Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions on Wednesday and stopped most testing for Covid-19, even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease, Reuters reports.
Sweden’s government, which throughout the pandemic has opted against lockdowns in favour of a voluntary approach, announced last week it would scrap the remaining restrictions – effectively declaring the pandemic over – as vaccines and the Omicron variant have cushioned the number of severe cases and deaths.
“As we know this pandemic, I would say it’s over,” minister of health Lena Hallengren told Dagens Nyheter. “It’s not over, but as we know it in terms of quick changes and restrictions it is,” she said, adding that Covid would no longer be classified as a danger to society.
As of Wednesday, bars and restaurants will be allowed to stay open after 11pm again, and with no limits on the number of guests. Attendance limits for larger indoor venues were also lifted, as was the use of vaccine passes.
Swedish hospitals were still feeling the strain, however, with around 2,200 people with Covid requiring hospital care, about the same as during the third wave in the spring of 2021.
As free testing was reduced earlier this month and effectively stopped from Wednesday, no one knows the exact number of cases.
“We should have a little more patience, wait at least a couple of more weeks. And we are wealthy enough to keep testing,” Fredrik Elgh, professor of virology at Umea University and one of the staunchest critics of Sweden’s no-lockdown policy, told Reuters. “The disease is still a huge strain on society,” he said.
Sweden’s health agency said this week that large-scale testing was too expensive in relation to the benefits. Sweden spent around 500 million Swedish crowns ($55 million) per week on testing for the first five weeks of this year and around 24 billion crowns since the start of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Sweden registered 114 new deaths where the deceased was infected with the virus. In total, 16,182 people have died either of the virus or while infected. The number of deaths per capita is much higher than among Nordic neighbours but lower than in most European countries.
Blockades on the busiest border bridge between Canada and the U.S. to protest against coronavirus rules could have a serious impact on the economies of both countries, disrupting the automotive industry, agricultural exports, and causing multimillion-dollar losses, the two countries’ governments have said.
The warnings came as business associations said that manufacturing plants at the heart of North America’s automotive industry face potential shortages, shutdowns, layoffs as “freedom convoy” protesters continue to block traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, between the car-manufacturing cities of Detroit and Windsor.
Meanwhile anti-vaccine mandate protesters in France launched their own “freedom convoy”, with many displaying Canadian flags.
Some 200 protesters assembled in a parking lot in Nice, on France’s Mediterranean coast, saying that they planned to head first to Paris, then on to Brussels to demand the scrapping of rules barring people from public venues if they do not have a Covid-19 vaccination.
Canadian governor General Mary Simon, the personal representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth, said she had tested positive for Covid-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms.
The Governor General swears in governments and formally signs legislation, Reuters reports.
Scottish ministers have called on the prime minister Boris Johnson to provide more clarity after they claim he failed to give them “appropriate notice” on his latest plan to lift the final domestic Covid restrictions in England.
The current self-isolation rules in England expire on March 24, but Boris Johnson told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions that “provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions – including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive – a full month early”.
Johnson said he will present his plan for “living with Covid” when Parliament returns from a short recess on February 21, with an aim of lifting the requirement to self-isolate within days of that, PA reports.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said the UK Government “failed to provide devolved nations with appropriate notice to consider implications ahead of the announcement by the Prime Minister”.
Brazil had 178,814 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 1,264 deaths, data from the country’s health ministry showed on Wednesday.
The South American country has now registered 26,955,434 confirmed cases since the pandemic began while the official death toll has risen to 635,074, Reuters reports.
New Zealand’s anti-vaccine protesters are being evicted from parliament grounds on the third day of their protest with a number arrested after clashes with police.
Police have brought in around 100 extra officers from around the country to try to clear the protesters from parliament grounds, where they had pitched tents and parked cars, blocking traffic.
The protesters, inspired by the “siege of Ottawa” where truckers paralysed the city and caused a state of emergency, led a convoy of several hundred vehicles to parliament on Tuesday. A number stayed overnight, pitching tents on the lawns.
The Canadian truckers blockade is posing a risk to the auto industry’s supply chain and U.S. officials were in close touch with their counterparts in Canada on the issue, the White House said.
The nearly two-week long protests against Covid-19 pandemic mandates and other restrictions have at times this week halted or sharply slowed traffic at the Ambassador Bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Reuters reports.
“We are watching this very closely,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
“The blockade poses a risk to supply chains, for the auto industry.”
As the threat of the Omicron wave has receded in England, the government has been quick to move the conversation on to “living with Covid”.
It was inevitable that this would mean the eventual lifting of legal restrictions, including the need to self-isolate. But even given the optimistic tone in recent weeks, Boris Johnson’s announcement on Wednesday came sooner than many expected.
