Covid news - live: New ‘highly infectious’ XBB.1.5 subvariant ‘a wake-up’ call for UK

South Korean authorities are trying to track down a Chinese national who tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival but went missing while waiting at a quarantine facility.

The person tested positive after arriving at Incheon International Airport near Seoul yesterday night and was transferred to a nearby hotel to await admission to quarantine.

The missing person has been placed on a wanted list, health official Kim Joo-young, said. The person, who has not been identified, could be subject to up to one year in prison, or 10 million won (£6,539) in fines if convicted of violating the law.

New Covid variants are sparking fresh health concerns as Omicron relatives XBB and XBB.1.5 have led to a surge in cases in countries worldwide.

The XBB.1.5 is the highly transmissible version of Covid that caused cases to surge in the UK last winter. The variant, which was first detected around New York state in late October, is behind 40 per cent of all Covid infections in the US.

It is estimated that the XBB.1.5 is spreading more than twice as fast as the BQ.1.1 variant, which is one of the common variants found in the UK, The Guardian reported.

The variant has an unusual mutation known as F486P that is helping it spread at a rapid speed.

The variant has been detected in the UK, with surveillance suggesting it makes up at least 4 per cent of the coronavirus being sequenced

For nearly three years, the Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill as the virus spread around the globe.

Cases have begun to rise again, with warnings that Covid will once again put even more pressure on the NHS over this festive period.

The last major spike of the pandemic, while restrictions were still in place, came courtesy of Omicron. The variant spread rapidly around the world after being discovered in southern Africa last November and has since produced a series of sub-variants.

Omicron proved to be less severe but more transmissible than its predecessor Alpha and Delta variants, with total daily case numbers in England rocketing to a then-pandemic-high of 218,724 on 4 January, before gradually falling away, bar a revival inspired by its first sub-variant, BA.2, in March.

Joe Sommerlad has more.

The EU is moving towards making it mandatory for passengers from China to test negative for Covid-19 in order to enter the bloc nations.

The EU health advisers yesterday agreed on a draft opinion that includes masking recommendations and increased wastewater monitoring and suggests discussing Covid testing.

A strong majority of countries back pre-departure tests, Bloomberg quoted a commission spokesperson as saying.“Unity remains our strongest tool against Covid,” the EU’s health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, tweeted.

EU ambassadors will meet today to discuss the recommendations.

People have been urged to wear face coverings and remain at home if feeling unwell, as an already crisis-stricken NHS faces down multiple waves of winter illnesses.

With children returning to school at a time when high levels of flu, Covid-19 and scarlet fever are all being reported, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued fresh guidance in a bid to minimise the diseases’ spread.

Parents have been urged to keep children at home if they are unwell and have a fever, with adults told to only go out if necessary and wear face coverings if they are ill and avoid visiting vulnerable people.

Andy Gregory reports.

China on Wednesday reported five new Covid-19 related deaths, compared with three a day earlier, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The official death toll now stands at 5,258

State media in China has played down the severity of a surge of Covid cases on Tuesday as its scientists briefed the World Health Organization.

The global body had invited the scientists to present data on viral sequencing at a technical advisory group meeting and has asked China to share data on hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.

A spokesperson said the agency expected a “detailed discussion” about circulating variants in China and globally and it is expected to give an update on Wednesday.

China’s abrupt U-turn on Covid controls as well as the accuracy of its case and mortality data, have come under increasing scrutiny at home and abroad.

China’s foreign ministry labelled travel entry curbs imposed by some countries as “simply unreasonable”, saying they “lacked scientific basis”.

“We are willing to improve communication with the world,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing.

“But ... we are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the epidemic prevention and control measures for political purposes.”

Covid travel restrictions are back. From 5 January, every traveller flying from mainland China to England will need to provide a negative test result before being allowed on the plane. It is not yet clear what kinds of tests will be acceptable, but the previous policy was to allow lateral flow/rapid antigen tests as well as more reliable and expensive PCR tests.

In addition, travellers flying direct from China to Heathrow may be invited to take a second test on arrival. The government says as many as 20 per cent of arriving passengers will be checked, though they are able to decline the invitation.

The government announced the measures on Friday night – a day after saying there were no plans to reintroduce Covid testing.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder explains what it all means.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said last week it did not recommend measures on travellers from China.

It said the variants circulating in China were already in the European Union, that EU citizens had relatively high vaccination levels and the potential for imported infections was low compared to daily infections in the EU, with healthcare systems currently coping.

Despite the health body’s stance, most European Union countries favour introducing pre-departure testing for travellers from China, the European Commission said on Tuesday.

“The overwhelming majority of countries are in favour of pre-departure testing,” a Commission spokesman said.

“These measures would need to be targeted at the most appropriate flights and airports and carried out in a coordinated way to ensure their effectiveness,” he said.

The Commission on Tuesday prepared a draft proposal for the talks, which included a recommendation for mask-wearing on flights from China, wastewater monitoring for planes arriving from China, testing at airports and increased EU vigilance on testing and vaccination.

“This will now be revised and adopted based on the input of (EU) Member States,” the Commission spokesman said, adding more talks on the measures would take place at another meeting of EU health officials on Wednesday afternoon.

Belgium will test wastewater from planes arriving from China for new Covid variants as part of new steps to prevent the spread of the virus as infections in China surge, the government announced on Monday.

“This will be an additional monitoring objective to verify that the data we receive from China is accurate,” Steven Van Gucht of the Sciensano national public health institute told Reuters.