Coronavirus dwell information: WHO backs AstraZeneca jab for over-65s; Israel to open leisure services to vaccinated | World information

Here are some of the key recent events from the UK and around the world:

France reported 25,387 new confirmed Covid cases on Wednesday, up from 19,348 the previous day but slightly lower than last Wednesday’s 26,362 as average daily increases continued slowing.

The health ministry also reported 296 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals, from 436 on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

South Africa aims to immunise between 350,000 and 500,000 health workers with Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine in an “implementation study” to further evaluate the shot, the president of the country’s Medical Research Council said.

Reuters reports:

Glenda Gray, co-lead investigator on the local leg of a J&J global trial, told Reuters South Africa expected to get batches of around 80,000 doses every seven to 14 days for the study, once it is approved.

The implementation study would be aimed at further evaluating J&J’s vaccine in the field and would be akin to a phase IIIb study, Gray said.

J&J’s vaccine has already been tested in the global phase III trial involving more than 40,000 participants including over 6,000 in South Africa.

Gray’s comments come days after the government paused the rollout of 1 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine and switched to the J&J shot to start protecting its health workers.

The US on Wednesday said that Tanzania, whose president has advised citizens to shun coronavirus vaccines, is experiencing a surge in Covid cases, Reuters reports.

In a statement, the US embassy in Dar es Salaam said it was “aware of a significant increase in the number of Covid-19 cases since January”.

The practice of Covid-19 mitigation and prevention measures remains limited… healthcare facilities in Tanzania can become quickly overwhelmed in a healthcare crisis.

Tanzanian leader John Magufuli has said citizens should avoid vaccines and the country does not need a lockdown because God will protect his people.

The UK has recorded 1,001 further Covid-linked deaths, according to government data. A week ago today the figure was 1,322. The UK has recorded 13,013 new cases, which is an increase from yesterday’s total (12,364), but week on week, the seven-day average is down 27.7%.

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Italy reported 336 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday down from 422 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 12,956 from 10,630 the day before.

Some 310,994 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 274,263, the health ministry said.

Italy has registered 92,338 deaths linked to Covid-19, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the sixth-highest in the world. The country has reported 2.67 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with Covid-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 19,280 on Wednesday, down from 19,512 a day earlier.

There were 155 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 146 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 2,128 from a previous 2,143.

When Italy’s second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.

Portugal’s government is preparing a support package for the country’s crushed tourism sector, including delayed loan repayment schedules, debt-to-equity instruments and grants.

Reuters reports:

Economy minister Pedro Siza Vieira told a parliamentary committee the package would aim to ensure companies in the sector survived the crisis “without having their balance sheets overloaded with debt”.

“Tourism will need more intense support… these companies will be depleted after a year of of the pandemic in which they have exhausted their (financial) reserves,” Siza Vieira said.

Revenue from holidaymakers played a crucial role in Portugal’s recovery from the 2010 economic and debt crisis, totalling 15% of Portugal’s gross domestic product in 2019.

But lockdowns and travel restrictions throughout the pandemic have paralysed the sector, with just a third of the usual number of tourists visiting the country at the height of the tourist season last summer, government data showed.

The sector’s revenues are expected to have dropped 80% in 2020, according to Portugal’s hotel association, who said a further 100,000 jobs could be lost this year if it did not receive targeted support.

The government is also in discussion with the Bank of Portugal and Portuguese Banking Association about extending a moratorium on loan repayments currently in place until September even further, and postponing maturities on remaining debt, Siza Vieira said.

Portugal’s banks have suspended capital and interest repayments on €46bn of corporate and household debt to avoid a jump in bad loans.