Yahoo News Covid news: French third wave yet to peak as Whitty recalls ‘near misses’ in UK vaccine rollout
France is still at least a week away from the peak of its third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with data showing the country reported 50,659 new coronavirus cases on Thursday.
It compares to 59,038 on Wednesday and 45,641 reported on Thursday a week ago. Some 5,109 people were also reported to be in intensive care units with Covid-19, up by 56 from a day earlier, according to the ministry of health figures.
Health minister Olivier Veran told France Inter radio the country could hit the peak of its third wave of the pandemic in 7 to 10 days with the new restrictive measures announced on Wednesday by president Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Macron ordered France into its third national lockdown in a televised address on Wednesday, telling citizens schools would close for three weeks as he sought to push back a surge of infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.
Elsewhere, England’s chief medical officer has spoken of “several really dangerous near-misses” on the first day of the rollout of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine in the UK, which he says led to changes in procedures when jabs are given.
“Several really severe near-miss anaphylactic reactions” occurred “right on day one of our vaccination rollout,” Chris Whitty recalled. It led to a 15-minute monitoring period being introduced after each jab.
Speaking to an online Royal Society of Medicine event on Thursday, Prof Whitty predicted a “wide portfolio” of Covid vaccines could be available in two years but warned caution over the virus would be needed in the meantime due to the threat of new variants.
His comments come as the latest NHS England data reveals four in 10 people aged 80 and over have had their second doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
An estimated 40.8 per cent of people in this age group had received both doses of the vaccine as of 28 March. In some regions the proportion was higher, with 42 per cent fully protected in the northwest and 50.2 per cent in the northeast and Yorkshire.
