Coronavirus live news: US nears 25m cases as three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain | World news

Boris Johnson has had his first call with Joe Biden since the new US president entered the White House on Wednesday. Downing Street said Johnson congratulated Biden on his inauguration and that the two leaders looked forward to “deepening the close alliance” between their nations.

After the call, the prime minister tweeted: “Great to speak to President Joe Biden this evening. I look forward to deepening the longstanding alliance between our two countries as we drive a green and sustainable recovery from Covid-19.”

A No 10 spokesperson said the prime minister warmly welcomed Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris agreement on climate change and the World Health Organization. “The prime minister praised President Biden’s early action on tackling climate change and commitment to reach net zero by 2050,” the spokesman said:

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg insists Australia is still on track to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from February, as new figures suggest people are more than happy to get their jab, Australian Associated Press reports.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is due to approve the Pfizer vaccine, and others Australia has signed up to, in the coming weeks.

“We are not about to cut corners,” Mr Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.

He said Australia is not in the same position as the US and UK where there are tens of thousands of cases each day with many lives lost.

“We have the virus under control here in Australia,” the treasurer said.

“But we do want to roll out the vaccine, that’s why the TGA’s is going through its normal processes and we are still on track to receive this Pfizer vaccine, mid to late February.”

Calls from adults worried about a child’s welfare to the NSPCC’s helpline have jumped by 50% over the course of the pandemic, the charity has said.

PA Media: NSPCC said it was now receiving more than 30 calls a day from grown-ups worried that a child is living with domestic abuse, up 53% from pre-pandemic levels.
The charity warned the situation is likely to get worse as lockdown continues, and is calling for the UK Government to make extra provisions for child victims in its Domestic Abuse Bill.

The bill, hailed as a piece of landmark legislation, has had its second reading and is due to begin the committee stage on Monday.

The NSPCC is calling for an amendment that would legally oblige all local authorities to fund community-based recovery services for child victims.

People who experience domestic abuse in childhood can experience difficulty learning, depression, eating disorders and addiction as they go through adolescence into adulthood.

The charity fears that without a statutory obligation, budgets for community-based support could be diverted to fund services such as refuges.

When the bill becomes law, councils will have to ensure all those who become homeless as a result of domestic abuse are prioritised for emergency housing.

The NSPCC wants funding for community-based services – such as those that provide counselling to help child victims of domestic abuse to recover – also enshrined into law.
It is also calling for adequate funding for local agencies so they can meet all their obligations once the bill becomes law.

PA Media reports that, according to a group of scientists, it could be necessary in the future to vaccinate domestic animals such as cats and dogs against Covid-19 to curb the spread of the virus.

Coronavirus can infect a wide range of species including cats, dogs, mink and other domesticated species, experts from the University of East Anglia, Norwich-based research facility the Earlham Institute and University of Minnesota have said.

In an editorial for the journal Virulence, they wrote that continued evolution of the virus in animals followed by transmission to humans “poses a significant long-term risk to public health”.

“It is not unthinkable that vaccination of some domesticated animal species might… be necessary to curb the spread of the infection,” they said.

Last year, Denmark’s government culled millions of mink after it emerged that hundreds of Covid-19 cases in the country were linked with coronavirus variants associated with farmed mink.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Saturday that Egypt would start rolling out a mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign the following day with the Chinese-made Sinopharm jab, AFP reports.

“We are starting a vaccination drive tomorrow beginning with healthcare workers followed by those suffering from chronic diseases and later the elderly,” Sisi said in brief comments after unveiling several development projects in Port Said.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, received its first batch of the Sinopharm vaccines in December.

Earlier this month, Health Minister Hala Zayed said Egypt would also receive 40 million doses, mostly of the AstraZeneca/Oxford jab, via the Gavi vaccine alliance, with the aim of inoculating 20 percent of its more than 100 million strong population.

Egypt has registered over 160,000 novel coronavirus infections, including more than 8,850 deaths.

Health officials have warned that low testing rates mean the real number could be at least 10 times higher.

In Australia, the state minister for health in New South Wales has noted that Monday will mark a year since the state confirmed its first four cases of coronavirus.

