Updated at 2/1/2021, 11: 32: 36 AM BST
Mehreen Khan, EU correspondent
EU member states are in the “big league” of countries vaccinating against Covid-19, Brussels top health official has said in the face of criticism that the bloc’s vaccine rollout has lagged behind other rich countries.
Sandra Gallina, the European Commission’s director general for health, told MEPs on Monday that the EU has vaccinated more than 12m people and that unfavourable comparisons with countries such as Israel were not helpful.
“We have already joined the bigger league of countries,” said Ms Gallina. “When you look at the top vaccinating countries, all EU member states are in the top league.”
In response to vaccine shortfalls, Ms Gallina said drugmakers Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were “delivering on schedule” their promised doses to the bloc in the first quarter.
Ms Gallina described AstraZeneca only providing a quarter of its promised jabs as “very problematic” and a factor that would lead to a major shortfall in the number of EU citizens being vaccinated in the first quarter.
“It was also going to be the case that the first quarter was not going to be an easy [one],” she said.
Mehreen Khan, EU Correspondent
About half of new Covid-19 cases in the Netherlands are due to the highly contagious variant of the virus first detected in the UK, the country’s health minister has said.
The spread of the variant, first found in the South East of England, was identified in the Netherlands in late December and is now responsible for a majority of new cases, health minister Hugo de Jonge told parliament on Monday. The proportion has risen from about a third of new cases reported earlier in January.
The variant of the virus that originated in South Africa, which is also highly infectious, was also detected in the Netherlands in January.
The Dutch government is expected to announce an easing of curfew measures later this month after the rate of hospitalisations fell steadily in recent weeks. The introduction of a curfew last weekend led to violent rioting across towns and cities.
Sarah Provan
The UK is to offer additional coronavirus testing in some areas of London and the Midlands among other locations as the government seeks to suppress the spread of a more virulent strain of Covid-19.
The “surge” testing, due to begin on Monday, will also be carried out in parts of the east, northwest and southeast of England, to back up extensive monitoring and sequencing of coronavirus variants.
The decision, by the UK’s department of health, will support door-to-door testing in Surrey after two people with no travel links were found to be infected with the 501Y.V2 variant that was first detected in South Africa on December 22.
The testing and sequencing will help to monitor the spread as 105 cases of the variant have been detected in England that cannot be traced back to international travel. All those over 16 will be urged to take a test irrespective of whether they have symptoms.
Positive tests are to be sequenced to identify any further spread of this strain of Covid-19.
“We continue to closely monitor new variants,” said health secretary Matt Hancock. “In addition to our already extensive testing service, we are making surge testing capacity available to affected areas.”
Leke Oso Alabi
European equities made up some ground on Monday, after the struggle between Reddit’s day traders and Wall Street institutions helped to send stocks to their worst week since October.
The regional benchmark Stoxx 600 index rose 1.4 per cent at lunchtime, having fallen more than 3 per cent last week. London’s FTSE 100 climbed 1.1 per cent following a weekly drop of more than 4 per cent.
Some analysts said the more optimistic mood was linked to progress being made on a dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca over the terms of a supply deal for Covid-19 vaccines. The drugmaker has now agreed to provide the bloc with 9m more jabs by March.
Savvas Savouri, chief economist at Toscafund Asset Management, said Monday’s market moves reflected signs that the failure to sort the “vaccine issues besetting the EU” were being confronted.
Wall Street was also set for a rebound. Futures markets implied the blue-chip S&P 500 index, which fell more than 3 per cent last week, would rise 1 per cent at the opening bell.
But investors remain braced for further swings in stocks. The Vix — an index that tracks expected volatility in US equities — remained elevated at above 31, against its long-run average of about 20.
Read more here.
Clive Cookson
Door-to-door testing of residents in parts of Surrey in the UK will begin after two people with no travel links were found to be infected with the 501Y.V2 variant discovered in South Africa.
Households in the Goldsworth Park and St Johns areas of Woking will be asked to carry out a Covid-19 swab test whether or not they have symptoms. Testing is expected to be extended to Egham, Surrey County Council said on Monday.
Surrey’s Local Resilience Forum said the “surge testing” programme would “closely monitor any community spread of the new variant and restrict further transmission”.
The council said: “Residents in the affected areas, and across Woking, should remain calm and continue to follow the national restrictions that are currently in place.”
It added that there was “currently no evidence” that the variant causes more severe illness or is more resistant to the coronavirus vaccines being administered.
“This is a precautionary measure,” said Ruth Hutchinson, Director of Public Health for Surrey. “The more cases of the variant we find, the better chance we have at stopping it from spreading further. By playing your part and taking the test, you’ll be helping to keep your community and your loved ones safe.”
A total of 105 cases of 501Y.V2 variant have been identified to date across the UK, Surrey council said.
“The UK has one of the best genomic systems in the world, which has allowed us to detect the variant originating in South Africa here in Surrey,” said Alison Barnett, Regional Director at Public Health England South East. “I urge everyone offered a test to take it up to help us to monitor the virus in our communities and to help suppress and control the spread of this variant.”
More than 96m vaccine doses have been administered, an increase of 36 per cent over the past five days, the Financial Times vaccine tracker shows.
Israel and the UAE lead the way in terms of number of doses per 100 people but the US has given the highest overall total, with almost 31m jabs administered as of January 31.
Valentina Romei
London suffered the mildest economic contraction among all regions in England in the second quarter of 2020, official data showed, pointing to the resilience of the capital where more people could work from home.
Output in the London region fell 16.6 per cent in the three months to June, when the strictest restrictions were in place, compared with the previous quarter, the Office for National Statistics data showed on Monday. That was the mildest drop of any region in England.
In contrast, in the West Midlands, the economy shrank 21 per cent after a contraction in the first quarter.
The figure compares with a contraction of 18.8 per cent across the country, driven by larger than average drops in England and Scotland, falling 19 per cent and 19.4 per cent respectively. Wales and Northern Ireland registered milder contractions of 15.1 per cent and 13.6 per cent, respectively.
