transmission in the country’s most populous state, up from 44 a day earlier, the previous 2021 record high. This brings the outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant to 489 cases.

Of Saturday’s cases, 26 were people who had spent time in the community while they were infectious, deepening concerns that the lockdown of more than 5 million people in Sydney and surroundings will be extended.

“When you know that there are 26 cases infectious in the community, the only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a televised briefing.

“I think it is pretty clear that unless we reduce that level of people in the community that are infectious, we won’t be able to turn things around as quickly as we can or as quickly as we should.”

There are 47 cases in hospital, or about one in 10 people infected in the current outbreak. Of those, 19 people are under the age of 55 and 16 people are in intensive care, including a teenager.

No fully vaccinated people have required hospital care and 79% of those admitted have not had any doses, health authorities said. Vaccinations are available in Australia for now only to people over 40 and those in risk groups either due to their health or work.

The country has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping its COVID-19 numbers relatively low, but its vaccination rollout has been among the slowest due to supply constraints and changing medical advice for its mainstay AstraZeneca .

Reporting by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Lincoln Feast and William Mallard

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Spanish tourist hotspots seek return to curfews as youth infections rage

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MADRID, July 9 (Reuters) – Spain’s Canary Islands and its Mediterranean region of Valencia have asked the government to bring back curfews to counter a soaring COVID-19 infection rate among unvaccinated youngsters that is threatening to scupper the vital summer tourism season.

Nationwide, cases had been dwindling over recent months but began to surge from the middle of June, propelled by the more contagious Delta variant and more socialising among younger groups.

Concerned by the surge, Germany designated Spain a high-risk area on Friday, obliging returning travellers to take a test to avoid quarantine and potentially cutting off an important source of high-spending sunseekers read more .

France had already warned its citizens from visiting, though Spanish Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto defended Spain as safe. read more

Hospital admissions have begun to edge up but remain far below levels seen earlier this year, while intensive care occupancy is less than 7%.

Daily deaths have been declining since April as the most vulnerable groups, such as elderly people and those with pre-existing conditions, have been vaccinated.

Since a state of emergency expired in May, regional authorities have been responsible for the COVID-19 response but need court authorisation or a government decree for strict measures like lockdowns, travel bans and curfews. read more

The Canaries’ regional government said late on Thursday it would ask its Supreme Court to authorise a 12:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on Tenerife, which has the islands’ highest coronavirus incidence.

Defending the measure, regional leader Angel Victor Torres told Cadena Ser radio on Friday it would prevent crowds building up at nightand over the weekends.

“Pressure on hospitals is starting to grow. In Tenerife, ICU occupation is at around 15% and young people are being admitted to intensive care,” he said.

Valencia, home to the popular resort of Benidorm, and the central region of Castilla and Leon, had already asked the central government for curfews but Health Minister Carolina Darias said on Wednesday that they were “not on the table.” read more

Highly dependent on tourism, Spain is trying to strike a delicate balance between opening up enough to entice back travellers while keeping infections in check.

Britain, which was Spain’s largest source of foreign tourists before the pandemic, announced earlier on Friday that it planned to scrap a 10-day quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated travellers returning from other countries in the coming weeks. read more

Reporting by Nathan Allen, editing by Inti Landauro and Nick Macfie

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Sydney faces COVID-19 lockdown extension amid record 2021 cases

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  • NSW faces “biggest challenge” in pandemic
  • Reports biggest daily rise in cases for 2021
  • Extra police patrols parts of Sydney

SYDNEY, July 9 (Reuters) – Australian authorities on Friday pleaded with Sydney’s five million residents to stay home, warning a three-week lockdown may be extended as they struggle to control a COVID-19 outbreak, with the city reporting the biggest rise in local cases in 2021.

Hundreds of extra police patrolled parts of Sydney to enforce the city’s lockdown orders imposed to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant which now has a total of more than 400 cases.

“New South Wales (state) is facing the biggest challenge we have faced since the pandemic started,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. “At the moment the numbers are not heading in the right direction.”

“Please do not leave your house. Do not leave your home, unless you absolutely have to,” Berejiklian said.

