Health

England set to remove final countries from Covid travel ‘red list’

All remaining destinations on the UK’s travel “red list” will be removed and vaccines from dozens more countries are to be recognised, ministers have announced in a significant opening up of borders.

The move means no passengers will have to quarantine in a hotel at a cost of more than £2,000 for 11 nights once the change comes into effect from 4am on Monday 1 November.

However, the red list system will not be abandoned entirely, and countries may be added again in future if concerning new variants emerge. The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said it remained “vital in protecting our borders” and that a small number of quarantine hotel rooms are being kept on standby. “We … will not hesitate to take swift action by adding countries to the red list if the risk increases again,” he said.

The red list was slimmed down significantly at the last review, and only included South and Central American countries. The final ones to be removed are Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Venezuela.

“Delta is now the dominant variant in most countries around the world,” the Department for Transport said. “This means the risk of known variants entering the UK has reduced.” It added ministers would decide whether any countries needed to be re-added in three weeks.Ministers are also preparing to recognise vaccines administered in 30 more countries, including Peru and Uganda, meaning travellers from those countries can avoid staying at home for up to 10 days if fully inoculated with an approved jab.

Labour said the protection of Britain’s border had been “shambolic” and removing all countries from the red list “could post risks to our future safety”. The shadow transport secretary, Jim McMahon, once again urged the government to “be open and honest with the public” by publishing full country-by-country data on Covid to reassure people “these decisions are being taken based on science, not politics”.

It came as the European Commission announced that UK certificates will be recognised as being equivalent in status to the bloc’s own digital Covid certificate from Friday.

While many EU member states have already unilaterally recognised the NHS Covid pass, the long-awaited decision ensures it will be automatically accepted across Europe.

Travellers to countries such as the Netherlands will no longer have to take daily Covid tests to enter bars, restaurants and museums.

Didier Reynders, the EU commissioner for justice, said: “Safer travel is a reality thanks to the EU digital Covid certificate, which is now the leading global standard: 45 countries in four continents are connected to the system and more will follow in the coming weeks and months. We are open to other countries to join our system.”

The commission took three months to assess the UK’s application for equivalence status, which will cover passes issued in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey and North Macedonia all secured the status within a period of five to eight weeks after applying.

Vaccination certificates issued in Armenia will also be recognised from Friday, the commission said.

The tie-up will fold data held by the UK’s NHS app into the EU digital Covid certificate, allowing other countries to access users’ vaccine status and test results at the border.

The lack of equivalence status between the NHS app and the EU system has been a thorn in the side of British tourists seeking to visit a range of European destinations and for those people who were vaccinated in the UK but who live abroad.

The problem has become particularly acute as an increasing number of EU governments have started requiring a Covid pass for entrance to events or hospitality venues.

Since 2 August, visitors from the EU who have been fully vaccinated with a single EMA-approved vaccine have not been obliged to quarantine on entry to the UK.

Health

AIDS Agency Chief Says 1 Out Of 100 Persons Positive In Kaduna

The Executive Secretary of Kaduna State Aids Control Agency (KADSACA), Dr Isa Baka has said a survey had revealed that one out of 100 people is positive to the AIDS disease in the state.

Baka disclosed this speaking shortly after a walk in commemoration of the World AIDS Day, on Thursday in Kaduna.

The theme of the year’s’ World AIDS Day is “Equalise to End AIDS: Equal Access to Treatment and Prevention Services’’.

He said the present statistics was a remarkable development against previous survey which gave 11 of every 100 people in the state.

Baka added that the AIDS prevalence in Kaduna, which is at 1.1, being a survey carried out by the state government itself, was later done at the national level, where that of Kaduna was confirmed as very accurate.

“At the national level, the prevalence of the virus (AIDS) was at 1.4 (four people out of 100 test positive), while that of Kaduna is confirmed to be 1.1, was in determination of the state government and KADSACA’s efforts to ensure minimal prevalence of the virus,” he said.

He said as part of efforts to continue reducing the prevalence of AIDS in the state, government initiated programmes across the 23 LGAs.

He said one of the UNICEF anchored programmes, which is the ‘Adolescent and Youths Living With HIV and AIDS’ programme, was present and effective in at least, 18 LGAs and 24 sites in the state.

Health

Malawi Commences Large Scale Malaria Vaccination- First In The World

Malawi has commenced large-scale vaccination of children against malaria.

This is the first large-scale malaria vaccination campaign since the World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed the widespread use of the RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine in October 2021.

The endorsement followed a two-year vaccination programme, which involved more than 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.

Recommended for children from five months of age to around 18 months, the vaccine has an efficacy of 39 percent.

The first phase of the vaccination in Malawi is expected to cover 11 of the country’s 28 districts.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the WHO in Malawi said the expansion of access to the malaria vaccine will enable more children at risk of malaria to benefit from an additional prevention tool.

“Malawi has expanded access to the first malaria vaccine! The expansion of the RTS,S Malaria vaccine, into the 11 districts that participated in the malaria vaccine implementation program (MVIP) has been launched today. The vaccine offers a glimmer hope for Malawi,” WHO wrote.

Michael Kayange, Malawi’s national malaria control programme manager, told the BBC’s Focus on Africa that although the vaccine has low efficacy, “in malaria control, there is no single intervention that does it all”.

Health

Nigeria Yet To Attain 70% Covid-19 Vaccination Coverage- NPHCDA

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has disclosed that Nigeria is yet to achieve 70 percent coverage for COVID-19 vaccination.

Faisal Shuaib, executive director of NPHCDA, said on Tuesday that as of November 25, a total of 56,790,371 eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination are fully vaccinated while 12,492,646 are partially vaccinated in 36 states and the FCT.

“We are 21.6 million eligible persons away from reaching its target of fully vaccinating 70 percent of its eligible population by December 2022,” he said.

“But 62 percent of the country’s eligible population is at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

“The country has fully vaccinated half of the total population eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.

“We have also fully vaccinated an additional over 25 percent of its eligible population, in the last 110 days of SCALES 3.0 implementation.”

The executive director said 13.2 percent of fully vaccinated persons in the country have received the COVID-19 booster dose for additional protection against the virus.

He commended the COVID-19 strategy group for achieving 50 percent vaccination coverage in the country and promised that the momentum would be sustained.

Shuaib said he has also directed the team to intensify efforts toward the attainment of herd immunity.

“Until this is achieved, the strategy group will continue to develop strategies that will help the country achieve health security,” he said.