The figure for London is evidence of the pandemic widening the economic gap in England, contrary to the levelling up agenda of the government. The difference in the impact of the pandemic and its restrictions partially reflects a higher proportion of professional jobs in the capital city that have largely managed to shift to remote working.
According to separate ONS data, more than half of workers in the London region worked from home in April, compared with only a third in the West Midlands.
Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad
Pakistan received 500,000 coronavirus vaccines from China on Monday, as it launches its vaccination drive.
“The first batch of Sinopharm vaccine has arrived. Grateful to China and everyone who made this happen,” announced Pakistan’s health minister Dr Faisal Sultan on Twitter after he received the consignment in Islamabad, flown on board a Pakistan air force transport plane.
Pakistan has announced that it will begin a vaccination drive this week, with the country’s healthcare professionals among the first recipients.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on January 21 announced a gift of 500,000 doses of the vaccine produced by China’s Sinopharm. Pakistan plans to procure another 1.1m doses from China by the end of February.
Analysts say China’s gesture is meant to further cement its already deep ties with the south Asian country, which relies heavily on Beijing for military hardware. In recent years China has also promised to invest more than $60bn in Pakistan’s infrastructure.
Paramedic staff being trained at a new Covid-19 vaccination centre in Karachi, Pakistan
Joe Miller in Frankfurt
BioNTech will deliver up to 75m more vaccine doses to the EU during the second quarter than originally planned, thanks to the modification of production sites in Belgium and Germany.
The biotechnology group has overcome temporary delays to distribution, said Sierk Poetting, BioNTech’s chief financial officer, and added that, with the help of its US partner Pfizer, the company will increase deliveries from the week of February 15, “ensuring we will supply the full quantity of vaccine doses in the first quarter we contractually committed to”.
BioNTech and Pfizer have agreed to supply the EU with 300m doses and are in negotiations with Brussels to supply 300m more. Thanks to the licensing of a recently acquired facility in Marburg, the companies expect to manufacture 2bn doses in total this year, from the 1.3bn forecast last year.
Separately on Monday, German rival CureVac released more details of its collaboration with pharmaceuticals group Bayer.
The biotech had already unveiled plans to manufacture up to 300m doses of its vaccine in 2021, and up to 600m doses next year. It will now add another 160m to that total in 2022.
Valentina Romei
UK manufacturers faced supply delivery times that lengthened the second most in 30 years in January, according to a survey that suggests that Brexit disruptions and shipping shortages are constraining the country’s factory production.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index fell to a three-month low of 54.1 in January, down from December’s three-year high of 57.5.
The reading was higher than initial estimates of 52.9 and it was well above the 50 mark which indicates a majority of businesses reporting improvement.
However, the headline was distorted by the lengthening of supplier lead times, the index for which was the lowest registered apart from April 2020 in the near 30-year survey history.
This is usually an indicator of how busy factories are, but in January lengthening delivery times were the result of supply chain disruptions caused by virus restrictions and the end of the Brexit transition period.
“Whereas many countries are seeing manufacturers provide a much-needed support to economic growth as the service sector is hit by Covid-19, the UK’s manufacturing sector has come close to stalling,” said Rob Dobson, director at IHS Markit. “A mixture of harsher Covid-19 restrictions and Brexit led to near-record supply-chain disruptions, lower exports and increased costs”.
The shortage of inputs is leading to increased costs for manufacturers. Duncan Brock, group director at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, said delivery issues led to “manufacturing cost inflation rising to a four-year high and customers subsequently saw charges rise at rates not seen for 28 months.”
The figures were released as the Bank of England revealed that UK mortgage approvals remained high in December despite a decline from a 13-year record in the previous month.
BoE data also showed that household’s consumer credit “remained weak” in December, while household saving rates rose again to the strongest level since May, reflecting spending being constrained by restrictions across the country.
Benjamin Parkin
India will impose a 100 per cent levy on alcoholic drinks as it looks for ways to shore up government revenues, adding to what has already been an excruciating 12 months for many brewers and distillers in the country.
The south Asian country of 1.4bn is a promising destination for global drinks makers, thanks to rising incomes and growing per capita consumption, but authorities take a heavy-handed approach to the sector — from labyrinthine regulation to outright prohibition in some states.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, announced the 100 per cent “cess” on alcoholic beverages in the government’s budget for the upcoming financial year, which starts on April 1, along with higher levies on everything from petrol to chickpeas.
Drinks companies are still reeling from last year when authorities banned alcohol sales nationwide for six weeks as part of their lockdown measures.
India is the world’s largest whisky consumer, and spirits giants like Diageo have large operations in the country. Japanese brewer Kirin recently made its first investment in the country, buying a stake in local craft-brewer Bira 91.
Harry Dempsey
Hargreaves Lansdown reported a jump in first-half profits, helped by a rush of younger users joining the UK’s largest investment platform while under tight coronavirus restrictions.
The FTSE 100 company’s pre-tax profit rose by a tenth in the six months to the end of 2020 to £188m, while assets under administration climbed 15 per cent to £121bn compared with the same period a year earlier. It raised its interim dividend 6 per cent to 11.9p, the group said on Monday.
Retail investment platforms have prospered during the coronavirus pandemic as new users stuck at home flocked to trade stocks, commodities and derivatives while markets fell in March before a strong but volatile recovery. In recent days, retail traders who discuss strategies on Reddit forums have fuelled sharp rallies in a clutch of unloved stocks in a show of their growing strength.
Hargreaves have added 84,000 users since the end of June, many of whom were young people seeking to gain a return on their money. That has taken its total of active clients close to 1.5m, as the average age of its new users has dropped to 37, from 45 in 2012.
“As our client numbers continue to grow, we are finding that younger people are taking a greater interest in investing for the future, with the average age of clients continuing to fall,” said Chris Hill, chief executive of the group.
Valentina Romei
Italy’s manufacturing activity grew more than expected in January despite tight Covid-19 restrictions and disruption to supply chains, suggesting the sector helped to limit the blow to the country’s economic performance.
The IHS Markit Italy purchasing managers index for manufacturing, a measure of the health of the sector, rose to 55.1 in January, from 52.8 in the previous month.
