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French government orders weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area – as it happened

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Wed 24 Feb 2021 18.42 ESTFirst published on Tue 23 Feb 2021 18.57 EST
People wait inside the coronavirus vaccination centre in Brussels, Belgium.
People wait inside the coronavirus vaccination centre in Brussels, Belgium. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
People wait inside the coronavirus vaccination centre in Brussels, Belgium. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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Here’s a quick recap of some of the main developments from the last few hours:

  • The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has proven 94% effective in a study involving 1.2 million people in Israel, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies. The first big real-world study, published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, showed two doses of the shot cut symptomatic Covid-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much. It also showed a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks.
  • Brazil recorded a further 1,428 deaths from Covid-19, its highest daily toll since 7 January, the health ministry said. The official death toll has risen to 249,957, according to ministry data, in the world’s second deadliest outbreak.
  • The French government ordered a weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area to arrest an “alarming” rise in Covid-19 cases, signalling extra curbs might also be needed elsewhere as daily cases nationwide hit their highest since November.
  • Jordan announced stricter measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 after a month-long surge in cases attributed mainly to the rapid transmission of the more infectious UK variant. The cabinet decided to extend the country’s night-time curfew back to 10pm, effective Thursday, after loosening it to midnight last month, and businesses will have to close at 9pm.

The Czech government will debate possible tighter coronavirus measures at a Thursday evening meeting, a government spokesman said after ministers did not reach a decision on new restrictions at an extraordinary sitting on Wednesday.

The prime minister Andrej Babis said earlier on Wednesday that tighter measures were needed to prevent a catastrophe in hospitals in the coming weeks as the country battles one of the world’s highest Covid-19 infection and death rates.

With non-essential shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and most schools already closed, ministers are debating further curbs on people’s movement to combat the spread of the virus.

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Canada’s largest city Toronto has cancelled all large in-person, city-permitted outdoor events throughout July as the country seeks to stave off a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The city announced on Wednesday it was extending an existing cancellation of outdoor events, including the annual Pride Parade, which will be a virtual event, and 1 July Canada Day celebrations, which tend to cap off mid-summer festivities.

The announcement does not include professional sporting events, which need permission from provincial and federal governments in addition to Toronto Public Health.

“I want to thank all of these organisations for understanding the need to avoid large in-person gatherings in the coming months and thank you to those who have worked to offer virtual events to keep the spirit of these celebrations,” the mayor, John Tory, said in a statement.

Many Canadian provinces are gradually reopening businesses and cultural activities after a powerful second wave of Covid infections forced authorities to issue stay-at-home orders.

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Brazil had a further 66,588 new Covid-19 cases reported in the past 24 hours, and another 1,428 deaths from Covid-19, the highest daily toll since 7 January, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The country has now registered 10,324,463 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 249,957, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.

Pfizer vaccine found 94% effective in landmark real-world study

The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing Covid-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies.

Up until now, most data on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables.

The research in Israel – two months into one of the world’s fastest rollouts, providing a rich source of data – showed two doses of the Pfizer shot cut symptomatic Covid-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much.

The study of about 1.2 million people also showed a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks, according to the data published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The results of the study for the Clalit Research Institute were close to those in clinical trials last year which found two doses were found to be 95% effective.

“We were surprised because we expected that in the real-world setting, where cold chain is not maintained perfectly and the population is older and sicker, that you will not get as good results as you got in the controlled clinical trials,” senior study author Ran Balicer told Reuters. “But we did and the vaccine worked as well in the real world.”

“We have shown the vaccine to be as effective in very different sub-groups, in the young and in the old in those with no co-morbidities and in those with few co-morbidities,” he added.

The study also suggests the vaccine is effective against the variant first identified in the UK. Researchers said they could not provide a specific level of efficacy, but the variant was the dominant version of the virus in Israel at the time of the study.

The research did not shed light on how the Pfizer shot will fare against another variant, now dominant in South Africa, that has been shown to reduce the efficacy of other vaccines.

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Frontline workers and black, Asian and minority ethnic groups will not be prioritised for vaccination in the next stage of the UK’s Covid jab rollout, the Guardian understands.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) updated its advice on Wednesday to recommended that people with learning disabilities be invited for vaccination to ensure people at higher risk of the disease were protected as soon as possible.

However, a government source confirmed that the JCVI was also poised to reject vaccine prioritisation by occupation or race – and that jabs would proceed down the age bands of adults to 18-year-olds.

“This is ultimately about who is most likely to get seriously ill and die from this disease, and when you put it like that the public do understand that has to be the priority,” the source said.

Jessica Elgot and Ian Sample have the story:

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Senegal kicked off its wider Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, after an official launch ceremony the day before saw dozens of officials vaccinated to demonstrate its safety.