Fourty-four locally acquired cases were reported on Friday in NSW, Australia’s most populous state, eclipsing 38 a day earlier, with 29 of those having spent time in the community while infected.

There are currently 43 cases in hospital, with 10 people in intensive care, four of whom require ventilation.

The rise in cases is despite a two week lockdown of Australia’s largest city, which has now been extended to a third week ending July 16. read more

In Sydney’s southwestern suburbs, now the epicentre of the outbreak, streets were virtually deserted on Friday, with groups of police patrolling the suburbs.

In efforts to further restrict people’s interaction, from Friday evening public gatherings will be limited to two people and residents will only be allowed to travel 10 kms (6 miles) from their home.

Berejiklian also rejected reports the government was considering a shift of policy to “living with the virus”, citing low vaccine coverage in Australia.

A woman wearing a protective face mask walks along a waterfront path during a lockdown to curb the spread of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sydney, Australia, July 8, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

“If we choose to live with this while the rates of vaccinations are at 9%, we will see thousands and thousands of hospitalisations and deaths,” Berejiklian said.

Although Australia has fared much better than many other developed countries in keeping its COVID-19 numbers relatively low, its vaccination rollout has been among the slowest due to supply constraints and changing medical advice for its mainstay AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shots. read more

Australia has relied on the Astrazenica vaccine to fight the pandemic, but now limits it to people aged over 60 in its mass vaccination centres due to the risk of bloodclots, leaving short supplies of Pfizer for people 40 to 60 years of age.

Roughly a quarter of hospitalisations in the Sydney outbreak are people aged 35 and under, an age bracket not yet eligible for vaccinations under the government’s programme.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said Pfizer would increase COVID-19 vaccine delivery to about one million doses a week from July 19, more than tripling current shipments, but said no decision had been made on making it available for those under 40.

“That puts us in a very strong place to be able to get this job done as we move towards the end of the year and indeed perhaps sooner,” he said.

Pfizer said the total number of 40 million doses it is contracted to deliver to Australia over 2021 had not changed. Morrison said Pfizer was bringing forward vaccine deliveries to Australia from September to August.

The state of South Australia would meanwhile run a trial of home quarantine, Morrison said, following criticism of the two-week hotel quarantine required of all people entering the country. Hotel quarantine virus leaks have been the source of Australia’s community outbreaks, after the country effectively eliminated the virus by shutting its international borders.

Jamal Rifi, a general practitioner from a Sydney district where infection numbers are rising, said many residents had misunderstood the Delta variant risk but were gaining awareness as cases increased.

“The word has spread in the community and I reckon you’ll see more people now limiting their movement, taking this Delta variant more seriously.”

Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry

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World

South Korea puts Seoul under tightest COVID curbs amid new case records

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People wait in line for a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a testing site which is temporarily set up at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, July 7, 2021. REUTERS/ Heo Ran

  • 1,316 new cases on Thursday, 80% in metro Seoul area
  • No lockdown, but 2 weeks of top-level curbs start on Monday
  • Businesses, schools, sport, nightlife subject to restrictions
  • Delta variant spreading; hospitalisation, death rates stable

SEOUL, July 9 (Reuters) – From Monday South Korea will for the first time tighten coronavirus curbs to the strictest level possible in Seoul and neighbouring regions, as alarm spreads with new COVID-19 cases setting a second consecutive daily record nationwide.

South Korea, which has so far fared better than many industralised nations in case numbers and deaths, reported 1,316 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Thursday, up from Wednesday’s previous record of 1,275.

Helped largely by vaccinations of older people, there has yet to be a significant increase in hospitalisations or deaths, with a mortality rate of 1.23% and the number of severe cases at 148 as of Thursday remaining far below levels seen during the previous peak in late December.

But on Thursday a top health official warned the new case numbers may nearly double by the end of July and Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announced two weeks of tougher curbs – level 4 is the most severe on South Korea’s scale, short of a full lockdown – during a televised government meeting. read more

Experts said the government’s COVID-19 strategy is to avoid the hit to the economy that has been seen in full lockdowns elsewhere.