The figure was higher than the 52.4 forecast by economists polled by Reuters, and marked the eighth consecutive month that the reading has been above 50, which indicates a majority of businesses reporting improving conditions.
“The Italian manufacturing recovery strengthened into the new year, with a sustained upturn in output and quicker growth of new work pushing the headline PMI to a 34-month high,” said Lewis Cooper, economist at IHS Markit.
Output growth was the fastest for three months, with strong incoming orders and rising employment.
Stronger demand also led companies to accelerate their purchasing activity during January, with the rate of increase the quickest since early-2018. However, supply chains remained under pressure with delivery times lengthening the most since May. Rising transportation costs and stock shortages resulted in input costs rising at the quickest pace in four years, the survey showed.
Manufacturers remained confident about the future with rising expectations for output in the next 12 months.
Italy is the eurozone’s second largest manufacturing producer after Germany. The sustained growth in the sector has helped the country to limit the economic damage resulting from Covid-19 restrictions.
The strong Italian reading and marginal upward revisions for France and Germany helped to confirm the eurozone manufacturing PMI index well above the 50 mark, at 54.8 in January.
Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit said: “Eurozone manufacturing output continued to expand at a solid pace at the start of 2021, though growth has weakened to the lowest since the recovery began as new lockdown measures and supply shortages pose further challenges to producers across the region.”
Martin Arnold in Frankfurt
Spanish manufacturing activity has slid back into decline, underlining how a fresh surge in coronavirus infections combined with heavy snowstorms and supply chain delays has disrupted factory output.
The IHS Markit Spanish flash manufacturing purchasing manager index fell below most economists’ expectations to 49.3 in January, down from 51 in the previous month.
It is the third time in six months that it has dipped below the 50 mark, which indicates a majority of businesses reporting a contraction in activity from the previous month.
“The Spanish manufacturing sector endured a challenging start to 2021, with a combination of Storm Filomena and the ongoing pandemic serving to hamper both production and levels of incoming new business,” said Paul Smith, economics director at IHS Markit.
Spanish manufacturers reported that price pressures increased on rapidly rising freight costs, leading to higher prices for raw materials such as steel, IHS Markit said. However, optimism about a rebound in the future remained at a two-and-a-half year high.
The contraction of Spanish factory activity shows that, while manufacturers have been less disrupted than services companies by the latest coronavirus containment measures, ultimately they cannot remain immune to the fallout for long.
According to European Commission forecasts, Spain’s economy has been the hardest hit of any eurozone country by the pandemic. It is expected to contract by more than 12 per cent last year, before growing 5.4 per cent this year.
Harry Dempsey
The UK has secured a further 40m doses of a coronavirus vaccine from Valneva of France, taking its total doses above 400m to the end of next year for a population of 67m.
The latest deal adds to 60m doses secured in July that the French company will produce in its plant in Livingstone, Scotland.
Valneva’s jab, which is an inactivated form of the whole coronavirus, is yet to be approved by the regulator but 60m doses would be delivered in the second half of this year with the remainder to be delivered in 2022.
It comes as attention turns from the UK’s early success in its nationwide inoculation campaign to criticism that rich nations have hoarded vaccines for their own use, leaving the vulnerable and healthcare workers in poorer countries at risk.
Coronavirus vaccines have been offered to every care home in England, bar a small number battling Covid-19 outbreaks.
Helen Whatley, social care minister, said on Sky News that the government’s priority was to administer vaccines to Britons first before distributing a vaccine to other countries in need.
“Right now our priority is to make sure we vaccinate people in our country,” who are most vulnerable, she said.
It is “too soon to be setting out” a date or conditions to begin sharing its pool of vaccines, she added.
Alistair Gray
UK retailer JD Sports is moving further into the US with a $495m acquisition of DTLR Villa, a Baltimore-based sportswear company.
The deal by the Lancashire-based company, which comes weeks after it acquired California-based Shoe Palace in December, will expand its interests in the north and east of the US.
It is the latest transatlantic expansion by JD, which acquired Finish Line of Indianapolis in 2018. The company opened its first five US stores under the JD brand the same year and opened a flagship shop in New York’s Times Square in 2020.
JD has coped better than most retailers as a crisis, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, has developed elsewhere on the British high street. The sportswear group has held up, thanks in part to the popularity of comfortable leisurewear as lockdowns have kept people stuck at home.
The London-listed company said it would fund the all-cash purchase through existing liquidity and bank facilities.
DTLR Villa was founded in 1983, two years after JD began in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Jonathan Eley
Asos confirmed on Monday that it will acquire the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands for £265m plus £30m worth of inventory as it looks to accelerate sales of third-party brands on its marketplace.
The transaction will save about 300 jobs as employees across design, buying and retail partnerships will be transferred to Asos, but does not include the group’s 70 stores.
Topshop, part of Philip Green’s once-mighty Arcadia fashion empire, was hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the repeated closure of its stores for weeks at a time.
The company was put into administration in November, along with the rest of Arcadia.
Asos said there would be about £20m of start-up costs in the current financial year, but that it expected the brands to generate a “double-digit” return on capital in the year to August 2022.
Owen Walker
Julius Baer benefited from a surge in trading among its wealthy clients during the pandemic-induced market volatility last year, helping to increase annual profits at Switzerland’s third largest bank by 50 per cent.
The group announced a new SFr450m buyback programme at its full-year results on Monday morning, after it was forced to halt shareholder returns by the Swiss regulator at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. It also raised its dividend 17 per cent to SFr1.75 per share.
Julius Baer’s profits were hit by a SFr190m impairment charge on its ill-fated acquisition of Italian subsidiary Kairos, as well as a SFr73m provision to settle a case with the US Department of Justice over bribery at Fifa, football’s governing body.
A year ago chief executive Philipp Rickenbacher unveiled an efficiency drive to combat negative interest rates by ending relationships with wealthy clients who were no longer profitable enough.
On Monday Mr Rickenbacher said: “In light of current industry challenges, from negative interest rates to a weak US dollar, we will stay our course and remain fully focused on achieving the 2022 targets we set a year ago.”
Julius Baer’s net interest income dropped 22 per cent on the back of significantly lower US interest rates, while the Zurich-based group’s cost to income ratio improved from 71.1 per cent to 66.4 per cent.
