The US plans to extend mask requirements for travellers on airplanes, trains and buses, and at airports and train stations through 18 January, Reuters reported, citing three unidentified sources.

The US government is poised to begin offering booster shots as soon as next month. Morgan Stanley is stepping up efforts to ensure employees comply with its rule that they be vaccinated to enter its buildings.

Apple will increase testing of both corporate and retail employees and has reversed course on rebooting in-store classes in the US this month. Staff participating in the company’s at-home testing programme will now receive kits twice per week instead of weekly.

New Zealand, which has run a successful Covid elimination strategy, will enter a lockdown after reporting its first community transmission since February. Early on Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there were four additional Covid cases, RNZ reported.

Key developments

• Global Tracker: Cases top 208.1 million; deaths pass 4.37 million
• Vaccine Tracker: More than 4.7 billion doses administered
• Delayed Wuhan report adds crucial detail to Covid origin puzzle
• Where are we in the quest for Covid treatments?: QuickTake
• Businesses in Hong Kong slam tightened Covid travel curbs
• Booster shots for Americans eight months after vaccination

US to extend travel mask mandate: Reuters

The US plans to extend mask requirements for travellers on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through January 18, Reuters reports, citing three unidentified sources.

Apple steps up staff testing

Apple will increase testing of both corporate and retail employees and has reversed course on rebooting in-store classes in the US this month.

This week, the iPhone maker informed staff participating in the company’s at-home testing programme with Quest Diagnostics that they will now receive testing kits twice per week instead of weekly. The company told employees in the programme that they are expected to get tested on Mondays and Thursdays. 

Morgan Stanley asks workers for vaccine proof

Morgan Stanley is stepping up efforts to ensure employees comply with its rule that they be vaccinated to enter its buildings.

The firm told vaccinated workers to provide documentation of their shots by October 1, after previously letting them attest to their status, according to an internal memo. The extra step is meant to “provide greater comfort for those working in the office”, it wrote.

Masks required in US national parks

The US National Park Service said it is requiring masks for crowded outdoor spaces and buildings “regardless of vaccination status or community transmission levels”.

In a statement issued on Monday, Shawn Benge, deputy director of the Park Service, said: “Visitors to national parks are coming from locations across the country, if not across the world. Because of this, and recognising that the majority of the United States is currently in substantial or high transmission categories, we are implementing a service-wide mask requirement to ensure our staff and visitors’ safety.”

Greece sees biggest case jump since April 

Greece reported 4,205 new cases, the highest daily increase since April 6 and the third-biggest one-day jump since the start of the pandemic. Greek authorities are worried by the situation on the island of Crete, which is a popular vacation destination for foreigners and Greeks alike. The Heraklion area of the country’s largest island saw the third-biggest increase in new cases nationwide after Thessaloniki and central Athens.

UK authorises Moderna for adolescents

Britain’s drug regulator authorised Moderna’s shot for children as young as 12, though few are likely to receive it in the near term as the country remains an outlier in its policy on vaccinating kids.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency extended the existing conditional marketing authorisation for the Spikevax shot. It is up to the government’s advisory committee – the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation – to decide if and when the vaccine will be offered to 12- to 17-year-olds.

The vaccine is the second after Pfizer’s to be authorised in the UK for use in older children, though Britain is currently only offering shots to those aged 16 and up, and to vulnerable kids aged 12 to 15 who have underlying health conditions or who live with immunosuppressed adults.

Swiss cases jump; vaccine demand weak

Switzerland recorded 3,150 new infections within the last 24 hours, the biggest daily increase in months. Since early July, the number of hospitalisations has risen 10-fold, Patrick Mathys of the Federal Office of Public Health said.

The government has redoubled efforts to get more people vaccinated with a publicity campaign this week. Just 56% of the public has received at least one dose. With demand for vaccinations weak, the government agreed to take delivery of just half the one million doses it was due to receive from Moderna. 