“The government strategy is to steer away from lockdown fearing negative impact on the economy. Level 4 is the harshest it can get,” said Kim Dong-hyun, former president of Korean Society of Epidemiology.

Under the new curbs, people are advised to stay home as much as possible, schools are recommended to switch to remote learning, social gatherings are restricted to two people after 6.00 p.m. from four earlier in the day, and rallies are banned.

No spectators are allowed to attend sports matches, while hotels can only operate at two-thirds of full capacity. Movies and concerts are not allowed after 10 p.m, and nightclubs and bars are to shut, while restaurants and cafes would be allowed limited seating and only take-out services after 10 p.m.

Employers are advised to increase flexible staffing with 30% of staff working remotely.

500 CASES A DAY IN SEOUL

South Korea’s total COVID-19 infections to date stand at 165,344, with 2,036 deaths. It has only given both shots in the dual vaccination process to just over 10% of its 52 million population, while 30% have received at least one dose, the majority of whom are aged over 60.

The country aims to reach herd immunity before November by inoculating 70% of the public with at least one shot by September.

“Seoul alone saw 500 confirmed cases for the third day,” Prime Minister Kim said during Friday’s government meeting. “Four out of five infections are from the metropolitan Seoul area.”

While the new will be imposed on Monday, Kim also advised the public to refrain from any private gatherings starting Friday.

He also said that during the two-week semi-lockdown the government will suspend a programme introduced earlier this year that allowed mask-free outdoor gatherings for citizens vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 shot.

Of the locally acquired cases, 78% were concentrated in the greater Seoul area, and the detection rate of highly transmissible Delta variant surged nearly three-folds in a week, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said in a briefing on Friday.

Kwon did not provide the number of cases believed to be linked to the Delta variant.

President Moon Jae-in on Monday will convene a meeting with top officials of the greater Seoul area to address the measures, presidential spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee told reporters.

Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kenneth Maxwell

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Health

Singapore not counting Sinovac shots in COVID-19 vaccination tally

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People queue to enquire about Sinovac vaccine at a clinic, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore June 18, 2021. REUTERS/Chen Lin

SINGAPORE, July 7 (Reuters) – Singapore has excluded those who received Sinovac Biotech’s (SVA.O) shots from its national COVID-19 vaccination count, according to the city-state’s health ministry.

“The national vaccination numbers reflect only those vaccinated under the national vaccination programme,” the ministry said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Currently, this only includes those vaccinated with the Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and Pfizer-BioNTech/Cominarty (PFE.N), vaccines, it said.

Sinovac’s CoronaVac shot is not part of Singapore’s national vaccination programme and the city-state has said it is still awaiting critical data from the company.

It has, however, allowed the usage of the vaccine by private healthcare institutions under a special access route, following an emergency use approval by the World Health Organization (WHO). Selected private clinics can draw on the country’s current stock of 200,000 CoronaVac doses. read more

About 3.7 million people have received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines, covering about 65% of the population, and nearly 2.2 million have completed the regimen.

Singapore has set a target for two-thirds of its people to complete the two-dose regimen by around Aug. 9.

Both have shown efficacy rates of well over 90% against symptomatic disease in clinical trials, compared with trials for Sinovac that shown results from as low as 51% to about 84%. Sinovac did not respond to a request for comment on its efficacy rates earlier this week.

Kenneth Mak, Singapore’s director of medical services, said last month evidence from other countries showed people who had taken the Sinovac vaccine were still getting infected.

“There is a significant risk of vaccine breakthrough,” he said.

Just over 17,000 people in Singapore have received one dose of CoronaVac as of July 3. These records will be captured in a national immunisation registry.

Recipients of the Sinovac vaccine are also not exempt from COVID-19 tests required before attending certain events or entering some venues. Those who have completed the full vaccination regimen with Moderna or Pfizer are exempt from such pre-event testing.

“COVID-19 vaccines that are not part of our national vaccination programme may not have documented sufficient data on their protection against COVID-19 infection, especially against the Delta variant that is currently circulating,” the health ministry said last week.

Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore
Editing by Ed Davies

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World

South Korea considers reimposing restrictions as COVID-19 cases surge

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  • S.Korea reports 1,212 new daily cases
  • Movement restrictions extended in Seoul
  • Officials warn tougher curbs could be reinstated
  • Delta variant being fuelled by young and unvaccinated

SEOUL, July 7 (Reuters) – South Korea reported its second highest number of daily new COVID-19 cases ever on Wednesday, just days after it began easing social distancing restrictions in some parts of the country, buoyed by an accelerated vaccine rollout.

With the majority of the 1,212 new cases coming from densely populated Seoul, officials extended movement curbs in the capital and surrounding regions for at least another week and are considering pushing restrictions back up to the highest level.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the country’s fourth wave of the virus, fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant, was spreading rapidly, especially among unvaccinated people in their 20s and 30s.

Kim urged people in that demographic to get tested preemptively “to protect not just yourself, but everyone in your family, friends, school and the country.”

“If the situation is not under control after monitoring for two to three days, it might leave us with no choice but to impose the strictest of all social distancing levels,” Kim said.

President Moon Jae-in ordered the military be mobilized to aid wider contact tracing and urged authorities to install additional testing centres in densely populated areas, presidential spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee told reporters on Wednesday.

The daily caseload was the worst since Dec. 25, when South Korea was experiencing a third wave of the pandemic.

Officials had been moving in recent weeks toward a full reopening of the country. Movement restrictions in much of the country were eased on July 1, although officials in greater Seoul held off as they watched case numbers beginning to creep up again. read more

Health experts said the relaxation of measures that restricted business operating hours and social gatherings outside of Seoul, along with the knowledge that further easings would be coming, led to public complacency, particularly in socially mobile younger people in the capital.

Around 85% of the new locally transmitted cases were in the Seoul metropolitan area, which is home to more than half of the country’s population.

“While the infection rate has dropped relatively in the people aged over 60 on the back of inoculation drive, the transmission continues in the unvaccinated group,” said Kim Tark, associate professor of infectious disease at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital.

“It’s a reminder to speed up vaccination for people under 60.”

VACCINES ARRIVE

Just 10% of the country’s population of 52 million people have been fully vaccinated, while 30% have received at least one shot, the majority of them aged over 60.

The Korean Medical Association urged the government to refrain from any hasty decisions to ease social distancing policies with vaccinations at low levels.

The country received 700,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) from Israel on Wednesday under a swap arrangement, along with a separate shipment of 627,000 directly purchased doses. read more

Some of the new supply will be sent to greater Seoul for inoculation programmes due to start on July 13, authorities said.

Improved vaccination levels have helped lower South Korea’s mortality rate to 1.25% and the number of severe cases to 155 as of Wednesday, down significantly from 1.41% and 311 cases reported during the previous peak in late December.

The country has reported a total of 162,753 infections and 2,033 deaths during the pandemic.

Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Jane Wardell

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Health

EXCLUSIVE S.Korea in talks with mRNA vaccine makers to make up to 1 bln doses -govt official

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South Korean senior citizens receive their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a vaccination centre in Seoul, South Korea April 1, 2021. Chung Sung-Jun/Pool via REUTERS

SEOUL, July 5 (Reuters) – South Korea is in talks with mRNA vaccine makers including Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) to produce COVID-19 shots in the country and is ready to offer the capacity to make up to 1 billion doses immediately, a senior government official said.

The plan, if agreed, would help ease tight global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in Asia which lags North America and Europe in vaccine rollouts, and put South Korea a step closer to its ambition to become a major vaccine manufacturing centre.

South Korea already has deals to locally produce three coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca (AZN.L)/Oxford University, Novavax (NVAX.O), and Russia. It also has a vaccine bottling and packaging deal with Moderna.

“We’ve been holding frequent talks with big pharmaceutical companies to produce mRNA vaccines,” Lee Kang-ho, director general for the global vaccine hub committee under South Korea’s health ministry, told Reuters in an interview.

“There are only a few mRNA vaccine developers – Pfizer, Moderna, CureVac and BioNTech. Thus there’s a limit to how much they can produce to meet global demand… South Korea is keen to help by offering its facilities and skilled human resources,” Lee said.