Around 100,000 people are expected to be vaccinated with 200,000 doses purchased from China’s Sinopharm, which arrived in Senegal last week.

At a health centre in Patte d’Oie, a densely populated neighbourhood of Senegal’s capital Dakar, the halls were packed with people, mostly the elderly, wearing colourful clothes, including imams in flowing robes and a pair of Catholic priests in their cassocks.

Ousmane Dieng, an imam, told Reuters he traveled throughout the city ahead of the campaign’s launch, hoping to convince people to put aside fear and take the vaccine for the greater good.

“It was with a feeling of immense joy that we welcomed the vaccine. We are fully confident about it, knowing it won’t kill us,” Dieng said after getting his shot.

A man receives a dose the vaccine in Dakar. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

The country is one of the first in the region to start vaccinating its population against Covid-19. It has so far recorded 33,242 cases and 832 deaths from the disease.

“We have seen how Covid manifests itself, and so it was with a smile that we can get vaccinated and at last achieve immunity,” said Baye Moussa Samba, a doctor at a health centre in the Sicap neighbourhood, which was previously a Covid testing centre.

Senegal aims to inoculate about 90% of a targeted 3.5 million people, including health workers and high-risk individuals, by the end of 2021.

As a lower-middle income country, Senegal is eligible for about 1.3 million vaccine doses for free through the first wave of the World Health Organization’s Covax programme in early March.

The country is negotiating with Russia for more vaccines and is also eligible to get 3.4 million doses for just under $23 million under an African Union plan.

A health worker receives a dose of the vaccine in Dakar. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

The French government has ordered a weekend lockdown in the Dunkirk area to arrest an “alarming” rise in Covid-19 cases, signalling extra curbs might also be needed elsewhere as daily cases nationwide hit their highest since November.

Unlike some of its neighbours, France has resisted a new national lockdown to control more contagious coronavirus variants, hoping a curfew in place since 15 December can contain the pandemic. But it reported 31,519 new infections on Wednesday, up from 25,018 a week ago and the most since mid-November.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said the national situation was deteriorating, and “a source of worry in about 10 regional departments”. Some required “rapid and strong” containment measures.

The health minister Olivier Veran said the region around Dunkirk, a port across the English Channel currently recording more than 900 new cases per 100,000 residents per week, would go into lockdown from Friday night to Monday morning for the next two weekends.

Attal reiterated that the government was doing all it could to avoid a new national lockdown, telling reporters after a cabinet meeting:

We have shown in regions such as Moselle and Alpes-Maritimes that, when the situation requires it, we can act quickly.

The Alpes-Maritimes Mediterranean coastal region around Nice announced a partial lockdown over the next two weekends on Monday. In Nice, infection rates surged following an inflow of tourists over the Christmas holiday.

Veran said the lockdown in Dunkirk, which has a population of 92,000 and where the more contagious UK variant has been gaining ground, would be of similar duration. He said he would communicate the list of “high-risk” departments at his weekly news conference on Thursday.

France also reported 277 new coronavirus fatalities on Wednesday, down from 431 on Tuesday. Cumulative cases have risen above 3.6 million, the sixth highest in the world, and fatalities stand at 85,321 - the seventh highest toll globally.

The US vice president Kamala Harris has urged Black Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine, as studies show Blacks and Hispanics are lagging behind in Covid vaccinations.

In excerpts from an MSNBC interview on Wednesday, Harris said:

Let’s not let Covid get us. Let’s get the vaccine instead, right? Let’s not let this thing get us. We know black people are disproportionately likely to contract the virus and die from it. We know when you look at who the frontline workers are, who is the most at risk disproportionately, we are talking about people of colour.

Black and Hispanic Americans have been particularly hard-hit by Covid-19 with a disproportionate number of deaths, and public health officials have broadly called for equity in vaccine distribution.

Harris, the first Black and Asian US vice president, noted that Black small businesses were also being affected, with 40% going out of business. In the interview, to be broadcast in full on Saturday, she went on:

It is disproportionately affecting us and if we want to get control of this virus that is harming us at a disproportionate rate, part of it is to get vaccinated.

Her comments came as Joe Biden’s administration announced the distribution of 25 million masks to vulnerable populations and hard-hit communities.

Early data on US coronavirus vaccinations suggested that Black and Hispanic Americans received a smaller proportion of shots than their representation among healthcare workers and nursing home residents, two priority groups for Covid-19 inoculations.

Enrolment of Black Americans in clinical trials was also a particular challenge. Mistrust runs high, in part because of the nation*s history of unethical practices in medical research on African Americans.

Kamala Harris has urged black Americans, who are at elevated risk to catch and die from Covid-19, to get vaccinated. Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/EPA
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