South Korea confirms 1,784 new infections in 24 hours; Indian officials hopeful that antibody positivity rate means majority of country less vulnerable
- Fauci turns tables on inquisitor Rand Paul
- Delta variant accounts for 83% of new cases in US, CDC director says
- Border officials told not to make Covid checks on green and amber list arrivals
- India’s excess deaths during Covid ‘could be 10 times official toll’
Here’s Helen Sullivan again with a round-up of latest developments in Australia:
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has refused to apologise for his government’s handling of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, amid testy exchanges during a radio interview as more than 13 million Australians – or half of the population – awoke in lockdown conditions.
Related: Australia’s PM defends Covid vaccine rollout as half of population awakes in lockdown
So, one bit of Covid questioning for UK home office minister Victoria Atkins this morning on Sky News was about the overnight polling figures from YouGov on the usage of the NHS test and trace app. They reported overnight:
New YouGov data finds that one in ten online Brits (10%) have deleted the app, having previously installed it. This is on top of the 31% who have never downloaded it despite owning a smart phone and the 9% who don’t have the technology to download anyway. “App deserters” are more likely to be in the younger age group, with 17% of those aged 18-24 deleting the app having previously installing it.
We don’t have those figures within the system itself. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people have joined it recently. In terms of the app itself, I know it’s frustrating when people have been pinged, and they have to self isolate if they’ve been in contact with someone who has Covid. And I really do understand the pressures this is placing on people and on businesses. But we’re now in this new stage about solutions for the pandemic, and the test and trace up is one of the key tools that we have. Isolation is one of the key tools we have to try to slow the spread of this virus.
It’s a different exercise from the exercise of last year, in terms of key workers who can return to their place of work. It’s a slightly different exercise because the scientists will have to be calculating how many people equals risks in terms of spreading the virus around the country. So it is a complicated exercise, but it is very much being worked on.