It’s not immediately clear how advanced these talks are and whether and when a deal will be agreed.

BioNTech (22UAy.DE) declined to comment, Moderna and CureVac (5CV.DE) did not reply to Reuters’ requests for comments.

A Pfizer spokesperson said the company is making efforts to enhance its COVID-19 vaccine supply chain but added “we do not have anything specific to announce at this time.”

Lee declined to name local vaccine makers which have the capacity to produce mRNA vaccines immediately, but a government source said they include Hanmi Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd (128940.KS) and Quratis Co Ltd.

Hanmi confirmed that it has a big capacity reserved for Sanofi’s (SASY.PA) diabetes drug and it can be used for COVID-19 vaccine production as the Sanofi project has stalled.

“We happen to have this facility available right now because our clinical trial (with Sanofi) was discontinued in the middle of last year,” Kim Soo-jin, senior vice president of Hanmi, told Reuters.

“It’s very timely that we have a fully ready, GMP, state-of-the-art facility available,” she said, referring to good manufacturing practice.

Quratis, which makes a tuberculosis vaccine, said its new factory built last year can now be used for mRNA vaccine production.

Shares in Hanmi erased early losses and rose nearly 4% on Monday after the Reuters report.

COLLABORATION WITH WHO

South Korea has stepped up its effort to produce more vaccines since U.S. President Joe Biden in May agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on a comprehensive partnership on COVID-19 vaccines. read more

Lee said his team is having frequent video conference calls with the vaccine makers and the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Reuters the organisation is “talking with South Korea and other countries,” but did not elaborate.

The WHO said last month it will set up a hub in South Africa to manufacture mRNA vaccines within 9-12 months that will give companies from poor and middle-income countries the know-how and licenses to produce COVID-19 vaccines. read more

Lee said mRNA vaccine makers may be reluctant to share their technology, but they can take advantage of South Korea’s raw material suppliers to address a global shortage of such ingredients as lipids, nucleotides and capping reagents.

“They’re capable of manufacturing and developing such raw materials to help vaccine makers… and the South Korean government is committed to provide all necessary support including financial and administrative aid.”

Lee said the country also has a capacity for at least another 500 million doses of fill-and-finish vaccines apart from the deal Moderna announced with Samsung BioLogics (207940.KS) in May.

Reporting by Sangmi Cha in Seoul; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Michael Erman in New York and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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World

India’s Bharat Biotech says vaccine 93.4% effective against severe COVID-19

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July 3 (Reuters) – Phase-III trials of a vaccine made by India’s Bharat Biotech showed it was 93.4% effective against severe symptomatic COVID-19, the firm said on Saturday, a finding that could boost people’s acceptance of Covaxin.

The data demonstrated 65.2% protection against the Delta variant, first identified in India, that led to a surge in infections in April and May, and the world’s highest daily death tolls.

India’s homegrown vaccine also showed effectiveness of 77.8% against symptomatic COVID-19 in the trial.

Last month, vaccine maker AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) also said its vaccine was effective against the Delta and Kappa variants, citing a study.

India has been administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, made domestically by the Serum Institute of India, which said last month it planned to step up monthly production from July, to nearly 100 million doses.

Bharat Biotech now estimates it will make 23 million doses a month.

The Phase-III data came as Ocugen Inc (OCGN.O), which is co-developing Covaxin with Bharat Biotech for the U.S. market, prepares to file a request for full U.S. approval.

India, with a tally of 30.45 million infections, is the second most affected nation after the United States, with 33 million. The south Asian nation’s death toll has now crossed 400,000.

Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

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World

Australia to halve arrivals from overseas, offers COVID-19 exit roadmap

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  • Australia to cut arrivals from overseas to 3,000 a week
  • NSW reports 31 new cases, biggest daily rise for 2021
  • Brisbane lockdown extended for another day

SYDNEY, July 2 (Reuters) – Australia will halve the number of arrivals from overseas as its coronavirus hotel quarantine system creaks under pressure from outbreaks of the highly transmissible Delta variant, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

The new restrictions on travel come as Australia fights outbreaks of the Delta variant simultaneously in three state capital cities, meaning nearly half of all Australians are currently under strict orders to stay at home. Most recent outbreaks have been traced to leaks in hotel quarantine.

