Headlines
• Foxconn and TSMC buy 10m Pfizer vaccines for £252m
• 47% of employees are less career-focused post pandemic
• Tokyo enters a state of emergency today
• Heathrow passenger numbers in June remain down 90% YoY
• 1.5m UK children behind in speaking and understanding skills
World news
• Imperial College London researchers have found a pattern of antibodies in the blood of a small number of people with long Covid, which could lead to a simple blood test within 6 -18 months.
• Foxconn and TSMC have brokered a £252m agreement with BioNTech for 10 million vaccines.
• According to a study by insurer Aviva, 47% of employees were less career - focused because of the pandemic and around 40% said they could never switch off from work and are concerned about work -related burnout. The impact has disproportionately affected women, with 46% concerned , compared to 35% of men.
• Tokyo entered a new state of emergency today – less than two weeks before the start of the Olympic Games.
• Up to 1.5 million children the UK are behind in their speaking and understanding due to disruption to teaching, research by charity I CAN suggests. A total of 67% of primary school teachers believe the children they teach are behind with their speaking and/or understanding , and 60% of secondary school teachers reported they had pupils who are behind.
• Thailand has decided to mix two vaccines to boost protection. Instead of two shots of China ’s Sinovac vaccine, people will now receive AstraZeneca as their second dose.
• The UN has reported the number of people without access to healthy diets grew by 320 million last year to nearly 2.37 billion people – more than the increases in the previous five years combined.
• People who are vaccinated against flu may be partly protected against some of the severe effects of coronavirus, and less likely to need emergency care, according to a major study by University of Miami . Patients who were not vaccinated against the flu were 45 -58% more likely to have a stroke, about 40% more likely to develop DVT, and 36 -45% more likely to have sepsis.
• The Department for Education and the exams regulator Ofqual have launched a three -week consultation on proposed modifications to GCSEs, A -levels and vocational exams in England next year , including advance notice of topics .
• Israel is to start offering a Pfizer booster shot to adults with weak immune systems this week.
• A shipment of 1.5 million doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccine donated by the US arrived in Nepal today .
• The GAVI alliance says it has signed two advance purchase agreements with Chinese drugmakers Sinopharm and Sinovac to provide 110m vaccines to the Covax programme immediately.
• Indonesian authorities have expelled four foreign tourists from the US, Russia and Ireland from Bali , after they breached the island ’s restrictions .
• New restrictions have been introduced in Libya. Cafes must close, weddings and organised funerals with mourners are banned , and public transport use is barred for the next two weeks.
• A total of 87% of all UK adults have now received a first dose of a vaccine, with nearly 35 million people, or 66% of all adults, having had a second. This report is prepared solely for the use of Amelia YoungPeel Hunt Coronavirus: Breaking news 12 Jul 12 July 2021 4
• London Heathrow passenger numbers remain down almost 90% on pre[1]pandemic levels. A total of 957,000 passengers passed through its terminals in June compared, with 7,246,157 in June 2019.
• The House of Commons chamber will be able to return to full capacity next Monday, when social distancing rules are removed across England.
• Volunteers from St John Ambulance have given more than one million hours of their time to support the NHS since the start of the pandemic.