Today marks a week with no new local cases confirmed in the state:

Here is a summary of the key developments from the last few hours:

• The US is nearing 25m cases. I’ll post a summary shortly. For now, the US is nearing an astonishing 25 million cases of coronavirus – a quarter of the global total and one in every thirteen people in the country. There are currently 24,985,689 confirmed infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
• UK to quarantine arrivals from high-risk countries – reports. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to force travelers from countries where there is a high risk of Covid to go into quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
• Three infections linked to Australian Open confirmed as UK strain. Coronavirus infections linked to the Australian Open are continuing to emerge, with a further three non-players – two men in their 30s and one in his 50s confirmed to have the highly contagious UK strain of the virus.
• Mainland China confirmed 80 new coronavirus cases on 23 January, down from 107 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Sunday. The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 65 of the new cases were local infections. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 92 from 99 cases a day earlier. The total number of confirmed cases in Mainland China now stands at 88,991, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.
• A possible community case of Covid is being reported in the northernmost New Zealand province of Northland. The “probable” case is in the community, a ministry of health spokesperson said, rather than a managed isolation facility. The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, and the minister of covid-19 response, Chris Hipkins, will hold a media stand-up at 4pm to share the latest information.
• It has been a year since the Wuhan lockdown. The Chinese city of Wuhan marks one year since the start of its traumatic 76-day coronavirus lockdown. On 23 January 2020, Wuhan shocked the globe by confining its 11 million anxious citizens to their homes, starting a cycle that would spread across the world. But China largely brought its outbreak under control and Wuhan is nothing like the ghost town of a year ago, with traffic humming, sidewalks bustling, and citizens packing public transport and parks.
• Hong Kong and Oslo tightened measures. Thousands of people in one of Hong Kong’s poorest and most densely packed districts have been ordered to stay in their homes. Norway’s government, meanwhile, has imposed the strictest restrictions seen in the region of the capital, Oslo, since March after the discovery of the British variant in a retirement home.
• A French lockdown ‘likely’. A French government source has told AFP that “the hypothesis of confinement is more and more likely,” citing projections of a surge in cases due to the more transmissible British strain.
• Fabric masks still work, said the WHO. The World Health Organization says it has no plans to change its guidance recommending fabric face masks as new coronavirus variants spread because the mutated strains are transmitted in the same way. The statement comes after Germany and Austria made medical masks mandatory on public transport and in shops, allowing only surgical or FFP2 masks rather than fabric.
• There is a shortage of vaccines in Brazil. Brazil has just started its vaccination campaign but scientists are already warning the hard-hit country will quickly run out of doses and even syringes, some blaming the government for the shortages.

Mexico’s Health Ministry on Saturday confirmed 20,057 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 1,470 additional fatalities, bringing the country’s total to 1,752,347 cases and 149,084 deaths, Reuters reports.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

Mainland China confirmed 80 new coronavirus cases on 23 January, Reuters reports, down from 107 cases a day earlier, the country’s national health authority said on Sunday.

The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 65 of the new cases were local infections. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 92 from 99 cases a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed cases in Mainland China now stands at 88,991, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,635.

Victoria has recorded its 18th straight day without a local coronavirus case as the state’s residents enjoy greater freedom to gather indoors, AAP reports.

The zero cases recorded on Saturday – as well as one case in Victoria’s hotel quarantine system – came from just under 12,000 tests.

Only 30 active coronavirus cases remain in the state.

It comes as more visitors are allowed in Victorian households, with the indoor gathering limit at homes doubled from Saturday from 15 to 30.

The smaller limit on home gatherings had been introduced on New Year’s Eve as the state battled a cluster linked to a Black Rock Thai restaurant.

More Victorians stranded interstate will also be able to return home, thanks to a further easing of interstate border restrictions.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is preparing to force travelers from countries where there is a high risk of Covid to go into quarantine for 10 days after arriving in Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

Via Reuters: Travellers from Brazil and South Africa, and neighbouring countries, will be met on arrival and escorted to hotels to quarantine, under plans being discussed by UK ministers, the Daily Mail said.

Johnson favoured a more targeted approach than making all air passengers go into quarantine, said the report, which added that the quarantine decision would be taken on Monday.

Britain has recorded more than 3.5 million Covid infections – the fifth-highest in the world – and nearly 96,000 deaths.

Coronavirus infections linked to the Australian Open are continuing to emerge as the states and territories continue their run of no new locally acquired cases.

Victorian authorities on Saturday reported one new case linked to the Open, a man in his 20s who is not a player.

A further three non-players – two men in their 30s and one in his 50s – have meanwhile been confirmed to have the highly contagious UK strain of the virus.

Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria said all three had been in hard lockdown since they landed in Melbourne.

“The residents arrived in Melbourne on a dedicated Australian Open charter flight on 15 January and returned their first positive tests on 15, 17 and 18 January,” a spokesperson said.

There are 10 active cases linked to the Open and 970 people associated with the tournament in quarantine.

Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic with me, Helen Sullivan.

I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from around the world, with a focus on Australia, for the next few hours.

I’ll post a summary shortly. For now, the US is nearing an astonishing 25 million cases of coronavirus – a quarter of the global total and one in every thirteen people in the country. There are currently 24,981,398 confirmed infections, with

In Australia, meanwhile, the states of New South Wales and Victoria have recorded zero local cases. We’re awaiting the numbers from Queensland.

And three infections in hotel quarantine linked to the Australian Open have been confirmed to be the UK strain of the virus.

As always, you can say Hi (or shout at me) on Twitter @helenrsullivan.