“The pandemic triggered a massive boost to activity thanks to a spike in market volatility, resulting in record revenues,” said Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Vontobel. “Julius Baer greatly benefited as it is one of the most geared to trading/transactional activity.”
“As activity is unlikely to be sustained at such high levels, our current 2021 estimates imply a notable decline in trading/transactional revenues. However, 2021 has likely started well and Julius Baer continues to work on improving its efficiency.”
Benjamin Parkin
Narendra Modi’s government plans to boost support for agriculture as it looks to defuse tensions amid mass protests against its contentious farm reforms.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, said India’s government would increase its agricultural credit target for the coming financial year, which starts in April, to Rs16.5tn ($225bn).
The prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party administration has faced one of its biggest challenges yet in months-long demonstrations from farmers protesting against three recently passed laws that seek to boost private participation in agriculture.
Opponents claim it will remove the state-backed protections on which many of India’s farmers depend.
Ms Sitharaman highlighted that the government had paid out $10bn to wheat farmers in state-guaranteed minimum prices in the current financial year along with $23bn for rice farmers. Wheat and rice farmers have been at the forefront of the protests.
But Harish Damodaran, a journalist at the Indian Express, said the government seemed to have shied away from bolder steps to win them over.
The government remains engaged in a stand-off with the protesters after many poured into the capital New Delhi last week in a sharp and chaotic escalation of the demonstrations.
Amy Kazmin in New Delhi
India’s fiscal deficit widened to 9.5 per cent of GDP in the current financial year, as government revenues collapsed during a strict coronavirus lockdown, and public spending was increased to bring relief to those hit hardest by the restrictions.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, said New Delhi would seek to borrow another $11bn from the markets in the next two months before the current financial year ends on March 31 to meet its financing requirements.
New Delhi also expects to have a fiscal deficit of 6.8 per cent for the next financial year, as it seeks to increase capital expenditure and other public spending to support economic recovery.
The deficit is far above a target laid out in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, which was adopted in 2003 in a bid to impose financial discipline on the government.
However, Ms Sitharaman said the higher-than-expected fiscal deficit would be the result of “unprecedented and unforeseen circumstances,” but that the government had attempted to remain prudent in its spending, and respond to evolving the situation.
She said the government was now proposing an amendment to the FRBM act to take account of current circumstances.
Ms Sitharaman said the government would remain focused on fiscal consolidation as a long-term goal, and would aim to pare the fiscal deficit to a target of 4.5 per cent by the 2025-26 financial year.
Philip Georgiadis
Ryanair warned it could lose nearly €1bn in this financial year and that it faces “the most challenging” period in its history as European governments restrict travel to control the spread of coronavirus.
The low-cost European airline expects a loss of between €850m and €950m in its latest financial year that runs to the end of March.
The near-term outlook remains uncertain, Ryanair warned, due to “uncertain and constantly changing Covid-19 travel restrictions”, lockdowns and the timing of the EU’s rollout of vaccines.
“Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc across the industry,” Europe’s biggest low-cost airline said on Monday. This financial year “will continue to be the most challenging year in Ryanair’s 35 year history”, it added.
Losses over the Christmas quarter rose to €306m, excluding exceptional items, after passenger numbers fell nearly 80 per cent per cent to 35.9m. Revenue fell by a similar margin to €1.91bn.
Like other large European airlines, Ryanair was forced to slash its flight schedules through the autumn as demand for travel did not develop as anticipated.
The outlook has since darkened considerably, and European airlines are bracing themselves for a tough few months as governments try to stop people travelling to contain the spread of new variants of the virus.
EasyJet last week said it would fly just one in 10 of its normal schedule in the first three months of this year.
With €3.5bn in cash available at the end of December, Ryanair has one of the strongest balance sheets and lowest costs in the industry. Its chief executive Michael O’Leary is bullish that the carrier will eventually be able to use the disruption to grow at the expense of weaker rivals.
For now though his airline is subject to the same challenges as his competitors, and industry analysts say there is a danger that there will be disruption to the crucial summer season.
“EU governments’ vaccine rollouts remain key to opening markets for the summer,” analysts at Davy Research said.
Amy Kazmin in New Delhi
India is raising the foreign direct investment cap for its insurance sector to 74 per cent, up from the current 49 per cent, and will privatise two public sector banks, as it seeks to strengthen its financial system after the shock of the coronavirus pandemic.
In total, India has set a target of raising $24.3bn dollars by selling state-owned assets, including ailing state carrier Air India and state owned helicopter firm Pawan Hans, in the coming year, as it moves to shore up public finances hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, announced the liberalisation of the insurance sector, and the ambitious disinvestment target, as she presented the budget for India’s new financial year, which starts on April 1.
Liberalising the insurance sector has been discussed in India for more than a decade, and is seen as critical for helping increase the flow of funds into a sector seen as critical for long term capital investments.
It comes at a time when public finances are under intense pressure as a result of a sharp 24 per cent GDP contraction in the April to June quarter of 2020.
India has often struggled to meet its disinvestment targets, including over the past year as governments were affected by the pandemic, but Ms Sitharaman said that the country would aim to complete all planned sell-offs this year as planned.
Alice Hancock in London
Billionaire property magnates the Reuben brothers have spent around €100m buying one of Venice’s oldest hotels, a vote of confidence in a luxury travel market upended by the pandemic.
The 90,000 sq ft Baglioni Hotel Luna, which dates back to the 12th century, is the latest in a string of hotel and retail investments made by David and Simon Reuben since the start of the coronavirus crisis.
They invested about $3.8bn across the US and Europe last year, snapping up assets such as the Surrey Hotel on New York’s Upper East Side and the Corinthia Hotel in Rome.
Read more here
Benjamin Parkin in Mumbai
India will pump funds into infrastructure in an effort to accelerate the economic recovery from the pandemic, including billions of dollars worth of new roads in states holding elections this year.
Nirmala Sitharaman, finance minister, said the government aimed to build 8,500km of highways by March next year.
She highlighted road-building plans in West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu, states in which the ruling Bharatiya Janata party hopes for a strong showing at local polls this year.