While he signalled the scrapping of restrictions in England by 24 February – a month earlier than had originally been planned – he provided no detail.
A group of elderly Cubans, including several octogenarians, have begun swimming again off the coast of Havana after nearly two years landlocked by the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions that complicated exercise outside the home.
The elderly swimmers told Reuters the loosening of restrictions had given them a new lease on life.
“I turned 80 on Dec. 25. Two years of no swimming was tough on me…but I have started to swim, and I am happy again, both physically and mentally,” said Havana resident Fernando Sergio Paneque.
Top European Union officials said low absorption of Covid-19 vaccines in African countries had become the main problem in the global vaccine rollout following a recent increase in supplies of jabs, Reuters reports.
“The problem seems no longer to be the level of donations,” France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a news conference in Lyon.
“The problem is absorption,” he added at the end of a meeting of EU health and foreign ministers, which he chaired as France holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
The U.S. government is planning to roll out Covid-19 jabs for children under the age of 5 as soon as February 21st, Reuters reports.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering authorising the use of the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE vaccine in the age group even though it did not meet a key target in a clinical trial of two- to four-year-olds.
The drugmakers said they submitted data supporting authorisation at the request of the FDA in order to address an urgent public health need in the age group.
Outside advisers to the FDA are scheduled to meet on February 15 to discuss whether to recommend the regulator to authorize the vaccine.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has commented on New York governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to lift the state’s indoor mask mandate despite federal public health guidance.
Asked about whether the White House is out of step in its messaging compared with the moves that Democratic governors such as Hochul have made this week, Psaki said it was clear that the US is “moving toward a time when Covid won’t disrupt our daily lives” and won’t be a “constant crisis” any more.
We recognise people are tired of the pandemic and tired of wearing masks,” Psaki said.
But she also pointed to comments made earlier today by the director of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in the U.S., Rochelle Wallensky, who underlined that the agency still recommends wearing masks indoors in areas of high transmission.
The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday the EU would increase spending to boost vaccinations in African states.
African nations have begun their vaccine rollouts much later than wealthier states which secured the limited doses initially available from late 2020.
But in recent months supplies have increased exponentially, and many states are facing difficulties in absorbing them, with some countries, such as Congo and Burundi, having been able to use less than 20% of available doses, according to figures from Gavi, a nonprofit global vaccine alliance.
EU diplomats said that vaccines’ short shelf-life, limited storage facilities, poor healthcare infrastructure and vaccine hesitancy were among the main reasons that hampered vaccination in Africa.
“We have to make efforts to accelerate vaccinations, especially in African countries where vaccination rates are the lowest,” von der Leyen said at a conference in Dakar, Senegal.
She said the EU would spend 125 million euros ($143 million) to help countries train medical staff and administer doses, in addition to 300 million euros already committed for this purpose by the EU and its states.
An EU official said the EU wanted now to shift its message to Africa “from vaccines to vaccination.”
However, von der Leyen said the EU will keep sending doses to Africa, with the aim of delivering 450 million vaccines by the summer, three times higher than the volume already shared.
Gavi, which co-runs the world’s largest Covid vaccine-sharing programme Covax, said the usage rate of Covid shots in the 91 poorest nations it supports was 67%.
But some African countries were lagging much behind. Zambia, Chad, Madagascar, Djibouti, Somalia, Burkina Faso and Uganda had used only about one-third of doses that they received, Gavi said, citing data updated to late January.
Only about 10% of Africans have been immunised against Covid-19 so far.
Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today so far:
- The Metropolitan police is going to review its decision not to include the Christmas quiz in Downing Street on 15 December 2020 in its partygate investigation in the light of the new prosecco picture. The Met issued a statement saying: “MPS previously assessed this event and determined that on the basis of the evidence available at that time, it did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation. That assessment is now being reviewed.” The image published by the Daily Mirror shows Boris Johnson with two members of staff, including his deputy principal private secretary, Stuart Glassborow, at the event on 15 December, which No 10 has said was a virtual quiz. At the time the photo was taken, London was under tier 2 restrictions, which banned social mixing between households. The government had explicitly told people they must not meet for Christmas parties. Story here.
- Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions and stopped most testing for Covid, even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease. “As we know this pandemic, I would say it’s over,” minister of health Lena Hallengren told Dagens Nyheter. “It’s not over, but as we know it in terms of quick changes and restrictions it is,” she said, adding that Covid would no longer be classified as a danger to society. As of Wednesday, bars and restaurants will be allowed to stay open after 11pm again, and with no limits on the number of guests. Attendance limits for larger indoor venues were also lifted, as was the use of vaccine passes. Swedish hospitals were still feeling the strain, however, with around 2,200 people with Covid requiring hospital care, about the same as during the third wave in the spring of 2021. As free testing was reduced earlier this month and effectively stopped from Wednesday, no one knows the exact number of cases. More here.
