Coronavirus live news: Indonesian doctors ill despite Sinovac shots; Tokyo to lift emergency before Olympics | World news

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said it was not willing to impose a 50% efficacy threshold for Covid-19 vaccines, adding full trial data was necessary for it to make a sound assessment on the benefits and risks of a shot.

German biotech CureVac NV said on Wednesday its Covid-19 vaccine was only 47% effective in a late-stage trial, missing the study’s main goal and throwing into doubt the potential delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to the European Union.

“We will need to collect all the final data from this clinical trial, and have a good analysis of the outcome throughout different regions, age groups and according to different variants,” Marco Cavaleri, head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy at the EMA, told reporters.

“So I think it is premature to enter into what this means (…) We always felt it was difficult to define upfront a threshold,” he said.

France’s tourism sector is taking a further step toward normality with the reopening of Disneyland Paris, two weeks after the country reopened its borders to vaccinated visitors from across the world.

Europe’s most frequented theme park in Marne-la-Vallee, east of the French capital, opened its doors on Thursday after nearly eight months of closure.

A crowd of smiling visitors was welcomed by Disney characters dancing to the sound of joyful music.

“Amazing,” said Debbie Tater. The Delaware resident travelled from the United States to visit her family, including her daughter and two granddaughters, who live in France and whom she hadn’t seen for a year and a half.

“Happiest place on earth,” she said, with tears in her eyes.

“We couldn’t miss the reopening,” said Elodie Piedfort, from Haute-Loire region in central France. “Because I’m a nurse it’s been a very difficult year and being here, together with my son, is great. And the reopening, moving on is great as well.”

Visitors must wear masks inside the park and other measures are in place, including a cap on visitor numbers to ensure distancing.

The British government has confirmed it is considering legislating to make working from home the “default” option by giving employees the right to request it.

Responding to reports that ministers could change the law, the prime minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said a flexible working taskforce was examining how best to proceed.

“What we’re consulting on is making flexible working a default option unless there are good reasons not to,” they said. That would mirror the approach to other forms of flexible working, such as part-time hours.

However, they emphasised there would be no legal right to work from home, adding that the prime minister still believed there were benefits to being in the office, including collaboration with colleagues.

Nepal has significantly reduced coronavirus infections after its worst outbreak, which overwhelmed the country’s medical system, but is in desperate need of vaccines, according to its health minister.

“We have gone down from the red stage to the yellow stage, but are not yet able to reach the green zone,” health minister, Sher Bahadur Tamang, said in an interview with the Associated Press. “We are working very hard to get us there.”

Nepal has been under lockdown since April after new cases and deaths spiked following a massive outbreak in neighbouring India.

Close to 10,000 new cases and hundreds of deaths were reported daily in mid-May, when the surge was at its worst. There was an acute shortage of hospital beds, medicines and oxygen for patients.

In the capital, Kathmandu, doctors treated patients in hospital corridors, verandahs and parking lots, and ambulances were turned back due to a lack of space. There were long lines at oxygen plants to fill cylinders.

The number of deaths from all causes in the Madrid region, the epicentre of the pandemic in Spain, increased 41% in 2020 over the previous year, official figures show.

The region, home to about 6.7 million people, recorded a total of 66,683 deaths last year, up from 47,165 in 2019, Spain’s national statistics agency INE said.

AFP reports that deaths across all of Spain totalled 492,930 in 2020, an increase of 74,227 or 17.7% over 2019 and the biggest number of annual deaths since records began in 1941.

The Madrid region accounts for 14.3% of Spain’s population of about 47 million but it saw some 20% of the country’s total Covid-19 deaths.

The UK is considering easing travel rules for double-vaccinated people, a move that would placate airlines which have launched legal action against the government’s curbs on trips abroad.

Reuters reports that airlines are desperate for restrictions to be relaxed in time for July and the peak season when they make most profits, while the UK has for now stuck to quarantine rules that deter travel.

Europe’s biggest airline Ryanair teamed up with Manchester Airports Group (MAG) to launch legal action against Britain over its travel policy. Other airlines could join.
The pair filed papers for judicial review at England’s high court today, a spokesman for MAG said.

But the UK has indicated a possible relaxation, with the country’s department for transport saying today it was considering how vaccinations could be used for inbound travel.

More than half of British adults have received both doses of Covid-19 vaccine, putting it far ahead of Europe.

The UK’s medicine regulator has extended the emergency use approval (EUA) for Innova’s lateral flow Covid-19 tests, saying it was satisfied with a review of the tests after its US counterpart issued a warning about them.

Innova’s tests have been approved for asymptomatic testing as part of England’s test and trace system. Last week the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urged the public to stop using the test, warning its performance had not been adequately established.

“We have now concluded our review of the risk assessment and are satisfied that no further action is necessary or advisable at this time,” said Graeme Tunbridge, director of devices at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. “This has allowed us to extend the EUA to allow ongoing supply of these LFDs over the coming months.”

The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said regular, asymptomatic testing has a big role to play in reopening the economy. However, some scientists have questioned the accuracy of the rapid tests being used in Britain, saying they might do more harm than good.

Reuters reports that Public Health England has said the tests undergo rigorous validation, and can help stop outbreaks by picking up undetected cases of Covid-19.

Water scarcity and drought are set to wreak damage on a scale to rival the Covid pandemic with risks growing rapidly as global temperatures rise, according to the United Nations.

“Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic and there is no vaccine to cure it,” Mami Mizutori, the UN’s special representative for disaster risk reduction said.

AFP reports that droughts have already triggered economic losses of at least $124bn and hit more than 1.5 billion people between 1998 and 2017, according to a UN report published today. But even these figures, it said, are “most likely gross under-estimates”.

Global warming has now intensified droughts in southern Europe and western Africa, the UN report said with “some confidence”. And the number of victims is set to “grow dramatically” unless the world acts, Mizutori said.

Greece has become the third EU country to secure the European commission’s approval for a recovery plan to be financed by the bloc’s coronavirus rescue fund.

AFP reports that European commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, made the announcement on the third stop of a tour to highlight EU approval for packages presented by countries that have suffered severe economic fallout from the pandemic.

Financing is to come from an unprecedented €750bn EU fund that is to issue common bonds for the first time. Athens is to receive €17.8bn in direct grants, and €12.7bn in loans.

“Our approval today is an important milestone for disbursement of €30.5bn euros ($36.6bn) over the next years,” Von der Leyen said after meeting with Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in Agora.

“Once the plan is approved by the European council we will be ready to disburse the first funds in July,” she added in reference to the EU body comprised of heads of state or government.

The Greek stimulus plan “represents a challenge but also a big, big opportunity,” Von der Leyen said. “The good thing today is that Europe and Greece are together in this endeavour.”