She said the government would spend about $13bn on roads in West Bengal alone, where the BJP is hoping to oust the current state administration.
The government will also direct more than $15bn to railways, and plans to continue privatising smaller airports.
Ms Sitharaman outlined the infrastructure investment plans as she announced that India’s capital expenditure would rise to Rs5.5tn ($75bn) in the financial year starting in April, up a third from the current year.
India’s gross domestic product is expected to contract 7.7 per cent this year before rebounding to 11 per cent growth in the coming financial year.
A high school teacher in Hyderabad welcomes students back to in-class learning after a 10-month absence
Kiran Stacey in Washington
During the election campaign, Joe Biden promised to “move heaven and earth” to improve the distribution of coronavirus vaccines in the US, repeatedly criticising his predecessor for failing to come up with a rollout plan.
But now that he is president, Mr Biden is not promising a significant increase in the rate of vaccinations, leaving some to question whether the strategy his officials unveiled this month is radical enough.
“The Biden administration said it inherited no national distribution strategy, but if that is the case, how did we get to 1m vaccinations a day, and why are we still targeting that number?” asked Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University.
Read more here
Amy Kazmin in New Delhi
India will step up its public health spending by 137 per cent over last year, to more than $31bn a year, after the global Covid-19 pandemic put a focus on India’s fragile medical infrastructure.
The sharp increase in public health spending was announced by India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, as she rolled out a new budget for the financial year starting April 1.
The spending includes $4.8bn for the rollout of coronavirus vaccinations in the current financial year, though Ms Sitharaman pledged to “commit further funds if required”.
The government will also roll out a pneumococcal vaccine – to prevent pneumonia – which she estimated would save the lives of 50,000 children every year. Until now, the pneumococcal vaccine has only been dispensed in five states.
The stepped-up health spending will include a $8.9bn, six-year scheme that includes setting up public health laboratories across India and strengthening the National Centre for Disease Control, the country’s disease surveillance agency. .
The allocation also includes $308m in special funds for battling air pollution in 42 of India’s smoggiest urban areas.
The budget is being presented at a time when India’s daily new coronavirus cases have dropped precipitously from a peak of nearly 100,000 a day in mid-September to an average of 13,000 to 14,000 a day at present.
Ms Sitharaman said in her presentation that India’s control of the pandemic had “laid the foundation for the revival we are seeing now in the economy”.
Chris Giles in London
The Bank of England is expected this week to hold back on providing further stimulus for the economy amid the coronavirus crisis, even as the central bank is also poised to downgrade its forecast for growth in gross domestic product in 2021.
Economists and financial market participants predicted the BoE Monetary Policy Committee would on Thursday look ahead to an economic recovery in the second half of this year, rather than focus on the current lockdown-induced downturn, allowing the MPC to say inflation is still on track to hit its 2 per cent target in the medium term.
And with medium-term forecasts for reasonable GDP growth by the BoE, most economists said the central bank was unlikely to implement negative interest rates this year.
Read more here
A health worker obtains a swab sample at the Indus Hospital in Karachi
George Russell in Hong Kong
Pakistan has received its first batch of Covid-19 vaccine, an official said, adding that frontline healthcare workers would be prioritised.
The 500,000 doses of vaccine made by China’s Sinopharm arrived on Monday, Faisal Sultan, the prime minister’s senior adviser, wrote on Twitter.
“Thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly for this,” he said. Pakistan is launching its national vaccination campaign this week.
Dr Sultan added: “I salute our frontline healthcare workers for their efforts and they’ll be first to get the vaccine.”
Bethan Staton in London
School closures during the coronavirus crisis risk the UK’s children forgoing billions of pounds in future earnings, and the government missing out on large amounts of tax revenue, according to a new report.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think-tank, said on Monday the UK’s 8.7m school children could lose out on a combined £350bn in lifetime earnings after missing more than half a year of teaching in person during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The IFS said that although its figure was an estimate, it highlighted the severe risk to the public finances: the government might secure £100bn less in tax revenue to spend on public services or pay down debt.
The think-tank called for “radical” measures to help children catch up on lost schooling, highlighting how those from disadvantaged backgrounds were likely to be worst affected.
Read more here
Jamie Smyth in Sydney
Australia’s inoculation strategy remains on track with first deliveries of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine expected in late February and all eligible residents to be offered a jab by October, the government said on Monday.
Scott Morrison, prime minister, said the government had secured 140m doses of vaccine — enough to cover Australia’s population several times over — and invested in a deal with local pharmaceutical company CSL to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country.
However, he cautioned that the exact date the jabs would start ultimately depends on some of the developments overseas related to shortages of vaccines.
“Australia is one of a small handful of countries, once again, to have sovereign vaccine manufacturing capacity,” said Mr Morrison.
“We expect to be able to supply Covid-19 vaccines to the entire Australian population through CSL’s manufacturing plant in Melbourne,” he said, adding that approval from the country’s drug regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, would be required.
Canberra is investing A$1.9bn (US$1.4bn) to support the vaccine rollout through hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, respiratory clinics and indigenous health centres.
It has already allocated A$4.4bn in vaccine purchase agreements, medical research and support for partner countries in the Pacific related to Covid-19, Mr Morrison said.
Frontline health and quarantine workers, the elderly and people with pre-existing conditions will be prioritised in the rollout of the vaccine.
The Kirkland & Ellis office in Palo Alto, California
Kate Beioley and Arash Massoudi in London
Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s highest-grossing law firm, is on track to generate record annual revenue of about $5bn following overwhelming demand during the pandemic.
Turnover at the powerful corporate adviser was approaching $5bn for the 12 months to the end of January, according to insiders, up from $4.15bn the year before.
It follows a year in which three of the firm’s strongest areas — private equity, restructuring and litigation — all generated strong growth.
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Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong
An overnight lockdown of residential buildings in Hong Kong found no new coronavirus infections as officials warned the tactics would continue.
Health authorities launched a mass-testing drive for two blocks in a private residential estate in Kowloon on Sunday night following a series of infections in the buildings.