- Boris Johnson plans to abolish the last domestic Covid restrictions in England, including the requirement for people with the virus to self-isolate, in less than two weeks, a month earlier than initially proposed, he announced. While guidance will remain in place for people to stay at home, as they would if they had flu, there will be no legal requirement backed up with fines of up to £10,000. Unions urged measures to improve sick pay and ensure people were not forced to work, warning about the potential of “a green light for bosses to cut corners”, while school leaders said there had been no prior discussion of the change. Ministers would publish new guidance, Downing Street said after Johnson’s announcement, adding it was possible some travel restrictions could remain such as passenger locator forms and quarantine for non-vaccinated people. Covid tests will remain free for now. Story here and explanation of the changes here.
- Spain’s King Felipe tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday after displaying mild symptoms overnight and will remain in isolation for seven days, the Royal Palace said in a statement. “His Majesty’s general state of health is good and he will keep up his institutional activities from his residence,” it said, adding that Queen Letizia and their daughter Princess Sofía showed no symptoms.
- Japan is set to extend Covid restrictions in Tokyo and 12 prefectures by three weeks as the Omicron variant continued to spread. Japan has been breaking daily records for coronavirus cases and deaths amid a surge in infections driven by Omicron.It will add one more prefecture to the list of regions facing quasi-emergency measures, including restrictions on the business hours of eateries, Fumio Kishida told reporters. The central government will create about 1,000 temporary medical facilities treating patients with coronavirus, together with Tokyo and Osaka regional governments, he added. More here.
- Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has tested positive for coronavirus and is showing mild symptoms, the royal court said in a statement. The 81-year-old monarch received a third dose of the vaccine in November, the court said. She cancelled her planned winter holiday in Norway which should have started on Wednesday, and is isolating in a wing of the Amalienborg Palace in the heart of Copenhagen, in line with current health recommendations.
The Metropolitan police has said that it is going to review its decision not to include the Christmas quiz in Downing Street on 15 December 2020 in its partygate investigation in the light of the new prosecco picture. It has just issued a statement saying:
The MPS previously assessed this event and determined that on the basis of the evidence available at that time, it did not meet the threshold for criminal investigation. That assessment is now being reviewed.
That means that the party of the event published by the Daily Mirror this afternoon was not considered by the Sue Gray inquiry. Gray passed all her evidence on to the police, who used it to decide which events seemed to involve a serious breach of the rules.
This is potentially a worrying development for No 10. Dame Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, told the London assembly recently that the threshold for criminal investigation in after the fact lockdown rule cases was particularly high; she said the Met would only consider cases that seemed to involve the “most serious and flagrant” breaches of the rules, and where those involved appeared to have no “reasonable defence”.
You can follow all of Andy’s coverage here:
Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions on Wednesday and stopped most testing for Covid-19, even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease, Reuters reports.
Sweden’s government, which throughout the pandemic has opted against lockdowns in favour of a voluntary approach, announced last week it would scrap the remaining restrictions – effectively declaring the pandemic over – as vaccines and the Omicron variant have cushioned the number of severe cases and deaths.
“As we know this pandemic, I would say it’s over,” minister of health Lena Hallengren told Dagens Nyheter. “It’s not over, but as we know it in terms of quick changes and restrictions it is,” she said, adding that Covid would no longer be classified as a danger to society.
As of Wednesday, bars and restaurants will be allowed to stay open after 11pm again, and with no limits on the number of guests. Attendance limits for larger indoor venues were also lifted, as was the use of vaccine passes.
Swedish hospitals were still feeling the strain, however, with around 2,200 people with Covid requiring hospital care, about the same as during the third wave in the spring of 2021.
As free testing was reduced earlier this month and effectively stopped from Wednesday, no one knows the exact number of cases.
“We should have a little more patience, wait at least a couple of more weeks. And we are wealthy enough to keep testing,” Fredrik Elgh, professor of virology at Umea University and one of the staunchest critics of Sweden’s no-lockdown policy, told Reuters. “The disease is still a huge strain on society,” he said.
Sweden’s health agency said this week that large-scale testing was too expensive in relation to the benefits. Sweden spent around 500 million Swedish crowns ($55 million) per week on testing for the first five weeks of this year and around 24 billion crowns since the start of the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Sweden registered 114 new deaths where the deceased was infected with the virus. In total, 16,182 people have died either of the virus or while infected. The number of deaths per capita is much higher than among Nordic neighbours but lower than in most European countries.
