Coronavirus live: vaccine-sharing scheme to get 575m fewer shots than thought; UK reports 38,975 new cases

Covax initiative to receive fewer anti-Covid shots due to restrictions on key supplier; UK also reports a further 191 Covid-linked deaths

• German Covid super-spreader event ‘driven by poor ventilation’
• Nearly 300% more Covid patients in US hospitals than a year ago
• New Zealand to rethink plan to reopen borders amid Delta outbreak
• Idaho enacts ‘crisis standards of care’ protocol to battle Covid
• UK decision on Covid vaccine boosters expected on Thursday

5.09pm BST

Vietnam was a Covid success story but the latest lockdown, with people unable to leave the house even for food, is leaving tens of thousands hungry.

Read the full report by Sarah Johnson and Nhung Nguyen:

Related: ‘Hunger was something we read about’: lockdown leaves Vietnam’s poor without food

4.46pm BST

The World Health Organization on Wednesday said low-income countries were ready to run effective Covid-19 vaccination campaigns and it was now down to manufacturers and rich countries to deliver the pledged doses to ease global health inequalities.

About 80% of the 5.5 billion vaccines doses that have been administered globally went to high income countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing on Wednesday.

We have heard excuses from manufacturers and some high income countries about how low income countries cannot absorb vaccines.

Because manufacturers have prioritised or been legally obliged to fulfil bilateral deals with rich countries willing to pay top dollar, low-income countries have been deprived of the tools to protect their people.

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