The Hong Kong government said on Monday that no new infections had been found among the roughly 460 residents tested from 7pm on Sunday.
About 60 households did not answer the door, which the government statement said might be because they are already quarantined or the units are empty.
Hong Kong had avoided imposing lockdowns up until the end of last month when it sealed off a densely populated area of Kowloon in efforts to contain an outbreak in old buildings.
The result on Monday comes after no new infections were found in a tenement building on Hong Kong island following an “ambush-style” lockdown.
Matthew Cheung, chief secretary of Hong Kong, defended the actions on Sunday, explaining that the government aims to reduce the number of daily infections to zero.
Peter Campbell in London
Wealthy buyers snapped up second-hand supercars last year after exotic holiday plans were torpedoed by the pandemic, according to the UK’s largest dealer of Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys.
Prices of some used luxury models fell because of the coronavirus crisis, attracting buyers, said the boss of HR Owen, which also deals in Aston Martin, Bugatti, Rolls-Royce and Maserati brands.
“We saw a significant increase in the sale of used cars in the region of not more than £150,000,” chief executive Ken Choo told the Financial Times. “People said I cannot travel to the Bahamas, so I will buy a used Ferrari or Lambo instead.”
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A worker gathers cables at a factory that makes optical fibres in Suixi, Anhui province
Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong
Operating conditions for China’s manufacturers improved at the slowest pace in seven months in January as export orders fell amid a resurgence in coronavirus infections.
The Caixin/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.5 from 53 at the end of December. Readings above the 50-point level show expansion.
The deterioration mirrors a dip for the official manufacturing PMI released over the weekend, which fell to 51.6 from 51.9 in December.
The official PMI tracks larger, state-owned companies while the Caixin survey examines smaller, state-owned enterprises.
The Caixin survey showed export orders fell for the first time in six months as companies reported a resurgence in infections globally hit demand.
Companies also reported a slower increase in output and new orders. Shipping delays and stock shortages increased costs for manufacturers, resulting in the sharpest increase in selling prices since mid-2018.
“This year, we should pay attention to the effectiveness of domestic epidemic prevention amid the ongoing pandemic, and look at how to bring new momentum to the Chinese economy as uncertainties over overseas demand continue,” said Wang Zhe, senior economist at Caixin Insight Group.
Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong
Health authorities in China reported 33 new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 on Monday, the lowest level in more than three weeks.
China deployed mass testing and lockdowns in efforts to halt a series of infections ahead of the lunar new year holiday. The country reported more than 2,000 Covid-19 cases in January in the largest outbreaks since China contained the virus last spring.
Of the 33 new local cases, 22 were identified in Heilongjiang, a province that borders Russia, while neighbouring Jilin recorded 10 Covid-19 patients and Hebei reported one new case.
The tally was down from the previous day’s 73 cases of Covid-19.
The country reported a further 10 people were found to be infected with the virus but did not show symptoms. These asymptomatic cases are not included in China’s official tally.
Jude Webber in Mexico City
Mexican health authorities are conducting studies into whether a mutation of the Covid-19 virus detected in the western state of Jalisco is a serious new variant or whether it is the strain first found in South Africa.
Ruy López Ridaura, director-general of the National Centre for Preventive Programmes and Disease Control, told a news conference that authorities in Jalisco were in contact with the national Institute for Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference.
Scientists “are evaluating if it really is a new strain”, he said.
He said the initial suspicion had been that the strain was the variant first detected in South Africa known as E484K.
A woman with Covid-19 uses an oxygen concentrator in her home in the Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa
Scientists at the University of Guadalajara have said they were evaluating if the strain was a local variant, according to local media reports.
Mexico confirmed a total of 158,536 deaths and 1,864,260 cases of Covid-19 as of Sunday night but very low testing and high excess death rates imply those figures are seriously underestimated.
Despite Mexico City being on the red traffic light under Mexico’s epidemiological warning system, on which only essential services are supposed to be working, shops are preparing to open from this week with limited capacity and offering sales outside.
Restaurants have already opened tables on terraces, even though hospital capacity and access to oxygen is under maximum pressure.
Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong
Japan’s manufacturing sector deteriorated in the first month of the year as output and employment fell amid a rise in coronavirus infections in the country.
The au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ index dipped to 49.8 in January from 50 in December. Readings below the 50-point level mean the sector is contracting.
Output fell as companies pointed to restrictions linked to the state of emergency imposed last month to push down infection numbers.
Export demand fell for a third month, dropping at a faster pace than that seen in December.
“Nonetheless, the short-term prospects for the Japanese manufacturing sector appear to be turning a corner, with firms reporting a stable level of new orders,” said Usamah Bhatti, economist at IHS Markit.
“Businesses were also optimistic that the pandemic would subside over the coming year, triggering a wider economic recovery in Japan which would boost output levels.”
George Russell in Hong Kong
US Covid-19 deaths in January set a record, as they exceeded December’s figure by more than 20,000, data published on Sunday show.
There were 95,211 fatalities recorded last month, while more Americans were admitted to hospital than in any previous month, according to Covid Tracking Project figures.
New cases reported on Sunday totalled more than 118,000, while 95,013 people are being treated in hospital for Covid-19, down from a peak in mid-January of about 132,000.
There were 2,055 further deaths reported, CTP said.
The CTP noted that the seven-day average number of new cases is at least 40,000 fewer than at the beginning of the month and more than 100,000 fewer than at their peak on January 12.
Among hardest-hit states, California reported 18,974 new cases and 481 fatalities on Sunday. Texas identified 9,903 new cases and 171 deaths.
Shopkeepers protest against lockdown measures in Holon, south of Tel Aviv
George Russell in Hong Kong
Israel’s cabinet has extended a lockdown due to expire on Sunday for another five days, as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to defend ultra-orthodox residents who attended funerals in their thousands at the weekend.
A ban on international flights was left in place until February 7, while parliament voted to double fines for lockdown violators to Shk10,000 ($3,050).
Mr Netanyahu tried to deflect criticism of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews who attended the Jerusalem funerals of two prominent rabbis on Sunday by saying other communities in the country had defied bans on gatherings.