“Vaccines globally are in very short supply and they should be located where they actually can be used,” Mathys said.

US, Singapore to discuss virus response

Singapore expects to discuss areas of cooperation, including the pandemic response, during US Vice-President Kamala Harris’s visit to the city state next week, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

South African white adults most vaccine-hesitant

Vaccine hesitancy is most pronounced among white adults in South Africa, which is struggling to keep immunisation centres busy just three months into the roll-out, a survey showed. Only 52% of white adults in the country are willing to get a Covid-19 shot, compared with three-quarters of black adults, researchers from the Human Sciences Research Council and the University of Johannesburg said in the highlights of a report due to be released on Wednesday.

Separately, South Africa may open registrations to allow people aged between 18 and 34 to get vaccinated as early as this week, Eyewitness News reported, citing Health Minister Joe Phaahla. 

Iran’s daily cases surpass 50,000

Iran reported a record number of daily cases, with new infections surpassing 50,000 for the first time. The country had 50,228 cases and 625 deaths overnight, according to the Health Ministry, bringing the total figures to more than 4.5 million infections and 99,100 fatalities.

Serbia set to roll out boosters

Serbia is offering booster shots to people who completed their initial, two-dose vaccination at least six months ago. The new roll-out is starting with transplant patients and others with weakened immunity, as well as health workers, frequent travelers and nursing home residents.

The Balkan country is struggling to advance the inoculation rate from around 50% of its population of seven million, amid some vaccine scepticism. Weeks of accelerating Covid cases soared on Tuesday to almost 1,500 new infections, the highest daily total since late April.

South Africa expects fourth wave, new variant 

South Africa expects a fourth wave of infections to start on 2 December and to last about 75 days, said Salim Abdool Karim, former chairman of the government’s ministerial advisory committee on Covid-19. 

The government assumes that the wave will follow a similar pattern to the current one and that there will be a new variant by then, he said at a Government Technical Advisory Centre conference. Data suggest the current wave will end around August 26.

Poland to let employers check vaccinations

The Polish government expects Parliament to approve regulations allowing employers to check whether workers are vaccinated, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said in an interview with Wirtualna Polska. The rules, which may be voted on by Parliament next month, would enable companies to move unvaccinated people away from jobs focused on direct contact with clients.

New Zealand goes into lockdown

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern put the nation into a three-day lockdown after reporting the first community case of Covid since February. The country was placed in lockdown at midnight on Tuesday after the discovery of a single case in Auckland, Ardern said at a news conference in Wellington. Auckland and the nearby Coromandel region will be in lockdown for seven days.

“Going hard and early has worked for us before,” she told reporters. She said officials assume the case is the Delta variant, adding that strain “has been called a game-changer, and it is.”

India’s record vaccination

India administered a record 8.8 million shots in a day, according to a government statement. India has given 554.7 million doses so far, but only 8.9% of the country’s population is fully inoculated, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. India added 25,166 cases, while deaths rose by 437 to 432,079.

Booster shots in the US

The US government is poised to offer booster shots as soon as next month, with the country facing a renewed wave of infections fuelled by Delta.

Biden administration officials are finalising a plan expected to recommend booster shots eight months after people received their second dose, according to two people familiar with the deliberations who asked not to be identified. The plan is not yet finalised but an announcement could come as soon as this week, they said.

Singapore pilot programmes

Singapore plans to set up pilot programmes next month to allow vaccinated business travellers from some countries to enter on carefully controlled itineraries as it takes steps to reopen its borders.

Singapore is in talks with Germany, Australia, Canada and South Korea to be the first batch of countries for such arrangements, though it is also looking at the possibility of leisure travel, trade minister Gan Kim Yong told Bloomberg News in an interview on Tuesday. He said factors like infections, vaccination rates and the ability to control outbreaks will be considered in these discussions. DM

With assistance from Malavika Kaur Makol, Paul Tugwell, Vincent Del Giudice and Catherine Larkin.