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Coronavirus live news: Ireland daily reported deaths hit record high; Italy row over 'more jabs for rich areas' call Coronavirus live news: Ireland daily reported deaths hit record high; Italy row over 'more jabs for rich areas' call
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Ireland sees its highest number of deaths since pandemic began; Lombardy health chief suggests GDP should count towards number of jabsIreland sees its highest number of deaths since pandemic began; Lombardy health chief suggests GDP should count towards number of jabs
Health workers in northern Spain have deployed a mobile vaccination trailer that goes from village to village delivering shots to the elderly, in a bid to widen its vaccination programme and reach people beyond nursing homes.
Reuters reports:
The US has reported at least 400,000 deaths from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University as of Tuesday afternoon.
CNN reports:
Israel will extend its third national lockdown until at least 31 January, after the cabinet approved prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to leave the lockdown in place for another 10 days on Tuesday.Israel will extend its third national lockdown until at least 31 January, after the cabinet approved prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to leave the lockdown in place for another 10 days on Tuesday.
The cabinet also approved regulations that will require anyone entering Israel to present a negative coronavirus test, conducted 72 hours prior to arrival, Haaretz reports.The cabinet also approved regulations that will require anyone entering Israel to present a negative coronavirus test, conducted 72 hours prior to arrival, Haaretz reports.
The country currently has 82,652 active cases, and has recorded 4,080 deaths.The country currently has 82,652 active cases, and has recorded 4,080 deaths.
Cases in the West Bank stand at 5,230, and the death toll at 1,406. In Gaza there are 6,170 active cases and 493 people have died so far.Cases in the West Bank stand at 5,230, and the death toll at 1,406. In Gaza there are 6,170 active cases and 493 people have died so far.
Israel began its third lockdown in late December and tightened it in the second week of January, with officials saying at the time it would be lifted after two weeks if the daily caseload decreased sufficiently, AFP reports.Israel began its third lockdown in late December and tightened it in the second week of January, with officials saying at the time it would be lifted after two weeks if the daily caseload decreased sufficiently, AFP reports.
Since the rollout of vaccinations one month ago, Israel has vaccinated more than 2.2 million of its nine million inhabitants, health minister Yuli Edelstein said Tuesday.Since the rollout of vaccinations one month ago, Israel has vaccinated more than 2.2 million of its nine million inhabitants, health minister Yuli Edelstein said Tuesday.
The singer-songwriter Van Morrison will challenge the Northern Irish government in court over its “blanket ban” on live music in licensed venues arising from coronavirus restrictions, his lawyer said Tuesday.The singer-songwriter Van Morrison will challenge the Northern Irish government in court over its “blanket ban” on live music in licensed venues arising from coronavirus restrictions, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Solicitor Joe Rice told AFP the Northern Irish musician, who has released several protest songs against Covid-19 rules in recent months, will ask the High Court in Belfast to review the policy.Solicitor Joe Rice told AFP the Northern Irish musician, who has released several protest songs against Covid-19 rules in recent months, will ask the High Court in Belfast to review the policy.
“We will be seeking leave for judicial review to challenge the blanket ban on live music in licensed premises in Northern Ireland...,” Rice said.“We will be seeking leave for judicial review to challenge the blanket ban on live music in licensed premises in Northern Ireland...,” Rice said.
“We’re not aware of any credible scientific or medical evidence to justify this particular blanket ban... and we’re going to challenge this in the High Court.”“We’re not aware of any credible scientific or medical evidence to justify this particular blanket ban... and we’re going to challenge this in the High Court.”
The UK, is currently struggling with its third and deadliest wave, blamed on a new strain believed to be highly infectious.The UK, is currently struggling with its third and deadliest wave, blamed on a new strain believed to be highly infectious.
While part of the UK - the worst-affected country in Europe - health policy is a devloved matter for governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of which have imposed strict lockdown measures at various stages of the pandemic.While part of the UK - the worst-affected country in Europe - health policy is a devloved matter for governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of which have imposed strict lockdown measures at various stages of the pandemic.
AFP reports:AFP reports:
China’s Sinopharm Group and Pfizer Inc have requested approval for use of their Covid-19 vaccines in Peru as the Andean country grapples with a second wave of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.China’s Sinopharm Group and Pfizer Inc have requested approval for use of their Covid-19 vaccines in Peru as the Andean country grapples with a second wave of the coronavirus, Reuters reports.
