Teachers in England have described a nightmarish term in schools in which Covid has triggered soaring anxiety levels, exhaustion and fear, driving many to consider quitting and even self-harm.
As schools limp towards Christmas with flagging attendances and rising cases in some areas, teachers said they lived in constant fear of catching the virus in school, and were overstretched and understaffed. They complained of feeling abandoned by the government and unfairly vilified by some parts of the media.
Many of the 200-plus teachers who responded to an appeal from the Guardian to share their experiences expressed anger and despair. “We really have been thrown to the lions,†said one primary school teacher working in Swale, Kent, one of the worst-affected regions in the country:
Vaccination clinics run by family doctors will begin across England from Monday but people have been warned that a rise in cases after Christmas socialising could disrupt the roll out of protective jabs, PA Media reports.
GP practices in more than 100 locations will have the approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine delivered to them on Monday, with some offering vaccinations within hours.
The majority will begin providing vaccination services to their local community from Tuesday, NHS England and NHS Improvement said.
NHS staff including nurses and pharmacists will work alongside GPs to inoculate those aged 80 and over, as well as care home workers and residents.
The vaccination centres will operate from doctors’ surgeries or community hubs in villages, towns and cities.
Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “GPs and our teams are about to embark on an enormous challenge, delivering the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the community whilst also delivering the expanded flu vaccine programme and the usual care and services our patients rely on us for.â€
The opening of the community centres comes after dozens of hospital hubs began offering vaccinations from last Tuesday.
The surge in coronavirus cases across London is “deeply concerning†and requires further Government action to be brought under control, Sadiq Khan has said.
PA Media: The Mayor of London wrote to Boris Johnson on Sunday requesting for an immediate increase in Covid-19 testing provision across the capital in response to the rising number of infections.
Mr Khan also asked for a compensation scheme to be put in place for businesses ahead of any further restrictions being imposed on the city.
He warned that moving London from Tier 2 into Tier 3 would have a “catastrophic†economic impact on businesses and put “hundreds of thousands of livelihoods at stakeâ€.
The Government said it will review all tiers in England on 16 December.
Mr Khan said: “The surge in coronavirus cases across our capital is deeply concerning. “I am calling on the Government to urgently provide additional support to get the spread under control, save lives and livelihoods and ensure our NHS is not overwhelmed this winter.
“Increased testing is key to this, which is why I want to see regular asymptomatic testing extended to all those unable to work from home and to students and staff at London’s secondary schools, sixth-form college and FE (further education) colleges.â€
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Monday reported 718 new coronavirus cases, down from the record daily increase of 1,030 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 682 were locally transmitted, it said.
Most of the new cases were in Seoul, the neighbouring port city of Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, home to over 25 million people.
South Korea’s total infections now stands at 43,484, with 587 deaths.
Medical professionals work at a makeshift coronavirus testing clinic at Seoul Station in Seoul, South Korea. Photograph: Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA
The government launched a massive tracing effort involving hundreds of troops, police and officials to help track down virus carriers.
Some experts said the government and the public needed to do more.
“This is the time to send an impactful message to the public, so that they can take voluntary actions,†said Kim Dong-hyun, president of Korean Society of Epidemiology and a professor at Hallym University College of Medicine.
Under a Phase 3 lockdown, only essential workers would be allowed into offices and gatherings would be capped at less than 10 people.
South Korea ordered schools to close from Tuesday in the capital Seoul and surrounding areas as it battles its worst outbreak of novel coronavirus since the pandemic began, surpassing the previous peak in February, Reuters reports.
Schools in the capital region would move classes online until the end of the month, in the latest ratcheting up of social distancing measures which so far have failed to reverse the spike in infections.
The school closure is a step towards the imposition of Phase 3 social distancing rules, a move that would essentially lock down Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said such a step required careful review, as the government comes under mounting pressure to do more to step the rise of infections.
In the Australian state of Victoria, the state’s “world-class†contact tracing systems now in place could have been established before the state’s second wave of coronavirus if the health department had been less defensive and listened to advice earlier, a parliamentary committee has found.
The state’s upper house inquiry report, released on Monday, also found that the department should have moved faster to communicate effectively with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and the lack of preparedness “cost livesâ€:
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 16,362 to 1,337,078, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The reported death toll rose by 188 to 21,975, the tally showed.
The numbers are usually lower on Mondays, because there is less testing and less data being transmitted to the RKI on weekends.
The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, told reporters on Monday the long-awaited trans-Tasman bubble was expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021.
“It is our intention to name a date … in the new year, once remaining details are locked down,†she said.
That came as welcome news for New Zealanders waiting up to three months for a hotel, who may now be able to avoid quarantine altogether:
And now for a break from pandemic news for a small cry (if you happen to have a heart):
US Vice President Mike Pence has not come down with the virus, and his aides have been discussing when and how he should receive the vaccine as the administration looks to boost public confidence in the shot.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses administered three weeks apart, meaning Trump administration officials would receive the final shot just weeks before leaving office.
