School districts in Florida may impose mask mandates a judge said ruling that the states Republican governor Ron DeSantis overstepped his authority by issuing an executive order banning the mandates The Leon county circuit judge John Cooper agreed with a group of parents who claimed in a lawsuit that DeSantis order is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced

Early data from Israel suggests that people given both doses of PfizerBioNTech are almost six times more likely to contract the Delta Covid variant and sevenfold more likely to have symptomatic disease than those who had previously recovered according to data from the largest realworld study comparing natural immunity gained from earlier infection with inoculation

Production of Moderna Covid19 vaccines at a plant of partner Rovi in Spain can continue after an initial assessment the EU drugs regulator said as it continues its investigation of a contamination incident which saw Japan suspend the use of 163m doses of the jabs after about 4700 shots from the potentially contaminated batches were used

Canadas Liberal party has said that if reelected they would provide C1 billion to help the 10 provinces create vaccine passports for people to prove they had been inoculated against Covid19 as the governing party seeks to make vaccination a dividing election issue

Italy announced a return of some coronavirus restrictions to Sicily the first time such measures have been reimposed on a regional level since the start of summer From Monday masks would again be required outdoors as well as indoors on the island and restaurant diners will be limited to groups of four The US supreme court conservative majority allowed evictions to resume across the US putting millions at risk of homelessness and blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic

Two UK government advisers reportedly said that prime minister Boris Johnson has privately accepted an average of 1000 Covidrelated deaths in the UK per week and would only consider imposing further restrictions if that figure looked like it could rise above 50000 per year

Denmark is to lift all Covid restrictions by 10 September health officials have said saying the virus no longer posed a threat to society due to the countrys broad vaccination coverage

Twothirds of countries imposed restrictions on the media amid Covid with freedom of expression the biggest human rights casualty of the pandemic according to a report by campaigning organisation Article 19 We are now closing this blog Thanks for reading You can read all our latest coronavirus coverage here Take care

Secondary school and college pupils will need to wear face masks in communal areas outside of their classrooms yet again in areas of the south west of England as extra support was pledged in response to a rise in coronavirus cases

PA Media reports that the Department of Health and Social Care said that from today Cornwall the Isles of Scilly Devon Plymouth and Torbay local authority areas which have seen a rise in cases would get help to increase vaccine and testing uptake and deliver more public health messaging

Although schools will return from next week as planned students in secondary schools and colleges will again need to wear face masks in communal areas after the guidance was scrapped on 19 July The new measures are expected to be in place for five weeks with the impact monitored

It comes after new figures showed growing numbers of local areas including in the South West were recording their highest rates of new cases of Covid19 since comparable records began as the third wave of coronavirus continues to pick up pace across the country

Florida schools can mandate masks judge rules School districts in Florida may impose mask mandates a judge said Friday ruling that the states Republican governor Ron DeSantis overstepped his authority by issuing an executive order banning the mandates

The Leon county circuit judge John Cooper agreed with a group of parents who claimed in a lawsuit that DeSantis order is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced

The news came as it emerged that some Florida districts are asking the public to conserve water because it is in short supply to keep hospitals provided with all the liquid oxygen they need to help Covid patients breathe as well as utilities which need it for water processing

The governor order gave parents the sole right to decide if their child wears a mask at school Cooper said DeSantis order is without legal authority

His decision came after a threeday virtual hearing and after at least 10 Florida school boards voted to defy DeSantis and impose mask requirements with no parental optout

Italy has announced a return of some coronavirus restrictions to Sicily the first time such measures have been reimposed on a regional level since the start of summer

AFP reports that from Monday masks would again be required outdoors as well as indoors on the island and restaurant diners will be limited to groups of four following an increase in cases of Covid19

I have just signed a new decree which makes Sicily a yellow zone said health minister Roberto Speranza It is confirmation that the virus is not yet defeated

Sicily will be classed as yellow the second lowest level in a fourlevel classification system based on rates of Covid19 infections and hospital admissions For two months all Italy regions have been classed as the lowest risk white but the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant has sparked concern

Since early August Italy has required proof of vaccination recent recovery from coronavirus or a negative test for people wanting to dine indoors or enter museums and sports events The socalled green pass will also become compulsory for teachers and on trains and planes from 1 September

However further measures were considered necessary in Sicily where vaccination rates are lower than the national average and where crowds have flocked for the summer season Librarians in Grenoble Lyon Toulouse and La Rochelle have been striking over the controversial French health pass

Huffington Post reports that one of the groups in Lyon said the mandatory requirement for the pass sanitaire to enter libraries is a discriminatory and unequal measure applied in a desire to force a part of the population to get vaccinated

Others fear of the effects the exclusion of marginalised audience from access to cultural institutions could have the website reported

