Coronavirus live: Netherlands cases rise by more than 500% after reopening; South Korea tightens curbs | World news

Thailand is considering regulating the volume of locally manufactured AstraZeneca Covid vaccines for export, a health official has said, a move that could impact supplies to other Asian countries.

The health ministry will talk to AstraZeneca with the aim of securing a sufficient amount locally before issuing the order, said Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute.

“Right now we will talk with the vaccine manufacturer so they can deliver the vaccine to Thailand in a suitable manner that matches the outbreak situation in the country,” Nakorn told reporters.

Reuters reports that Thailand is suffering its worst coronavirus outbreak yet, with more than 8,000 new cases reported on many days this month, putting a strain on healthcare and testing capacity in the densely populated capital Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

Another quick quote from UK transport secretary Grant Shapps’ media appearances this morning. He warned on BBC Breakfast that some countries on the green list for travel could be moved to the amber list.

PA Media notes that reports have suggested the government is considering moving the Spanish Balearic islands back to amber a fortnight after they were cleared for quarantine-free travel, and quote him saying:

We review these every three weeks. I hope we have made very clear to everybody when booking trips at the moment there is always the chance that countries will move around.

Some countries may go to the red list, some countries may go to the green, but some may move the other way to the amber list.

It is a fact of life that they will continue to move around as the virus continues to develop and change globally.

I mentioned earlier the frustration in Australia over large queues for Covid tests after the New South Wales government ordered essential workers in the Fairfield LGA to get tested every three days. Here’s our video report from on the ground there.

Alan Jones, PA Media’s industrial correspondent, has this response to the face masks on transport in England issue from the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).

The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “Whilst we welcome the approach from the London mayor this morning, which is consistent with the policies currently adopted in Scotland, Wales and on Eurostar, we now have the ludicrous position where a passenger travelling through London will have different rules on the tube and the main line services.

“There will also be a change of policy on trains at the Welsh and Scottish borders which is a total nonsense, and will leave staff right at the sharp end and dangerously exposed when it comes to enforcement.

“As a result of this chaotic approach we now have a situation where the London measures are not enforceable by law, which means RMT members will be thrown into a hostile and confrontational situation from next Monday at heightened risk of abuse and assault.

“That is wholly down to the confused, inconsistent and botched messaging from the government. RMT will continue to support and advise our members in their legal right to a safe place of work.”

Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, one of the scientists behind the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab, has appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, and PA Media quotes her saying:

None of the protective measures are completely effective on their own and we get the best protection when we link up different ways of protecting ourselves – so if we get everybody who is eligible for the vaccine to have the vaccine, if we wear a face mask indoors in crowded areas.

Remember, we wear a mask to protect other people – they’re not to protect us so much as to protect other people from us, from the risk that we might be infected, and I think it’s a sign of respect, if you’re in a situation where you might be able to transmit the virus to somebody else, to keep the mask on.

I will follow Chris Whitty’s advice to wear a mask in indoor crowded situations, or if anybody else was particularly wanting me to wear a mask then I would.

Here’s a video where our science correspondent Natalie Grover looks at exactly why masks are more about protecting others than ourselves, and where we still might want to wear them.

China’s daily vaccination numbers are huge again. Reuters report the official figures from yesterday 10.6m doses, taking the total administered to 1.402bn doses

Here’s how mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted earlier about his plans on face masks this morning – they will stay in force on London’s public transport.

On Sky News, UK transport secretary Grant Shapps has backed the decision by Transport for London to require passengers to carry on wearing masks.

Shapps said the decision was in line with what ministers expected after it was announced that most lockdown restrictions in England would end from Monday. PA Media quotes him saying:

Whilst we are going from this being a legal requirement to guidelines, we do expect individual carriers to make sure they are putting in place whatever is appropriate for their network.

The airlines have already said that you will need to carry on wearing masks on those. It is very much in line with what we expected – indeed wanted – to happen.

It does remain slightly unclear how if you have a rule in place that something must be done, the way to ensure that it continues to be done, because you want it to be done, is to remove the rule that it must be done.

A bit more on those Netherlands numbers from Mike Corder at Associated Press. He notes that more than 46% of the Netherlands’ adult population is fully vaccinated, and more than 77% of the country’s adults have had at least one shot. Health authorities have said more than 1.3 million people would receive their first or second doses this week.

Health minister Hugo de Jonge had said Monday that the late June loosening of restrictions combined with a lack of social distancing and the delta variant “has had, of course, an accelerating effect. You can unfortunately see that with hindsight”.

Infections among people ages 18-24 surged by 262%, followed by a 191% rise in 25- to 29-year-olds.

I mentioned earlier that there has been a Covid outbreak in a Carrier Strike Group (CSG), which includes the Royal Navy’s flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth [See 7.07am]. That’s not the only trouble at sea in the news this morning.

Reuters report that a Genting Cruise Lines’ ship on a “cruise to nowhere” has returned to Singapore after a passenger was suspected of having contracted Covid and the nearly 3,000 passengers and crew on board have been confined to their cabins.

A 40-year-old passenger tested positive onboard and had been conveyed to hospital for further testing after the ship docked early on Wednesday, the Singapore Tourism Board said.

“The passenger was identified as a close contact of a confirmed case on land, and was immediately isolated as part of onboard health protocols,” the board said in a statement.

The cruises to nowhere, restricted to Singapore residents, have become popular during the pandemic with very limited other travel opportunities because of coronavirus restrictions.