Aides to President-elect Joe Biden have been discussing when and how he should receive the vaccine and have been working to establish plans to boost virus safeguards in the West Wing to keep the 78-year-old Democrat healthy.
According to a Capitol Hill official, lawmakers have not been informed how many doses would be made available to them, adding it would be premature to speculate who might receive them. The official was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
More now on that statement from US President Donald Trump:
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was reversing an administration directive to vaccinate top government officials against Covid-19, while public distribution of the shot is limited to front-line health workers and people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, AP reports.
Trump made the announcement hours after his administration confirmed that senior US officials, including some White House aides who work in close proximity to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, would be offered coronavirus vaccines as soon as this week under federal continuity of government plans.
“People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary,†Trump said in a tweet. “I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time.â€
It was not immediately clear what the scale of the vaccination program was supposed to be, according to two people briefed on the matter, or what effect Trump’s tweet would have on the government’s efforts to protect top leadership.
News that White House staff would receive the vaccine early drew criticism on social media. Trump and his aides have consistently flouted the Covid-19 guidelines issued by his own administration, including hosting large holiday parties with maskless attendees this December.
Officials said earlier Sunday that doses of the newly approved vaccine from Pfizer would be made available to those who work in close quarters with the nation’s top leaders. They said the move was meant to prevent more Covid-19 spread in the White House and other critical facilities. Trump was hospitalised with the virus for three days in October.
According to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is not yet enough information to determine whether those who have had COVID-19 should also get the vaccine.
After reports that Trump and other White House staff would be offered the coronavirus vaccine on Monday, the US president has tweeted that “People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!â€
Although Trump has had coronavirus and so does not need to have the vaccine, his taking it is meant to instil confidence in Americans that the vaccine is safe.
However Trump said he “looks forward to doing so at the appropriate time.â€
Donald J. Trump(@realDonaldTrump)
People working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made. I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time. Thank you!
Restaurants, bars and karaoke venues in Tokyo have been asked to close by 10 pm until Tuesday, while residents have been urged to refrain from traveling outside the capital.
There is concern that the latest outbreak could intensify later this month, when many Japanese traditionally return to their hometowns for the New Year holidays.
December is also bonenkai season, when large groups of colleagues “forget the year†at alcohol-fuelled get-togethers.
This year, however, looks like it will be a far more sober affair, with almost 90% of companies saying they had no plans to hold year-end and New Year parties to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading among employees.
A poll of just over 10,000 firms by Tokyo Shoko Research found that 87.8% had not arranged parties – a trend that will hit the hospitality industry hard during what is normally a lucrative time of the year.
“The pandemic has deprived us of many of the traditions that give us a sense of the changing seasons,†an insurance firm employee in Tokyo told Kyodo. “We missed out on cherry blossom viewing (in the spring), fireworks (in the summer), and now bonenkai.â€
Japan could soon exclude Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya from its subsidised travel programme as the country battles a surge in coronavirus cases, according to media reports.
Hideaki Omura, governor of Aichi prefecture, where Nagoya is located, told a TV programme on Sunday that the prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, and members of his cabinet were considering trimming Go To Travel, although health experts have called for the entire programme to be put on hold.
The Kyodo news agency said a decision could come on Monday.
People wearing protective masks make their way amid the coronavirus pandemic at a business district in Tokyo, Japan. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
The controversial Go To scheme was launched in July to encourage domestic travel and support regional economies during the pandemic.
But concern that travelers may be contributing to the spread Covid-19 has prompted calls for Suga to suspend the scheme. Suga, who is facing mounting criticism over his handling of the latest wave of infections, last week said he had no intention of halting the programme.
Osaka and Sapporo, which have both seen sharp rises in cases, have already been withdrawn.
Tokyo reported 480 new cases on Sunday – the highest so far for that day of the week, while Nagoya saw 93 cases. Nationwide, Japan recorded 2,388 infections on Sunday, down from a record 3,041 on Saturday.
Trials in the United Arab Emirates have shown that China’s Sinopharm vaccine has 86% efficacy. So what is the Chinese treatment, where is it being trialled and will it challenge the vaccines being developed in western countries?
Everything we know abut the travel bubble now:
New Zealand’s cabinet has agreed to establish a quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia in the first quarter of 2021, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said.
The launch would depend on the approval of the Australian government and on the Covid-19 situation in each country remaining the same, Ardern said after meeting her ministers on Monday, adding that a lot of preparation was needed.
“It is our intention to name a date … in the new year, once remaining details are locked down,†Ardern said.
“New Zealand currently has the lowest Covid-19 mortality rate and lowest number of active cases of OECD countries.â€
She said a number of issues needed to be worked through including how passengers from “safe zones†and those from Covid-19 affected countries could be segregated and how New Zealand would deal with a “flood†of returning Kiwis if there was a resurgence in Australia:
