Coronavirus live news: Argentina finds first cases of Brazilian variants; France bans homemade masks in schools
Argentina detects first cases of two Brazilian variants in travellers; staff and pupils in France must wear Category 1 face masks
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The public health commission in Spain has said the country’s vaccination programme will not make use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in older people, making it the latest European country to do so.
Like Italy and Belgium, Spain’s health system will only administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under-55, a decision taken on the grounds that few older people were included in clinical trials for the product. Germany has said it will only give the vaccine to under-65s.
Portugal has reported its fewest Covid-19 deaths in three weeks, which, according to the Associated Press is spurring hopes that its latest wave of pandemic could be over.
Soaring death and infection rates made Portugal the world’s worst affected country last month. The latest data on Monday showed it was still recording the highest daily death rates and was the fourth-highest in new cases, about four weeks after it entered a nationwide lockdown that officials say could last until mid-March.
Portugal officially recorded just over 2,500 new infections, taking the country’s total to almost 768,000, the health ministry said Monday. New cases have been trending downward since Jan. 24, when they reached a high point of more than 16,400. The number of new cases published on Mondays tends to be lower than the true number due to fewer tests over the weekend.
The ministry reported 196 more daily COVID-19 deaths, the lowest since Jan. 18. In all, the country has seen 14,158 confirmed deaths.
Read the original article at The Guardian