Australia shut its international borders early last year largely to non-citizens. Permanent residents and returning Australian travellers, except those exiting New Zealand, have to quarantine in hotels for two weeks at their own expense.

Morrison said Australia will now only accept about 3,000 travellers from overseas per week. Lowering the cap will be finalised by July 14, he said, though some states can move earlier.

Speaking after a meeting of the country’s national cabinet, Morrison also said a four-phase plan had been agreed to reopen Australia after lockdowns triggered by the latest outbreaks. He said this would be based on achieving vaccination levels aimed at suppressing COVID-19 to a stage where it would be managed like other infectious diseases like the flu.

“Our mind-set on managing COVID-19 has to change once you move from pre-vaccination to post-vaccination. That’s the deal for Australians,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

The four-phased approach could give fully vaccinated people more freedoms, he said, including shorter quarantine period after arriving from overseas.

New South Wales (NSW) capital Sydney, Australia’s largest city and home to a fifth of the country’s 25 million population, is half-way through a two-week lockdown imposed in a bid to contain the Delta variant.

On Friday it warned residents to brace for an increase in COVID-19 infections over the next few days as it reported the biggest daily rise in locally acquired cases recorded so far this year.

Thirty-one local cases were reported in NSW on Friday, so far the biggest daily rise in cases during the latest outbreak and for 2021. Total infections have grown to more than 200 since the first case was detected more than two weeks ago.

“We are anticipating there could be an increase in numbers over the next few days, then hopefully early next week we should see the impact of the lockdown really turning and having a positive impact,” NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters.

Queensland officials said lockdown rules will be eased in parts of Queensland from Friday, although they have been extended in state capital Brisbane and a neighbouring region for another day after three new cases were reported.

Lockdown in Darwin, the Northern Territory capital, will also be lifted on Friday. Restrictions in Perth will be reviewed later in the day.

Lockdowns, swift contact tracing and tough social distancing rules have helped Australia to suppress prior outbreaks, but the fast-moving Delta strain has alarmed authorities amid a sluggish nationwide vaccination drive.

The rollout, mired in confusion and frustration due to frequent changes in medical advice for the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine, has become a flashpoint in relations between the federal government and state leaders. read more

Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell

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World

Germany could ease travel curbs as Delta variant takes over

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People walk past a colonnade on Museum Island during warm temperatures, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Berlin, Germany May 30, 2021. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

BERLIN, July 1 (Reuters) – Germany expects the Delta variant of COVID-19 to account for up to 80% of infections this month and could ease travel restrictions from countries like Portugal and Britain where it already dominates, its health minister said on Thursday.

Jens Spahn told a news conference that Germany could reduce the current 14-day quarantine requirement that it imposes on travellers from countries with high levels of the Delta variant once it is sure that vaccinated people are protected.

Spahn said the move could happen soon, without specifying.

Germany’s STIKO vaccination commission said later on Thursday that UK studies show that two vaccines doses seem to provide as much protection against the Delta variant as against other COVID-19 variants. read more

Spahn reiterated the importance of speeding up vaccinations, noting that 37% of Germany’s population has now received two shots, while 55% has had a first dose.

About half of German coronavirus cases are currently Delta variant and Spahn said it will dominate later this month.

Germany last week declared Portugal and Russia to be “virus-variant zones”, meaning only German residents can enter the country from those countries and still face a mandatory two-week quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated or test negative.

That had prompted German tourists there to rush home and airlines to cancel flights.

Germany also classifies Britain as such a “virus variant” zone. Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to discuss travel restrictions when she meets British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday.

Spahn suggested these countries could be shifted to a designation as risk areas, meaning people can travel if they are fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19, or be released from quarantine after five days if they test negative.

The European Commission said on Tuesday that Germany should not impose a travel ban on Portugal but limit itself to imposing testing and quarantine requirements to be in line with the European Union approach meant to ease summer travel.

Reporting by Emma Thomasson and Thomas Escritt; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Catherine Evans

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