Coronavirus live news: Biden’s vaccine mandate for 100 million workers; Los Angeles requires students to be vaccinated | World news

BioNTech will request approval to use its Covid-19 vaccine in 5- to 11-year-olds within the next few weeks, the firm’s two top executives have said.

“Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five to 11 year olds with regulators across the world and will request approval of the vaccine in this age group, also here in Europe,” chief medical officer Oezlem Tuereci told Der Spiegel.

Tuereci said that the lower-dose pediatric version of its Comirnaty vaccine vaccine was in the final adjustment stages. The raw trial data is being prepared for a regulatory filing.

Reuters reports that the company has also outlined plans to seek approval in children aged 6 months to 2 years later this year.

Kenya’s economy has shrunk for the first time in three decades amid the coronavirus crisis, a government survey has shown. Almost 740,000 people have lost their jobs as a result.

The East African country’s gross domestic product dropped by 0.3% – the first contraction since 1992 – after growing 5% in 2019, the report said, as reported by AFP.

Kenya’s tourism sector – a crucial part of its economy – was battered by a drop in revenue of almost 44% as the numbers of visitor fell by more than 70% due to travel curbs.

In total, 738,000 of Kenya’s 17.4 million workers lost their jobs, with informal workers hit hardest. “Disruption in labour supply brought about by restriction of movement and social distancing meant to contain the spread of Covid-19 reduced demand for goods and services,” the report said.

However, the treasury secretary, Ukur Yatani, forecasted that the economy would grow by around 6% in 2021.

Staff at US colleges and universities have spoken about being nervous about returning to teaching as term begins.

Even institutions requiring masks and vaccinations are dealing with unexpectedly high rates of Covid, while others lack transparent contact tracing systems. Earlier this week, the University of Delaware told faculty not to inform students if their classmates test positive for Covid-19.

Read Melody Schreiber’s report here:

Hello, I’m Clea Skopeliti and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic for the next few hours. You can reach me via Twitter DM if you’d like to draw my attention to something. Thanks in advance.

Here is a round-up of all the big Covid news stories from around the world so far today:

• Denmark has become one of the first European Union nations to lift all of its domestic Covid restrictions due to its high vaccination rates. As of today, people will no longer need to show a digital proof of vaccination pass when entering nightclubs – the country’s final restriction.
• The UK’s Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, who developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, has said she does not support a widespread booster jab campaign as immunity among fully vaccinated people is “lasting well”.
• Pfizer has been accused of holding Brazil “to ransom” over demands to shield itself from possible vaccine side-effect lawsuits in its contract to supply the country with 100m Covid jabs.
• The US education department will provide a new grant programme for schools that get state funding withheld for going against state mask policies. It aims to push back against governors in Iowa, South Carolina and other states attempting to block schools from requiring masks among students and teachers.
• Joe Biden, seeking to restore public confidence in his handling of the pandemic, ordered on Thursday that nearly all US federal government workers must get vaccinated. Reports of the requirement emerged ahead of a major speech by the president outlining a six-point plan to address the latest dramatic surge in Covid cases and the stalling rate of vaccinations.
• Expert warned attempts to revive German vaccine campaign not enough to stop fourth wave. The German government’s plan to reboot the country’s flagging vaccine campaign with a celebrity-backed burst of advertising on social media, television and billboards, will not be sufficient to stop the dramatic developments of a fourth wave, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, the head of the World Medical Association, has said.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, on the global Covid blog for today.

I’m handing over to my colleague Clea Skopeliti now, who will bring you all the latest coronavirus news throughout the afternoon.

Denmark has become one of the first European Union nations to lift all of its domestic Covid restrictions due to its high vaccination rates.

As of today, people will no longer need to show a digital proof of vaccination pass when entering nightclubs – the country’s final restriction.

It comes after 548 days of measures being in place to limit the spread of the virus but now more than 80% of Danes above the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated.

Soeren Riis Paludan, a professor of virology with the Aarhus University in Denmark’s second largest city, told the Associated Press:

I wouldn’t say it is too early. We have opened the door but we have also said that we can close it if needed.

As of midnight, the Danish government said it no longer considers Covid “a socially critical disease”.

Meanwhile, Singapore will not be tightening its Covid restrictions for the time being despite a spike in infections over recent weeks, according to the Reuters news agency.

However, it will not move ahead with reopening more as it monitors for severe cases.

The country will take a pause and monitor the situation in hospitals and intensive care units over the next 2-4 weeks, said Lawrence Wong, finance minister and co-head of the coronavirus taskforce.

If manageable, the country will return to its reopening plans, he added.

Sri Lanka will extend its lockdown for a further week as it continues to struggle against a coronavirus surge.

The country’s Covid committee decided on Friday to extend the lockdown, which was originally due to end Monday, until 21 September, presidential spokesman Kingsly Rathnayaka said.

The Associated Press reports:

The lockdown was first imposed on 20 August. During that period, the government has allowed export-related factories to operate and for agriculture work to be done, in addition to essential services such as health, food distribution, communication and power.

Doctors and trade unions have warned that hospitals and morgues have reached their maximum capacities during the ongoing surge caused by the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Sri Lanka has confirmed 474,870 cases and 10,689 deaths from the pandemic.