“A gathering is a gathering is a gathering,” he said in a statement. “It does not matter if it is by ultra-orthodox, secular or Arabs. Unfortunately there are gatherings on all sides.”
The prime minister said critics were trying to politicise the pandemic. “To concentrate on the violations of one group and ignore the violations of others – they must all stop. This is the time for unity.”
George Russell in Hong Kong
The Asian Development Bank said on Monday it would grant $25m to the Philippines so it could pay for vaccines.
The funding is part of the ADB’s $9bn “vaccine access facility” for the region.
The grant will allow Manila to pay vaccine manufacturers in advance to secure the delivery of vaccines to its citizens.
The south-east Asian country on Sunday reported 2,103 new confirmed cases and 80 new deaths, bringing the overall tally of cases to at least 525,618 and the official death toll to 10,749.
“The Philippines launched a comprehensive economic stimulus and healthcare support programme following the surge in Covid-19 cases in April 2020,” Masatsugu Asakawa, the multilateral lender’s president, said in a statement.
“It has significantly improved its capacity in testing, tracing, isolating, and treating cases in the last 10 months. Vaccination is the next critical step,” he added.
Trader Ashley Lara works the New York Stock Exchange floor
Alice Woodhouse in Hong Kong
Asia-Pacific equities lacked clear direction on Monday ahead of figures on the region’s manufacturing sector.
Japan’s Topix rose 0.3 per cent, the Kospi in South Korea held steady and the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.1 per cent.
Surveys of the region’s manufacturers will give further insight into the economic recovery from the pandemic.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for China dipped slightly to 51.3 for January from 51.9 a month earlier, but remained in expansion territory.
On Friday, the S&P 500 declined 1.9 per cent, notching its worst week since October as retail investors took on Wall Street’s elite.
S&P 500 futures dipped 0.7 per cent.
George Russell in Hong Kong
Tom Moore, the second world war veteran who raised more than £33m for Britain’s NHS last year, has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, his daughter said on Sunday.
The 100-year-old Sir Tom, who was knighted for his efforts, was admitted to Bedford Hospital after contracting pneumonia, Hannah Ingram-Moore wrote on Twitter.
Ms Ingram-Moore said Sir Tom had not yet been vaccinated due to his illness. He tested positive last week, she said.
He was being treated in a ward and was not in intensive care, Ms Ingram-Moore added.
George Russell in Hong Kong
Ireland’s manufacturing sector declined sharply in January, hitting a three-month low over new lockdown measures and UK trading arrangements, purchasing managers’ index data showed on Sunday.
Output and new orders both fell sharply, reversing strong growth seen in December, according to AIB, a large Irish bank.
The headline AIB Ireland Manufacturing PMI — a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance — retreated sharply to 51.8 in January from December’s 57.2.
The headline is derived from indicators for new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases. A PMI reading above 50 means that activity in the sector is expanding, a level below 50 that it is contracting.
While the latest headline figure signalled an overall improvement in manufacturing business conditions, it “masked much weaker trends for the key components of output and new orders”, AIB said.
Many shops in Dublin have been shut down in the Covid-19 surge
“The PMI was held above 50.0 mainly due to a near-record lengthening in suppliers’ delivery times and another strong rate of growth in input stocks, while employment offered a broadly neutral contribution,” the bank added.
Tighter coronavirus restrictions, weak European demand and new UK trading regulations all weighed heavily on inflows of new orders to Irish manufacturers.
“Stockpiling ahead of the end of the Brexit transition period was one of the factors behind a sharp rise in the December index,” said Oliver Mangan, AIB chief economist.
The rate of contraction in January was the strongest since last May, reflecting the severity of the latest surge in virus cases and subsequent lockdown measures.
“A tightening of Covid restrictions, both here and elsewhere, added to the more challenging backdrop for businesses,” Mr Mangan added.
George Russell in Hong Kong
The Czech Republic is evaluating the use of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine after its rollout in Hungary, state media in Moscow reported on Sunday.
The Tass news agency said Milos Zeman, the Czech president, supported the idea of the use of the anti-coronavirus vaccine made by the Gamaleya National Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow.
“Sputnik V is already being successfully used in Hungary,” Tass quoted him as telling the Frekvence 1 radio station. “I have no objections if specialists decide to use this preparation here.”
Tass reported that Mr Zeman said former Czech health minister Roman Prymula had recommended Sputnik V for use in the country.
Lex
Amid fresh lockdowns, working mothers in the UK have often taken primary responsibility for childcare and home schooling but coronavirus has hurt the incomes and prospects of many of these women.
Mothers are more likely to go on furlough or quit altogether, according to a study last year by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Those that continue working may miss out on raised salaries and promotions if their performance is impaired by domestic duties.
“We are unpicking 40 years of progress towards gender parity,” warns Sarah Jackson, visiting professor at Cranfield University School of Management.
Read more here
George Russell in Hong Kong
Scientists have identified a number of compounds in herbal medicines that could inhibit the virus that causes Covid-19, a research paper said.
A team led by Jia-Tsrong Jan, senior research specialist at the Academica Sinica’s Genomics Research Centre in Taipei, studied more than 3,000 agents, including 2,855 small molecules and 190 traditional herbal medicines.
They identified 15 potentially therapeutic active small molecules.
Some of the active compounds identified included the anti-malaria drug mefloquine and the HIV treatment nelfinavir.
Extracts of the fungus Ganoderma lucidum and two plants in the mint family — Perilla frutescens and Mentha haplocalyx — were effective in a study using hamsters as a disease model, they said.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US journal.
A sign warns of a hotspot in the London borough of Newham
George Russell in Hong Kong
The UK Conservative party has secured a lead in popularity over Labour since the beginning of the vaccine rollout despite Covid-19 deaths topping 100,000, a poll shows.
The Conservatives now have 41 per cent of the vote share compared with 38 per cent for Labour, according to Opinium Research.
The Tories’ vote share rose 4 percentage points from two weeks ago, while Labour’s has fallen 3 per cent.
Approval for the government’s handling of the pandemic has steadily declined with views of the financial support measures and vaccine rollout the lone bright spots.
However, the approval of the vaccine rollout is now 60 per cent, a sharp rise from 47 per cent a fortnight ago.
