Coronavirus latest news: Antibodies can protect against Covid for at least 10 months, study finds

June 4, 2021 3oliver

The study indicates that natural immunity to the virus is long-lasting - EPA — The study indicates that natural immunity to the virus is long-lasting – EPA

People who have previously caught Covid-19 are protected from reinfection for at least ten months, a study has found.

The findings, published in the Lancet, is reassuring for many of Britain’s almost 4.5million cases, and builds on previous studies which indicate natural immunity to the virus is long-lasting.

Researchers looked at how many people who contracted Covid-19 in the first wave also tested positive in the second wave.

Most of the reinfection cases in the study suffered symptoms, but none required hospitalisation.

Follow the latest updates below.

06:32 AM

Booster jabs in autumn following Pfizer data of lower Delta variant antibody levels

Following the data released by the Francis Crick Institute showing that the Pfizer jab produces less antibodies that are effective against the Delta variant, the lab’s founder has said that we need to look at booster vaccinations in autumn.

Dr David Bauer, founder of the Francis Crick Institute, has said the results show us that “we need to keep our eyes open and look at the possibility of boosters in autumn, even for those who have had their second dose.”

He added that booster jabs will be especially important for “those who are in the more vulnerable categories”.

06:24 AM

Pfizer vaccine recipients have lower antibodies targeting Indian variant, study shows

People who have had the Pfizer vaccine have lower antibody levels targeting the coronavirus variant first discovered in India, the Delta variant, than those against previously circulating variants in the UK, new data suggests.

The research also suggests the levels of these antibodies are lower with increasing age and that levels decline over time.

Researchers say this provides additional evidence in support of plans to deliver a vaccination boost to vulnerable people in the autumn.

The new laboratory data from the Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research UCLH Biomedical Research Centre also supports current plans to reduce the dose gap between vaccines.

06:14 AM

Hopes for summer holidays fade as Portugal moved to amber list

Hopes for summer holidays abroad are fading after travel rules were tightened amid growing concerns over coronavirus variants and mutations.

Travel bosses are facing “another lost summer” after Portugal was added to the amber travel list just weeks after the holiday hotspot reopened for British tourists.

Urging caution ahead of the scheduled domestic unlock on June 21, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps blamed the move on “a sort of Nepal mutation of the so-called Indian variant” having been detected, and an increased test positivity rate in the country.

The news comes as it was revealed that the variant first identified in India is now the dominant Covid strain in the UK.

06:09 AM

Today’s front page

Here is your Daily Telegraph on Friday, June 4.

05:49 AM

Outbreak builds in Myanmar near Indian border

A new outbreak of Covid-19 is growing near Myanmar’s northwestern border with India, bringing the sharpest increase in cases since the military coup in February led to a collapse in health services and the testing programme.

Official figures released late on Thursday showed 122 cases across the country for the second time in three days – a low number compared with many Asian neighbours, but the highest in nearly four months.

Many of the cases are from Chin State, bordering India, raising concerns that the more transmissible variant first found there is now spreading in Myanmar.

05:26 AM

Malaysia warns of rising number of deaths, cases among children

Malaysian health authorities have raised concerns about a growing number of coronavirus deaths and serious cases involving children, after a surge in overall infections forced the Southeast Asian nation into a strict lockdown.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declared a two-week “total lockdown” from June 1-14, as daily cases and deaths hit record numbers, with the government warning the outbreak may be linked to more contagious variants.

Malaysia recorded the deaths of three children aged below five due to the coronavirus in the first five months of this year, the same number recorded over the whole of 2020, according to Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah.

A total of 27 children, including 19 below the age of five, also had to be treated in intensive care between January and May after contracting the virus, up from eight cases last year.

Parents comfort their children as medical personnel collect swab samples for Covid-19 testing in Selangor - FAZRY ISMAIL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock — Parents comfort their children as medical personnel collect swab samples for Covid-19 testing in Selangor – FAZRY ISMAIL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

04:32 AM

Vietnam approves China’s Sinopharm vaccine

Vietnam has approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine for use against Covid-19, state media reported on Friday, making it the third shot to be endorsed in the Southeast Asian country that is tackling a new outbreak of infections.