They have also criticised an apparent double standard since bookstores university libraries specialised libraries and some leading state archive libraries do not require the health pass which requires people to have their vaccine or Covid status proven to enter a number of public buildings and services Huffington Post reported

In Grenoble librarians have striked on multiple days this week with a majority of libraries in the city closed yesterday as a result The local group said

The sanitary pass is in total contradiction with the conception of the profession A public service must be free and open to all without discrimination We would like to point out that our action only concerns access to our establishments and is in no way a position concerning vaccination

Ministers should be planning for a huge rise in Covid cases as schools return the government scientific advisers have warned as debate continues over whether all older children should be offered a Covid vaccine my colleagues Richard Adams and Sally Weale report

Canadas Liberal party has said that if reelected they would provide C1 billion to help the 10 provinces create vaccine passports for people to prove they had been inoculated against Covid19

Proof of vaccination systems ensure Canadians can be confident that those around them are fully vaccinated in addition to providing businesses with important and clear guidance around how to reopen safely the Liberals said

Polls show the Liberals led by prime minister Justin Trudeau are narrowly ahead of their Conservative rivals Reuters reports The election is on 20 September

The question of vaccines is being used by the Liberal as a potential wedge issue in the election The Conservatives led by Erin OToole are not requiring inoculations for their candidates and has espoused his respect for personal health decisions while suggesting that rapid testing is an alternative to vaccine passports

Trudeau admitted today that all Liberal candidates are not yet vaccinated though they intend to swiftly while he also faced criticism that the news event where he was speaking clearly breached Ontario state limits on no more than 25 people gathering inside

You deserve better you deserve a government that is going to continue to say get vaccinated And you know what if you dont want to get vaccinated that is your choice But dont think you can get on a plane or a train besides vaccinated people and put them at risk

The C1bn would help cover costs incurred by the provinces for creating vaccine passports for people wishing to enter nonessential businesses or public spaces Some provinces including Quebec have already said they plan to set up such a system

Earlier this month the Liberal government said it would soon require all federal public servants and many other workers to be vaccinated against Covid19 Under one of the world strictest vaccine policies for transportation the mandate would also include air train and cruise ship travellers

The International Air Transport Association told the Wall Street Journal it was unaware of any other country in the world banning unvaccinated passengers from planes as Trudeau proposes

Vaccinations should not be a prerequisite for restarting international air travel alternative solutions must be offered to those who are unable to get vaccinated the trade group said

Larry Elliott Share prices hit fresh records on Wall Street after the head of the US central bank Jerome Powell expressed concern about rocketing Covid19 infections and gave no new clues on when the Federal Reserve would start to ease back on its stimulus programme

Wall Street hits new highs after Fed extends stimulus package

Half of children aged 12 to 17 have received at least their first vaccination dose against Covid19 and the age group is seeing the fastest growth rate in vaccinations the White House has said

We have now hit a major milestone in our effort to vaccinate adolescence 50 of 12 to 17 year olds now have at least their first shot White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said according to Reuters And in fact the vaccination rate among adolescents is growing faster than any other age group

Production of Moderna Covid19 vaccines at a plant of partner Rovi in Spain can continue after an initial assessment the EU drugs regulator has said as it continues its investigation of a contamination incident

Yesterday Japan suspended the use of 163m doses of the Moderna vaccine with the company saying contamination could be due to a manufacturing issue on one of the production lines at its contract manufacturing site in Spain run by Rovi

About 4700 shots from the potentially contaminated batches were used before they were suspended yesterday after foreign substances were found in opened vials on 16 August

A health ministry official said the company Takeda only reported the issue to the government yesterday because it needed time to gather information on which vials were affected and where they were in the country the official said

The European Medicines Agency told Reuters

Covid19 vaccine production in Rovi is able to continue following a preliminary risk assessment of the information received so far An investigation into the root cause is ongoing EMA will be able to provide more information as the investigation progresses

The EU has moved to reinstate Covid travel restrictions like quarantine and testing requirements for unvaccinated citizens of the US and five other countries two diplomats told Reuters

EU countries are set to start a procedure to remove the US from a list of countries whose citizens can travel to the 27nation bloc without additional Covid restrictions

The nonbinding list currently has 23 countries on it including Japan Qatar and Ukraine but some of the 27 EU countries already have their own limits on US travellers in place

One diplomat said other countries that would be removed from the safe travel list were Kosovo Israel Montenegro Lebanon and North Macedonia Reuters reports

The decision on new EU travel restrictions for foreigners would become final on Monday should no EU country object the sources as well as two more EU officials added

The list is compiled on the basis of Covid19 situation in each country as well as reciprocity Despite EU calls the US does not allow European citizens to visit freely and the bloc has been divided between those pushing for equal treatment and those more reliant on tourism and reluctant to restrict US travellers