The approval rate for the government’s handling of lockdowns is just 42 per cent, and for international travel restrictions is 40 per cent.
More than two thirds — 68 per cent — of respondents believe the government could have done more to stop the spread of the virus.
Some 82 per cent of those polled said they would get a vaccine if they were offered one, up from 77 per cent two weeks ago, and 12 per cent would not, down from 16 per cent.
“It is very possible that the final stages of the pandemic could allow the government to frame things more positively and refocus on more fruitful areas as the local elections loom,” said Adam Drummond, Opinium’s head of political polling.
The pollsters surveyed 2,002 UK adults from January 27-29.
George Russell in Hong Kong
The number of Americans in hospital with coronavirus fell under 100,000 for the first time since December 1, weekend data show.
Almost all US states reported lower or flattening hospitalisations, with hard-hit California, Texas and Florida showing the steepest drops.
The US recorded 2,972 deaths on Saturday, compared with 3,503 on Friday.
For the first time since November 1, no states reached a new record number of new cases in the past week, the Covid Tracking Project reported.
The data reported by states show declining—but persistent—inequities.
“In most states, the population groups at the highest risk of having or dying of Covid-19 have remained the same throughout the pandemic, though their relative risk has decreased over time,” a CTP analysis said.
In June, for example, African-American people were nearly 18 times more likely to have tested positive for Covid-19 than their white neighbours in Maine, CTP noted.
Now, African-Americans there are slightly less than four times as likely to have tested positive as whites. “Still a terrible figure, but a smaller disparity,” CTP said.
George Russell in Hong Kong
Malaysia has reported more than 5,000 new cases for the third day in a row, health ministry data show.
The south-east Asian nation on Sunday reported 5,298 new coronavirus cases, raising the total number of recorded infections to 214,959.
The health ministry also reported 14 new deaths, bringing total fatalities from the pandemic to 760.
The government is expected to decide on Monday on whether to extend curbs on movement that are set to end this week.
“Everyday cases are on the rise and we need a high level of discipline,” Noor Hisham Abdullah, director-general of health, said on Sunday.
The south-east Asian country registered a record high of 5,728 infections on Saturday, after breaching the 5,000 mark for the first time on Friday.
George Russell in Hong Kong
The most populous areas of Western Australia are in a five-day lockdown until Friday after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive for Covid-19, the state health ministry said.
Under the lockdown rules affecting the Perth metropolitan area and the regions of Peel and South West, south of the city, people cannot leave or enter, except to access or deliver essential health and emergency services.
It is the first lockdown to be declared in the state in nine months. Mark McGowan, the state’s premier, said the worker was suspected to have the variant first identified in the UK.
Non-residents are required to remain until the end of the restriction period. Restaurants can provide only takeaway food service, no weddings are permitted and funerals are limited to 10 people.
A man waits for a Covid-19 test outside Royal Perth Hospital on Sunday
Schools were due to start the new year on Monday, but classes have been postponed for a week.
Pubs, clubs, playgrounds, gyms, indoor sporting venues, skate parks and outdoor recreational facilities are closed. Cinemas, casinos, places of worship, libraries and cultural institutions are also shut.
The area under the lockdown is nearly twice the size of Wales and accounts for about 80 per cent of Western Australia’s 2.5m population.
Mr McGowan urged residents not to make panic purchases as long queues formed outside supermarkets after the lockdown was announced.
Food and household goods will still be delivered into and around the state, he said.
George Russell in Hong Kong
Saudi Arabia is fighting to control a surge in new Covid-19 cases, with daily totals more than doubling over the past month, health ministry figures show.
The ministry said 261 new confirmed cases had been reported on Sunday, bringing the total number to 367,813.
Daily cases fell from a peak of 4,000-plus in June 2020 to fewer than 100 in January, but have since increased to 200-300 a day.
“We have unfortunately in recent days registered a noticeable increase and continued rise in infections,” said Tawfiq al-Rabiah, health minister.
Three new deaths were recorded on Sunday, bringing the total to 6,375.
Dr al-Rabiah said he attributed the surge to Saudis growing complacent about taking precautions, noting that large gatherings were increasing in frequency.
Britain’s wave of Covid-19 infections continues to recede slowly, government scientists said. The figure for the whole UK is between 0.7 and 1.1 – a wider spread than the 0.8 to 1.0 range of a week ago. “The number of new infections is broadly flat or shrinking by up to 5 per cent every day,” their statement said.
Canada announced that all arriving passengers will be required to take a Covid-19 test and quarantine in a hotel for three days at their own expense. International flights can land only in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. Ottawa has also cancelled all flights to Mexico and the Caribbean until the end of April.
France has tightened its coronavirus restrictions, closing its borders for arrivals from outside the EU from Sunday and shutting malls from the same day without imposing a full new lockdown. “Any entry to France or exit coming from or going to a country outside the EU will be forbidden,” said Jean Castex, prime minister.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended a declaration banning evictions of tenants that could be detrimental to public health control measures to slow the spread of Covid-19 to March 31. It was due to expire on Sunday, but Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, signed the extension on Friday.
Passengers disembark from a British Airways jet at Heathrow
British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic will hang on to lucrative take-off and landing slots without having to use them after the UK extended waivers to airport rules. Carriers have parked their fleets during the pandemic, prompting suspension of rules forcing airlines to use their slots 80 per cent of the time or lose them.
Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna has told Italy and France it will deliver fewer doses than expected in February. Domenico Arcuri, the Italian special commissioner in charge of Italy’s pandemic response, said Moderna had told Rome that delivery volumes would be 20 per cent less than planned from early February.
Getir, a Turkish start-up backed by venture capitalist Michael Moritz and valued at about $850m, has launched a rapid delivery service for grocery and corner shop items in London. Venture capitalists and public investors have pumped money into delivery companies, which have boomed during the pandemic.
AstraZeneca has secured EU regulatory approval for its coronavirus vaccine, even as French president Emmanuel Macron cast doubt over the jab’s effectiveness for older people. The European Medicines Agency on Friday said it backed the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab for all individuals aged 18 and over.
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