The decision to approve the Sinopharm vaccine was issued by the health ministry, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. Vietnam has previously approved the AstraZeneca vaccine and Russia’s Sputnik V.

The ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Read more: Vietnam’s ‘very dangerous’ new hybrid variant may be fuelling its worst outbreak so far

A warning sign is seen outside an area locked in quarantine in Ho Chi Minh city - Reuters — A warning sign is seen outside an area locked in quarantine in Ho Chi Minh city – Reuters

03:35 AM

Japan donates more than 1 million AstraZeneca jabs to Taiwan

Tokyo is donating more than one million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines to Taiwan, Japan’s foreign minister announced on Friday, as Taipei struggles to secure jabs, accusing China of interference.

The move is likely to stir controversy with Beijing, which views democratic and self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and works to keep the island diplomatically isolated.

“We have received requests from various countries and areas for the provision of vaccines,” Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters in Tokyo. “At this point, we have finished the arrangement for the request from Taiwan. And we will deliver free of charge 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines that have been produced in Japan,” he added.

He said the vaccine would be handled through the territory’s embassy equivalent and would arrive in Taiwan later today.

Read more: Taiwan accuses China of disrupting vaccine supplies

03:05 AM

Variant that devastated India detected in Australia

Australia’s Victoria state authorities said on Friday genomic sequencing has detected for the first time the Delta Covid-19 virus variant among infections in the latest virus outbreak in state capital, Melbourne.

“That variant is the Delta variant, it is now infamous in India and increasingly found in the United Kingdom. It is a variant of significant concern,” Victoria state Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters in Melbourne.

Mr Sutton said the new variant had not been linked to any sequenced infections cases across Australia from hotel quarantine or elsewhere.

So far, two Victoria cases have the so-called ‘Delta’ variant of concern, which is likely the strain that caused the latest devastating wave of Covid-19 in India.

Read more: UK sees more than 20 cases of the ‘Nepal variant’

02:55 AM

May joins rebellion against move to slash foreign aid

Theresa May has backed a swelling Tory revolt that aims to force a Government about-turn on controversial cuts to the aid budget.

The former prime minister on Thursday joined a list of 30 Conservative MPs who have vowed to vote for a rebel amendment on the issue in the Commons next Monday.

Opposition parties are also lining up behind the bid to compel ministers to reverse their decision to slash overseas development spending from 0.7 per cent of gross national income to 0.5 per cent.

The move, unveiled by Boris Johnson last year, breaks a Conservative party manifesto commitment and has been heavily criticised. Ministers conceded last year that it was a “difficult” decision to cut the aid budget, but insisted it was necessary in the wake of the exorbitant cost of the Government’s Covid response.

Read more: Theresa May joins rebellion over foreign aid cuts

The former Prime Minister is among 30 MPs who are challenging the proposed cuts - PA — The former Prime Minister is among 30 MPs who are challenging the proposed cuts – PA

02:29 AM

Fatigue and depression common signs of Covid

Neurological and psychiatric symptoms such as fatigue and depression are common among people with coronavirus and may be just as likely in people with mild cases, new research suggests.

Evidence from 215 studies of Covid-19 indicates a wide range of ways in which Covid-19 can affect mental health and the brain.

The studies from 30 countries involved a total of 105,638 people with acute symptoms (the main disease stage, rather than longer-term impacts) of Covid-19, including data up to July 2020.

Lead author Dr Jonathan Rogers, of UCL Psychiatry and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We had expected that neurological and psychiatric symptoms would be more common in severe Covid-19 cases, but instead we found that some symptoms appeared to be more common in mild cases.

“It appears that Covid-19 affecting mental health and the brain is the norm, rather than the exception.”

Read more: Depression is common sign of coronavirus, even in mild cases