Covid news - Hancock predicts ‘happy and free’ summer as UK sees record day for vaccinations

Thousands of protesters faced off with police in riot gear in Vienna today at the site of a banned far-right demonstration against coronavirus restrictions.

Vienna police banned numerous protests planned for this weekend, including one by the far-right Freedom Party today, on the grounds that protesters have generally failed to observe rules on social distancing and often not worn face masks.

Since 26 December, Austria has been in its third national lockdown, with non-essential shops and many other businesses closed and their staff unable to work.

The opposition Freedom Party has denounced various restrictions as “corona madness” and its leaders have sent mixed messages on issues such as vaccinations.

Freedom Party deputy leader Herbert Kickl on Saturday accused the conservative-led government of banning criticism in general. He urged his supporters to go on a walk in the capital instead of attending the banned protest, and to “articulate their displeasure peacefully”.

The affiliation of many of today’s protesters was not immediately clear.

Some of them, however, expressed support for the Freedom Party, and many opposed conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz, chanting and waving banners saying “Kurz must go” – often without wearing masks. Many carried Austrian flags.

The crowd, which police estimated at 5,000, gathered on a square in central Vienna across the central ring road from the former imperial palace as well as from the offices of Kurz and President Alexander Van der Bellen.

Rows of police in riot gear and face masks prevented the crowd from marching down the ring road.

After riots in the Netherlands apparently set off by the introduction of a night-time curfew, Austrian police avoided escalation despite having ordered the crowd to disperse, and the atmosphere was tense but peaceful.

A Reuters witness saw police make some arrests and estimated the size of the protests at thousands. Police confirmed arrests had been made without giving numbers.

Six deaths from coronavirus have been recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours as the next stage of the vaccine rollout is due to start tomorrow.

A total of 6,106 people have now died after testing positive for the virus in the previous 28 days.

A further 1,003 positive tests were also recorded, taking the number to 179,685 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The daily test positivity rate is 8.1 per cent, up from the figure of 5.8 per cent from the previous 24 hours.

In Scotland, 566,629 people have received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine while 7,794 have been given the second.

The news comes as the Scottish government is set to roll out the second phase of the plan, with new mass vaccination centres in Aberdeen and Edinburgh set to open tomorrow.

The facilities, at the P&J Live in the Granite City and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, will be able to inoculate an extra 27,000 people per week.

This adds to the NHS Louisa Jordan in Glasgow, which has been vaccinating between 1,000 and 5,000 per day since early last month and has the capacity to go to 10,000 per day, according to the government.

Of the new cases reported on Sunday, 291 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 176 in Lanarkshire and 121 in Lothian.

There are 1,941 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, down by 11 in 24 hours, and 143 patients are in intensive care, up by one.

The first dose of a coronavirus vaccine has also been given to 566,269 people and 7,794 people have received their second dose.

The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo is expecting to receive on Wednesday ingredients from Sinovac Biotech that will allow local production of 8.6 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, the state government said today.

The ingredients are at Beijing airport awaiting discharge and will be used by Sao Paulo’s state-funded Butantan Institute, which has a partnership with Sinovac to produce the vaccines in Brazil. 

Belgian protesters denouncing coronavirus restrictions staged a demonstration in central Brussels today, with local media reporting the arrest of about 300 people who tried to join the unauthorised action.

Brussels police wrote on Twitter to repeatedly call on people not to gather and later dispersed the demonstration, which ended peacefully.

Authorities had warned that riots in the Netherlands over coronavirus restrictions could spark similar protests in neighbouring Belgium.

Belgium’s tough lockdown includes a 9pm curfew and a ban on nonessential travel in and out of the country, which has had one of Europe’s worst outbreaks.

Authorities have reported over 21,000 confirmed virus deaths in a nation of 11 million.

A group of Senate Republicans has called on Joe Biden to meet them at the negotiating table as the newly elected president signals he could move to pass a new $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package with all Democratic votes.

Ten Senate Republicans wrote, in a letter released today, to Mr Biden that their smaller counterproposal would include $160bn for vaccines, testing, treatment and personal protective equipment and will call for more targeted relief than Mr Biden’s plan to issue $1,400 stimulus cheques for most Americans.

The call on Mr Biden to give bipartisanship negotiations more time comes as the president has shown signs of impatience amid growing calls from the more liberal wing of his party to pass his $1.9 trillion legislation through budget reconciliation, a process that would allow him to move the massive bill with only the support of his Democratic majority.

The Republican lawmakers did not reveal the overall cost of their proposal, though they said it would be smaller than the $1.9 trillion price tag of the Biden package.

Brian Deese, the top White House economic adviser who has been leading the administration’s outreach to congress, said administration officials were reviewing the letter. He did not immediately commit to Mr Biden meeting with the lawmakers.

Mr Deese signalled the White House could be open to negotiating with Republicans on their proposal on further limiting who would receive stimulus cheques.

More than 70 people have been reported for attending a boat party in Ealing, west London, and are under consideration for fines of £800 each.  

Police officers were called to Volt Avenue, North Acton shortly after 11pm yesterday to reports of a large gathering on a moored boat.

The group was dispersed, and 72 people were reported for the consideration of fixed penalty notices for attending an indoor gathering of more than 15 people in breach of the coronavirus regulations.

Our reporter Bethany Dawson has the full story:

In more protest news, police have dispersed demonstrators in Hungary’s capital where workers in the country’s struggling hospitality sector demanded civil disobedience and a rethinking of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Organisers of the protest on a central square in Budapest called for restaurateurs to break the rules by opening their businesses to customers tomorrow, in defiance of strict pandemic measures limiting restaurants and cafes to takeout service.

The demonstration came amid increasing calls for government action from Hungary’s hospitality sector as the country’s lockdown, which began on 11 November, approaches the three-month mark.

The government has insisted that only mass vaccination of the population can bring an end to the lockdown.

Pandemic restrictions were extended on Thursday until 1 March, and many business owners complain that they have received little to none of the government’s promised financial assistance while other businesses such as shopping malls and retail stores have been permitted to remain open.

A further 587 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test in the UK, the Department of Health has said.

There were also 21,088 new coronavirus cases today compared with 23,275 yesterday.