Carmen Ponce, general director of state drug regulator Digemid, said that authorisation requests from other vaccine makers, such as AstraZeneca Plc and Russia’s Gamaleya, are expected in the next few days.Carmen Ponce, general director of state drug regulator Digemid, said that authorisation requests from other vaccine makers, such as AstraZeneca Plc and Russia’s Gamaleya, are expected in the next few days.
Coronavirus infections in Peru have climbed since the start of the year, to which the government responded by tightening restrictions and extending a nighttime curfew.Coronavirus infections in Peru have climbed since the start of the year, to which the government responded by tightening restrictions and extending a nighttime curfew.
The Peruvian government recently announced it made agreements with Sinopharm to secure 38 million doses of its vaccine and with AstraZeneca for 14 million doses.The Peruvian government recently announced it made agreements with Sinopharm to secure 38 million doses of its vaccine and with AstraZeneca for 14 million doses.
The arrival of a first batch of Sinopharm vaccine is expected by the end of January or early February, the government said.The arrival of a first batch of Sinopharm vaccine is expected by the end of January or early February, the government said.
Peru reported 3,893 new cases on Monday, taking its total to 1,068,802. The overall official death toll stands at 38,931.Peru reported 3,893 new cases on Monday, taking its total to 1,068,802. The overall official death toll stands at 38,931.
The Peruvian health minister, Pilar Mazzetti, has warned, amid rising infections, that the second wave could overwhelm Peru.The Peruvian health minister, Pilar Mazzetti, has warned, amid rising infections, that the second wave could overwhelm Peru.
Canada will not receive any Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses during the week of 25 January, due to delivery delays that have hit countries around the world.Canada will not receive any Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses during the week of 25 January, due to delivery delays that have hit countries around the world.
“We are now seeing that our entire expected shipment is deferred for next week, and then the numbers start to pick back up in the first weeks of February,” Major-General Dany Fortin, who is in charge of the country’s vaccine rollout, said on Tuesday, Global News reports.“We are now seeing that our entire expected shipment is deferred for next week, and then the numbers start to pick back up in the first weeks of February,” Major-General Dany Fortin, who is in charge of the country’s vaccine rollout, said on Tuesday, Global News reports.
All European countries are also to be temporarily affected by delivery delays, as Pfizer is ramping up its production capacity at one of its plants, a process that is affecting delivery, the company said last week.All European countries are also to be temporarily affected by delivery delays, as Pfizer is ramping up its production capacity at one of its plants, a process that is affecting delivery, the company said last week.
France reported 23,608 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Tuesday, up from 3,736 on Monday and Sunday’s 16,642 new recorded infections.France reported 23,608 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Tuesday, up from 3,736 on Monday and Sunday’s 16,642 new recorded infections.
A further 656 people were reported to have died from the virus in hospitals, compared with Monday’s 403 new fatalities.A further 656 people were reported to have died from the virus in hospitals, compared with Monday’s 403 new fatalities.
Hospitalisations in intensive care units were also on the rise, with the number of people in intensive care rising by 26 to 2,839 while the total number of patients hospitalised for the disease was down 52 over 24 hours at 25,567, Reuters reports.Hospitalisations in intensive care units were also on the rise, with the number of people in intensive care rising by 26 to 2,839 while the total number of patients hospitalised for the disease was down 52 over 24 hours at 25,567, Reuters reports.
In December, France introduced a night curfew between 8pm and 6am, which was further tightened last week and now mandates that everyone must be at home from 6pm. Shops and businesses must also close by then.In December, France introduced a night curfew between 8pm and 6am, which was further tightened last week and now mandates that everyone must be at home from 6pm. Shops and businesses must also close by then.
Schools remain open amid extra testing for staff and pupils.Schools remain open amid extra testing for staff and pupils.
Ireland has reported 93 Covid-19 fatalities on Tuesday, also the highest number of daily deaths since the start of pandemic.Ireland has reported 93 Covid-19 fatalities on Tuesday, also the highest number of daily deaths since the start of pandemic.
The first peak in daily deaths was reached on 20 April last year, when Ireland recorded 77 deaths in a single day.The first peak in daily deaths was reached on 20 April last year, when Ireland recorded 77 deaths in a single day.
The Irish health ministry said of the deaths reported on Tuesday, three occurred in December and 89 in January. There is one death where the date of death is still under investigation, it said.
The median age of those who died was 82 years and the age range was 41-99 years.
