Headlines
• Some 70% of Spanish adults vaccinated
• Portugal to allow unvaccinated UK travellers
• Vaccinated half as likely to get long Covid
• Bulgaria goes into lockdown
• South Africa to stop exporting vaccines to Europe
World news
• Travellers from the UK to Portugal will not need to be fully vaccinated to avoid quarantine, visitors will only need to show proof of a negative PCR test.
• Research led by King's College London suggests that in the minority of people who catch the virus despite getting two vaccines, there is a 50% fall in developing symptoms lasting longer than four weeks. They tracked 1.2m people and found that 0.2% got infected. Only 5% of those went on to develop long Covid, compared to 11% in the unvaccinated group.
• Vaccinated people are twice as likely to be asymptomatic.
• Schools reopen in the UK and France.
• Paramount has pushed the Top Gun sequel back six months to May next year, while Mission: Impossible 7 has been moved from May 2022 to September that year. The studio has also delayed the release of comedy Jackass Forever.
• Contaminants found last week in suspended Moderna vaccines in Japan were particles of stainless steel. • Spain - 70% of its population have been fully vaccinated.
• Cyprus to start giving booster vaccines to people in care homes, those aged over 65, people with compromised immune systems and healthcare workers where six months have passed since their last dose.
• Bulgaria goes into lockdown. Restaurants and bars will have to close at 10pm from 7 September, while indoors sports will have to be held without spectators.
• Some 1,603 suicides occurred in the UK between April and July 2020, around three-quarters of which were of males, according to analysis of provisional data by the ONS. This is down 18% from the same period in 2019 and 12.7% below the average for the previous five years.
• Some 83% of adults arriving in England between 12 and 17 July from an amber list location fully adhered to coronavirus quarantine requirements, according to a survey by the ONS.
• Vaccinated travellers from all international destinations now no longer need to quarantine at Abu Dhabi.
• The African Union’s Covid envoy has announced that vaccine doses produced by a plant in South Africa will no longer be exported to Europe.
