Covid news: UK reports 51,342 new infections; vaccines protect against new variant – as it happened | World news

This blog will now close but you can catch up with all the latest Covid developments by following our new blog here.

You can also read all the key coronavirus stories from our team of reporters here.

A number of schools in Wales are extending their day by an hour to try to help youngsters catch up after Covid lockdowns.

The Welsh government will invest up to £2m on the trial, allowing 14 primaries and secondaries across south Wales to open for groups of children for an extra five hours a week.

Schools can choose what they do with the time and may put on sessions such as art, music and sport or academic lessons.

If successful, the trial could lead to a longer school day being introduced permanently and school leaders, children and parents are also to be asked to think about whether the shape of the academic year should also be reformed with, for example, the summer holiday being made shorter.

Read the full story here.

Early data indicates the Omicron Covid variant may more easily reinfect people who have already had the virus or been vaccinated than previous variants, but could also cause milder disease, the WHO said Wednesday.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters:

Emerging data from South Africa suggests increased risk of reinfection with Omicron … there is also some evidence that Omicron causes milder disease than Delta”.

But he stressed that more data was needed before drawing firm conclusions, and urged countries everywhere to boost their surveillance to help provide a clearer picture of how Omicron is behaving.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that so far the data indicates the variant is “efficiently transmitting, and probably more efficiently transmitting even than the Delta variant.”

“But it means the virus is more efficient at transmitting between human beings. And therefore we have to redouble our efforts to break those chains of transmission to protect ourselves to protect others.”

Even if the new variant turns out to be less dangerous than previous variants, if it transmits more rapidly, it could still sicken more people, overburden health systems, “and more people die,” he said.

Hello I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be taking over the blog from my colleague Tom Ambrose.

As I’m reporting to you from Sydney, Australia, here are some recently released numbers from Down Under.

The state of NSW has recorded 420 new Covid-19 cases and one death.

Victoria recorded 1,232 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths.

The states of Queensland and the Northern Territory just announced they hit the 80% fully vaccinated mark.

Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce also announced this morning that he has tested positive for Covid-19 while in Washington.

Good evening. I’m Tom Ambrose and will be bringing you the latest Covid news over the next hour or so.

We start with the news that US federal health officials have authorised a new Covid-19 antibody drug for people with serious health problems or allergies who cannot get adequate protection from vaccination.

Antibody drugs have been a standard treatment for treating Covid infections for more than a year. But the AstraZeneca antibody drug cleared by the Food and Drug Administration is different.

It is the first authorised for long-term prevention against Covid-19 infection, rather than a short-term treatment.

People who could benefit from the antibody drug include cancer patients, organ transplant recipients and people taking immune-suppressing drugs for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.

Health experts estimate about 2% to 3% of the US population falls into that group.

In the UK, Boris Johnson has announced a move to further restrictions saying Omicron is spreading faster than Delta and that the known cases are almost certainly an underestimate.

Johnson says: “It’s now the proportionate and the responsible thing to move to plan B.” From Monday, people are advised to work from home if they can.

Additionally, from this Frida the legal requirement to wear face masks in public indoor venues will be extended to include theatres and cinemas. Johnson said: “[We] will also make the NHS COVID pass mandatory for entry into nightclubs and venues where large crowds gather, including unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, and seated outdoor venues with more than 4000 people and any venue with more than 10,000 people.”

• This post was amended on 9 December 2021 to clarify the guidance on working from home.

France’s Ile-de-France region on Wednesday said that all hospitals are activating an emergency plan due to the strained Covid-19 situation. The plan includes stepping up the number of intensive care unit beds and, if necessary, reschedule treatments to free up capacities. With more than 12 million people, the Ile-de-France – with the capital Paris at its centre – is France’s biggest region.

Denmark will again impose restrictions aimed at curbing the rapid spread of Covid including the new Omicron variant, the country’s prime minister said on Wednesday.

France has reported 93,071 Coronavirus deaths in hospital, up by 129. It reported that 2,426 people were in intensive care units for Covid, up by 75 on the previous day’s figures.

Elsewhere, South Africa reported nearly 20,000 new cases of the virus on Wednesday, a record since the Omicron variant emerged.

Interesting explainer on the new Covid rules that could be imminent in England.

The World Health Organsation’s chief scientist said it was too soon to say whether a reduction in neutralising antibodies found in Pfizer’s vaccine against the Omicron variant meant the jab was less effective.

“I think it is premature to conclude that this reduction in neutralising activity would result in a significant reduction in vaccine effectiveness. We do not know that,” Soumya Swaminathan told a media briefing, adding a coordinated research effort was needed to avoid jumping to conclusions.

Slovakia will on Friday reopen non-essential shops and some services for those vaccinated against Covid-19 while at the same time extending a lockdown for others and closing some schools, health minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said.

The central European country of 5.5 million people has struggled with one of the world’s worst coronavirus waves in the past few weeks, and shut shops and services for all people for two weeks ending 9 December.

Lengvarsky had sought to extend the general lockdown until 26 December, and to ease it for the vaccinated from 17 December. But the government, seeking to raise the appeal of vaccinations in one of Europe’s least inoculated countries, opted to ease rules now for those who received the shots while extending them until 9 January for the rest.

South Africa’s economy has rebounded after Covid, the IMF said while predicting slower growth than the government’s forecast with a “lackluster” mid-term outlook.

While the country’s finance ministry predicts the economy will grow by 5.1% this year, the International Monetary Fund said it expects growth to be 4.6%.

“The recovery was also supported by external factors, such as favourable commodity prices and benign financial conditions, which are likely temporary,” the IMF said.

South Africa’s economy contracted 6.4% last year, when a strict lockdown brought most economic activity to a standstill in the continent’s most industrialised country.

Rolling power cuts forced by ageing and poorly designed power plants have added to the economic woes.