The ministry tweeted:
Reuters reports:Reuters reports:
Ireland’s health service is potentially facing the most challenging week in its history as the number of Covid-19 patients in need of intensive care treatment has risen dramatically since the end of December.Ireland’s health service is potentially facing the most challenging week in its history as the number of Covid-19 patients in need of intensive care treatment has risen dramatically since the end of December.
The UK has reported the highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic started, as new data showed one in eight people are likely to have had the virus in England. The PA reports:The UK has reported the highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic started, as new data showed one in eight people are likely to have had the virus in England. The PA reports:
My name is Jedidajah Otte and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments on the pandemic over the next few hours. As ever, do feel free to flag pertinent updates or share tips with me, you can contact me on Twitter @JedySays or via email.My name is Jedidajah Otte and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments on the pandemic over the next few hours. As ever, do feel free to flag pertinent updates or share tips with me, you can contact me on Twitter @JedySays or via email.
I won’t always have time to respond individually, but everything is read and tips and pointers are much appreciated.I won’t always have time to respond individually, but everything is read and tips and pointers are much appreciated.
The Covid pandemic has exposed how underfunded and powerless the World Health Organization is to carry out the tasks the world expects of it, an independent expert panel has said (see 5.43pm).The Covid pandemic has exposed how underfunded and powerless the World Health Organization is to carry out the tasks the world expects of it, an independent expert panel has said (see 5.43pm).
Germany is extending its national lockdown until 14 February, with new rules making it mandatory to wear medical masks in shops and on public transport (see 2.39pm).Germany is extending its national lockdown until 14 February, with new rules making it mandatory to wear medical masks in shops and on public transport (see 2.39pm).
The eastern Spanish region of Valencia is to shut down all bars and restaurants “for a limited time” in a bid to slow the third wave of the coronavirus (see 2.14pm).The eastern Spanish region of Valencia is to shut down all bars and restaurants “for a limited time” in a bid to slow the third wave of the coronavirus (see 2.14pm).
The EU’s member states will agree by the end of the month on the form of a common vaccination certificate but there are no plans to give travel rights to holders of such documents, the European commission has said (see 3.57pm).The EU’s member states will agree by the end of the month on the form of a common vaccination certificate but there are no plans to give travel rights to holders of such documents, the European commission has said (see 3.57pm).
However, Emirates and Etihad, two of the middle east’s biggest airlines, said they would be among the first companies to test an application that allows pre-travel verification of coronavirus tests and vaccinations. The United Arab Emirates carriers have partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to be among “the first airlines” worldwide to trial the IATA Travel Pass, both airlines said in separate statements (see 3.31pm).However, Emirates and Etihad, two of the middle east’s biggest airlines, said they would be among the first companies to test an application that allows pre-travel verification of coronavirus tests and vaccinations. The United Arab Emirates carriers have partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to be among “the first airlines” worldwide to trial the IATA Travel Pass, both airlines said in separate statements (see 3.31pm).
The embattled Dutch government has said it needs to strengthen lockdown measures “as soon as possible” to rein in the spread of the coronavirus amid fears about more transmissible variants. Health minister Hugo de Jonge said in a letter to parliament that the government would announce extra measures tomorrow afternoon (see 4.29pm).The embattled Dutch government has said it needs to strengthen lockdown measures “as soon as possible” to rein in the spread of the coronavirus amid fears about more transmissible variants. Health minister Hugo de Jonge said in a letter to parliament that the government would announce extra measures tomorrow afternoon (see 4.29pm).
Denmark has announced it would include homeless people among those given priority for Covid-19 vaccines. According to social services, Denmark has about 6,500 homeless people, and the decision follows calls from charities and officials who have pointed to an increased risk of transmission among the homeless (see 5.18pm). It also announced it would extend lockdown measures.Denmark has announced it would include homeless people among those given priority for Covid-19 vaccines. According to social services, Denmark has about 6,500 homeless people, and the decision follows calls from charities and officials who have pointed to an increased risk of transmission among the homeless (see 5.18pm). It also announced it would extend lockdown measures.
The Amazonian city of Manaus in Brazil has begun administering Covid vaccines as the rainforest’s biggest city’s health system struggles desperately amid an increase in infections and dwindling oxygen supplies (see 4.46pm).The Amazonian city of Manaus in Brazil has begun administering Covid vaccines as the rainforest’s biggest city’s health system struggles desperately amid an increase in infections and dwindling oxygen supplies (see 4.46pm).
