LONDON -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson will provide an update today on plans to ease covid-19 restrictions in England, amid speculation that he will scrap rules that require people to wear masks in many public settings.
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Johnson is scheduled to hold a news conference on the government's current outlook for "freedom day" -- the plan to end the remaining coronavirus restrictions on business and social interactions July 19. A final decision will be announced July 12 based on a series of tests, including vaccination rates and the risks posed by new virus variants.
The British government, which put into place one of the longest lockdowns in the world, has lifted restrictions in a series of steps that began with reopening schools in March. The fourth and final stage was delayed last month to provide time for more people to be vaccinated amid concerns about the rapid spread of the delta variant, which was first discovered in India.
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"Today we will set out how we can restore people's freedoms when we reach step four," Johnson said in a statement ahead of his news conference. "But I must stress that the pandemic is not over and that cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks."
Some doctors have expressed concerns about easing restrictions further as infection rates continue to rise. But there hasn't been an equivalent increase in covid-19 hospitalizations or deaths, emboldening ministers who believe that Britain must learn to live with the virus and that the time is right to end the remaining restrictions.
The number of confirmed new infections in the U.K. over the past seven days rose 67% from the previous week, but the 122 coronavirus-related deaths reported were two fewer than the previous week.
Public health officials attribute the divergence of the figures to the success of Britain's vaccination program. Almost 86% of U.K. adults have received at least one vaccine dose and 63.4% are fully vaccinated.
In addition to the rules on wearing face masks, Johnson will lay out plans for easing rules on social distancing and working from home, his office said. He will also discuss the government's plans for certifying people's vaccination status or their recent covid-19 test results with what are commonly known as vaccine passports.
LUXEMBOURG LEADER
In Luxembourg, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel was hospitalized Sunday, a week after testing positive for covid-19.
The premier's positive test came days after he attended a June 24-25 summit meeting with other European Union leaders in Brussels.
Bettel, 48, will remain in the hospital as a precaution for 24 hours for tests and observation, the Luxembourg government said in a statement on its website.
Bettel received his first vaccine dose May 6, he announced in a tweet at the time. Local media reported that the premier received the AstraZeneca shot.
Resurgence in South Africa
SOUTH AFRICA RESURGENCE
South Africa's resurgence of covid-19 is setting record numbers of new daily cases, centered in Johannesburg and driven by the delta variant, health officials said Sunday.
More than 26,000 new cases were reported Saturday, up from 24,000 the previous day, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, surpassing the highest number of new cases in previous waves and quickly bringing many hospitals to capacity. More than 13,800 covid-19 patients are currently in South African hospitals where some facilities are canceling elective surgeries to free up beds and health care workers.
South Africa's official death toll has risen above 63,000, although statistics on excess deaths suggest the country's actual number of virus fatalities may be more than 170,000.
South Africa's 2 million cases account for more than 30% of the cases reported by Africa's 54 countries, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
President Cyril Ramaphosa last week increased restrictions to try to reduce the spread of the virus, including extending a nighttime curfew, banning the sale of alcohol, closing many schools and stopping travel into and out of Gauteng, the country's most populous province that includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria.
OXYGEN SHORTAGE
Dozens of coronavirus patients died after a public hospital on Indonesia's main island of Java ran out of liquid oxygen amid a nationwide surge in covid-19 cases, a hospital official said Sunday.
At least 33 patients with severe coronavirus infections died after the central supply of liquid medical oxygen ran out late Saturday at Dr. Sardjito General Hospital in Yogyakarta city due to delays from suppliers over the weekend, said hospital spokesman Banu Hermawan.
The oxygen shortage in the city's largest hospital was due to an increase in patients arriving in deteriorating condition, Hermawan said.
At least 63 virus patients died during treatment for covid-19 in the hospital since Saturday -- 33 of them during the period when the central liquid oxygen supply ran out -- even though the hospital switched to using oxygen cylinders during the outage, he said. Medical oxygen comes in liquid and compressed forms.
"Their deteriorating condition contributed the most to their deaths," said Hermawan.
The hospital's central oxygen supply was operational again at 4:45 a.m. Sunday, after 15 tons of liquid oxygen were delivered.
Indonesia is battling an explosion of covid-19 cases that has strained its health care system.
Across Java, Indonesia's most populated island, hospitals began to erect plastic tents in mid-June to serve as makeshift intensive care units, and patients waited for days before being admitted. Oxygen tanks were rolled out on the sidewalk for those lucky enough to receive them, while others were told they would need to find their own supply.
Information for this article was contributed by Danica Kirka, Andrew Meldrum and Slamet Riyadi of The Associated Press and by Aiofe White of Bloomberg News (TNS).