Headlines
• UK road traffic now at 100% of pre-crisis levels
• Sweden to remove all restrictions in September
• Idaho begins rationing healthcare at hospitals
• Covax scheme set to receive just 70% of doses promised
• UK private rental prices increase by 5% YoY to July
World news
• Data from Department of Transport shows that road traffic in the UK was at 100% of pre-crisis levels. Demand for buses has also reached the highest level for a weekday since March 2020. The number of journeys made on buses – excluding London – was at 71% of pre-pandemic levels on Monday. Provisional figures for trains show demand was at 60% of what it was before the pandemic.
• Sweden will remove virtually all restrictions on 29 September.
• Idaho public health leaders announced that they have activated ‘crisis standards of care’ allowing healthcare rationing for the state’s hospitals. It has warned residents that they may not get the care they would normally expect if they need to be hospitalised.
• Compared with 2019, the number of people reached with HIV prevention and treatment dropped by 11% last year. Meanwhile, HIV testing dropped by 22%, holding back new treatment in most countries, according to a report released by the Global Fund. The report also stated the pandemic was having an impact on treatment programmes for tuberculosis and malaria.
• Czechia today recorded 588 new cases, the highest daily tally since 25 May.
• The head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious disease in Germany has said that the country could see “massive momentum” in new cases in the autumn.
• Zoopla said private rental prices across the UK increased by 5% in the 12 months to the end of July. In August, the stock of property available to rent outside the capital was about a third below typical levels, while supply was already under pressure.
• The Covax vaccine-sharing initiative is set to receive 575m fewer anti-Covid shots this year than previously estimated, as warned by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. It says it is likely to get just 1.425bn doses from donor countries this year, down from a July estimate of 2bn.