Thai prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned that his government would prosecute anyone who shares false information about coronavirus vaccines in social or mass media (see 1.55pm). It came after the government was accused of acting too slowly to inoculate the country’s population (see 11:59am) and criticised the country’s coronavirus vaccine strategy as being too reliant on a company owned by the Thai king.Thai prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned that his government would prosecute anyone who shares false information about coronavirus vaccines in social or mass media (see 1.55pm). It came after the government was accused of acting too slowly to inoculate the country’s population (see 11:59am) and criticised the country’s coronavirus vaccine strategy as being too reliant on a company owned by the Thai king.
I’ll now hand over to my wonderful colleague Jedidajah Otte to see you through the next few hours. Thanks for reading, and all the best.I’ll now hand over to my wonderful colleague Jedidajah Otte to see you through the next few hours. Thanks for reading, and all the best.
Israel’s coronavirus tsar has warned that a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine may be providing less protection than originally hoped, as the country reported a record 10,000 new Covid infections on Monday.Israel’s coronavirus tsar has warned that a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine may be providing less protection than originally hoped, as the country reported a record 10,000 new Covid infections on Monday.
In remarks reported by Army Radio, Nachman Ash said a single dose appeared “less effective than we had thought”, and also lower than Pfizer had suggested.In remarks reported by Army Radio, Nachman Ash said a single dose appeared “less effective than we had thought”, and also lower than Pfizer had suggested.
By contrast, those who had received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine had a six- to 12-fold increase in antibodies, according to data released by Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer on Monday.By contrast, those who had received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine had a six- to 12-fold increase in antibodies, according to data released by Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer on Monday.
The issue of some vaccines being less effective after a single dose rather than two is well known, as well as the fact that protection is not immediate. While the first dose can take several weeks to promote an effective antibody response, the second dose can trigger different responses, supercharging the protection.The issue of some vaccines being less effective after a single dose rather than two is well known, as well as the fact that protection is not immediate. While the first dose can take several weeks to promote an effective antibody response, the second dose can trigger different responses, supercharging the protection.
Pfizer itself says a single dose of its vaccine is about 52% effective. Some countries such as the UK have delayed administering their second doses to try to maximise the number of people given a first dose.Pfizer itself says a single dose of its vaccine is about 52% effective. Some countries such as the UK have delayed administering their second doses to try to maximise the number of people given a first dose.
Moderna, the pharmaceutical company, has said it has received a report from the California health department that several people at a center in San Diego were treated for possible allergic reactions after vaccination from one lot of its Covid vaccine.
The vaccine maker said it was unaware of comparable cases of adverse events from other vaccination centres which may have administered vaccines from the same lot or from other lots of its vaccine, Reuters reports.
Vaccinated people mistakenly believe they are “good to go” and socialise with other people despite a continuing threat of the coronavirus, the head of the government’s behavioural unit has said.
Prof David Halpern, the chair of the Behavioural Insights Team, has said that surveys showed that those who had received a jab were preparing to meet family and friends, which could result in another spike of the virus.
“We definitely do worry that people feel that, the second they have got that vaccination, they are good to go,” he told MPs in the UK.
The vaccine offers the best protection 12 to 14 days after the second jab, and doctors are still unsure whether it will stop the recipient from passing on the virus.
The idea that richer areas should get a bigger share of coronavirus vaccines has sparked an outcry in Italy, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.
AFP reports:
The Covid pandemic has exposed how underfunded and powerless the World Health Organization is to carry out the tasks the world expects of it, an independent expert panel has said.
The heads of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response presented a report to the WHO’s executive board which said that the UN health body could have acted faster and more decisively at the start of the pandemic to avert catastrophe.
But they stressed that the delays and failures could largely be attributed to the weak position of the UN agency, and said more funding and reforms were desperately needed.
“The world is more reliant on an effective WHO than ever before,” said former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who co-chairs the panel with former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark.
But, she told reporters, the same countries that have turned to the WHO for leadership during the crisis “have kept it underpowered and under-resourced to do the job expected of it.”
Covid-19 was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019 before seeping beyond China’s borders to wreak global havoc, costing more than two million lives and eviscerating economies.
The WHO has faced claims it moved too slowly to declare an international crisis, to acknowledge the virus was spreading through the air, and to recommend face masks.
It has also faced criticism for not pressing China harder to provide accurate information on the initial cases and for allowing more than a year to pass before an international team of experts could enter China to help search for the origins of the virus.
But while the panel report also suggested the WHO should have acted quicker at the start, Johnson Sirleaf stressed that “the bottom line is the WHO has no powers to enforce anything or investigate... within a country”.
