Half of all UK adults get first vaccine dose

Britain has hit a Covid-19 vaccination milestone with more than half of all adults having had at least one injection, health secretary Matt Hancock said, making it the world's first major economy to achieve that level of innoculation.

Britain's vaccine roll-out, which has raced ahead of those in the European Union and the United States, means the country is on track to ease lockdown measures and re-open the economy in line with its plan, Hancock said.

"The vaccination programme is our route out of the pandemic," Hancock told Sky News on Saturday. Official data showed 26.9 million had received a first dose of vaccine, up from 26.3 million the previous day.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had AstraZeneca's vaccine on Friday, tweeted "Let's keep going" after the announcement that half of all adults had had a first shot.

Yet worries were also growing about a new wave of infections in continental Europe as cases rise in countries including Germany and France.

A scientist who advises the British government warned on Saturday that holidays abroad were "extremely unlikely" for most Britons this summer due to the risk of importing new variants of Covid-19.

Britain's vaccination roll-out, using the AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs, is one of the fastest in the world. Israel tops the world in terms of the proportion of its population it has vaccinated, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Chile, then the UK.

By comparison, 23% of the US population has received at least one dose of a vaccine, and less than a 10th of the EU population has been vaccinated, reports Reuters.

Saudi Arabia and neighbouring United Arab Emirates said yesterday health authorities have expanded Covid-19 vaccinations to all citizens and residents aged 16 and above as Gulf states race to bring the virus under control.

Riyadh said the health ministry will start inoculating its population aged 16 and above with Pfizer vaccines, while its citizens and residents aged of 18 and above will have Astrazeneca shots.

China has accelerated its vaccinations against Covid-19, administering 10 million doses in around a week, and is considering varied visa policies based on vaccination and virus conditions in different countries, officials said yesterday.

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters angry at Covid-19 restrictions rallied in cities across Europe as several nations reimposed partial lockdowns to fight new surges in infections yesterday.

The coronavirus, which has killed more than 2.7 million people, has been spreading faster recently, with the number of new infections up globally by 14 percent in the last week, according to AFP data.

India has reported its highest number of cases in four months amid a worrying surge that has prompted multiple states to return to some form of restrictions on public gathering.

The health ministry yesterday reported 43,846 new cases in the past 24 hours, the worst single-day increase since mid-November.

ASTRAZENECA VACCINE

AstraZeneca said yesterday its Covid-19 vaccine contains no pork-derived ingredients, countering an assertion in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, that the drug violates Islamic law.

Indonesia's highest Muslim clerical council, the Indonesia Ulema Council, said on its website Friday that the vaccine is "haram" because the manufacturing process uses "trypsin from the pork pancreas."

Still, the council approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use given the pandemic emergency.

But AstraZeneca Indonesia director Rizman Abudaeri said in a statement: "At all stages of the production process, this virus vector vaccine does not use nor come in contact with pork-derived products or other animal products."

The council and the country's food and drug agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indonesian authorities on Friday approved the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine after reviewing reports that it had caused blood clots among some recipients in Europe.

Churches in Manila will be closed, eating inside restaurants banned and leisure travel outside the Philippine capital curbed under new coronavirus rules unveiled yesterday as the country battles a resurgence in infections.

Germany is considering making all people returning from abroad face quarantine and compulsory tests after infection rates jumped above the level at which authorities say hospitals will be overstretched.

The number of people in intensive care units with Covid-19 in French hospitals has risen by 66 to 4,353, a new 2021 high, the health ministry reported on Saturday.