“When it comes to a potential new disease threat, all the WHO can do is ask and hope to be invited in,” she said.
Clark also pointed to the agency’s low level of funding and the dangers of relying so heavily on volatile voluntary contributions.
Such contributions can suddenly disappear, as seen last year when the US, traditionally the WHO’s biggest donor, halted its backing.
“The funding of the WHO is woeful,” Clark said, pointing to comparisons showing the agency receives less than a single hospital in New York. “This is our global health organisation. We want it to do well, we need it to do well ... But it has been kept on pretty short rations.”
The panel also found that the international alert system for health emergencies needed an overhaul.
It complained that it took a full month for the WHO’s emergency committee to declare the highest alert level, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern or PHEIC, and that many countries did not appear to appreciate the seriousness of the situation.
“Pathogens can travel in minutes and hours, not in days and weeks,” Clark said. “The international system for alert and response has the trappings of an analog system in the digital age.”
Denmark has announced it would include homeless people among those given priority for Covid-19 vaccines.
According to social services, Denmark has about 6,500 homeless people, and the decision follows calls from charities and officials who have pointed to an increased risk of transmission among the homeless.
The Scandinavian country started vaccinations on 27 December and is currently among the quickest to roll out the vaccine in the EU in terms of jabs per capita.
The Danish strategy has been split into 12 priority groups, of which the first five are currently offered the vaccine, although this also depends on the region they live in.
“Homeless and socially vulnerable people who are particularly at risk are vaccinated in category 5,” the Ministry of Social Affairs said in a statement. Those in the group but not deemed to be particularly at risk will still be “given priority before the general population”, it added.
“There is an urgent need to prioritise our most vulnerable, the people living in the streets, those with the largest and most complex need for help. Vaccines + aid packages - now!” the legal aid group Gadejuristen (The Street Lawyers) saidon Facebook.
Nearly three percent of the Danish population has received the first dose of the Covid vaccine already and 0.5 percent have also had the second dose, making Denmark one of the leading countries in the EU.
Portugal is living “one of the saddest moments”, the country’s prime minister has said, as doctors warned of a healthcare system nearing collapse and the daily death toll from Covid reached a new record high.
The country of 10 million people recorded 218 new Covid fatalities, up from 167 yesterday and pushing the total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 9,246, health authority DGS said.
“We are certainly living one of the saddest moments, of greatest pain and suffering,” prime minister Antonio Costa told parliament. “It is a very tough marathon.”
Portugal, which last week announced a new lockdown to curb the surge in infections and help relieve pressure on struggling hospitals, also reported 10,455 new Covid cases, bringing the cumulative total to 566,958, Reuters reports.
“If [the number of infections] continues at this rate it will be very difficult to get to the end of the week without [the health system] collapsing,” said Joao Gouveia, head of the association representing Portuguese intensive care workers.
Of 672 intensive care unit (ICU) beds allocated to Covid patients in public hospitals, 670 are now occupied, while the country only has in total just over 1,000 such beds for all patients, regardless of illness, health authorities said.
“In hospitals the situation is absolutely dramatic,” said Ricardo Mexia, president of the National Association of Public Health Doctors. “Public health units don’t have the capacity to cope with the volume of new infections we are seeing every day.”
In the city of Portalegre, a hospital launched an inquiry on Tuesday into the death of an elderly man after he waited three hours inside an ambulance because the COVID-19 unit was full.
The International Health Regulations remain a cornerstone of public health security and need improving in some areas, but do not require major changes, the chair of a World Health Organization (WHO) panel reviewing the 2005 rules has said.
Lothar Wieler, chair of the independent panel, told the WHO’s Executive Board: “There is a growing belief in the Committee that most improvements can be achieved through a more effective implementation of the existing mechanism of IHR and do not require at this point changes to the IHR.”
The rules, which went into force in 2007, require WHO’s 194 member states to advise WHO within 24 hours about health emergencies. They lay down provisions for taking measures on international travel and trade if justified on health grounds.
“Countries may be reluctant to report on events if they perceive consequences, mainly related to travel and trade, deriving from early notification. The current IHR requirements for notification and verification, as well as information sharing by WHO, need further examination,” the panel said in an interim report.
Austria’s envoy, speaking on behalf of the European Union – which has called for WHO reforms – told the board that the bloc attached “great importance” to the regulations but that the world had not been prepared for the pandemic.
“We need to rethink prevention, control and response to global health crisis,” said Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Austrian ambassador to the UN in Geneva. “That is why the EU and its member states stand ready to explore ways to reinforce IHR implementation, including an effective system of compliance evaluation.”
The Amazonian city of Manaus in Brazil has begun administering Covid vaccines as the rainforest’s biggest city’s health system struggles desperately amid an increase in infections and dwindling oxygen supplies.
State governor Wilson Lima led a ceremony to kick off the vaccination campaign last night. Vanda Ortega, 33, a member of the Witoto ethnicity and a nurse technician, soon received the first dose of CoronaVac, a vaccine developed by Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.
“I want to thank God and our ancestors,” said Ortega, who is also a volunteer nurse in her Indigenous community.
It came as Brazil began rolling out its national immunisation program with 6 million doses of CoronaVac in almost a dozen states. It hopes to receive 46 million doses up to April to distribute among states. Amazonas received 256,000 doses.
The priority in the first vaccination phase in the rainforest region will be health workers, elderly people above 80 years old, and Indigenous people in about 265 villages.
Amazonas, a state with a population estimated below 4 million, has recorded at least 232,000 cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to official figures, with 6,302 deaths. Hospitals in Manaus have admitted few new Covid patients, causing many to suffer from the disease at home and some to die.
The embattled Dutch government has said it needs to beef up lockdown measures “as soon as possible” to rein in the spread of the coronavirus amid fears about more transmissible variants.
Health minister Hugo de Jonge said in a letter to parliament that the government would announce extra measures tomorrow afternoon.
The Netherlands has been in a tough lockdown for a month and will remain that way at least until at least 9 February, but the slow decrease in the number of new infections and the threat posed by new variants have prompted the government to consider a tightening that is expected to include a curfew for the first time since the pandemic began.
The Dutch public health institute announced today that new infections decreased by 21.5% over the past week to 38,776, in what it called a “moderately positive picture” of the effects of the lockdown, the Associated Press reported.
However, it added that the decrease was “overshadowed” by a rise in the percentage of people who have a new, more transmissible variant of the virus that led to a sharp spike in infections in the UK and Ireland.
Some 10% of new infections are with the new variant and the institute said it expects that to rise to at least 50% by mid-February.
The institute said in a statement that there are now “two separate corona epidemics. An epidemic with the old’ variant in which infections are falling, and an epidemic with the British variant in which the number of infections is rising.”
Dutch efforts to tackle the virus have been complicated by the government’s resignation on Friday over a scandal involving thousands of parents wrongly being labelled fraudsters by the country’s tax office.
Prime minister Mark Rutte’s four-party coalition remains in office in caretaker mode until a new government is formed after elections on 17 March and would have to seek backing from lawmakers for any new measures.
It remains unclear if Rutte can find a majority in parliament to support a curfew. One of the parties that make up his coalition is opposed to such a move, meaning Rutte will likely have to cobble together support from opposition parties.
The EU’s member states will agree by the end of the month on the form of a common vaccination certificate but there are no plans to give travel rights to holders of such documents, the European commission has said.
The paperwork will instead be used to ensure pan-European recognition of citizens’ vaccination records although other possible uses will be debated by the bloc’s leaders at a virtual summit on Thursday.
The commission’s vice-president, Margaritis Schinas, said the use of the certificates as a passport was “imaginable” but only once sufficient people had been covered and an agreement was found between all the capitals on the conditions of use.
While countries reliant on tourism such as Greece and Spain are keen on pushing vaccination passports as a means to encourage travel, others, including Germany and France, are sceptical that it would be appropriate to discriminate between travellers on the basis of medical records.
The EU will seek, however, for such certificates to be recognised beyond the bloc’s borders, Schinas said, raising the prospect of UK travellers being included should Downing Street U-turn on its current rejection of the concept.
The commission’s plan was announced alongside a proposed timetable for vaccinations across the bloc’s 27 member states. At least 80% of those aged over 80 will be given a jab by March 2021, as will 80% of health and social care professionals. By the end of the summer, the commission has said the member states should have vaccinated 70% of the entire adult population.
In a thinly veiled reference to the UK’s vaccination programme, Schinas said the pace of rolling out jabs should increase but that it was “not a race between countries but a race against time”.
“In Europe, we have opted for safety first,” he said.
The commission also called on the capitals to increase their genome sequencing to at least 5% and preferably 10% of positive test results as part of an effort to identify the new variants of the virus. The commission said many member states were currently testing under 1% of samples.