In the United States, one of the first studies to track whether Covid vaccination might affect women’s periods found a small and temporary change. Research published Wednesday tracked nearly 4,000 women through six menstrual cycles and on average, the next period after a shot started about a day later than usual. But there was no change in the number of days of menstrual bleeding after Covid vaccination, reported the Associated Press. “This is incredibly reassuring,” said Dr. Alison Edelman of Oregon Health & Science University, who led the research and said it’s important to tell women what to expect. Some women have reported irregular periods or other menstrual changes after their shots. The National Institutes of Health is funding studies to examine if there is any link. Edelman’s team analysed data from a birth control app called Natural Cycles, cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for women to track their menstrual cycles and tell when they’re most likely to become pregnant. Menstrual cycles are counted from the first day of one period to the first day of the next. Slight variations from month to month are normal, and stress, diet, even exercise can spur temporary changes. Johnson & Johnson has confirmed a real-world study shows that its single shot Covid vaccine produced long-lasting protection for up to six months against breakthrough infections and hospitalisations. Nigeria is working to develop a Covid vaccine, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a televised interview on Thursday, as the country battles growing cases of the virus. Health experts say Nigeria needs to triple its vaccination drive from just over 100,000 doses a day to meet its target of inoculating more than half its population by the end of next year. The West African country has been exploring options to acquire or purchase vaccines through the COVAX facility to enable it to inoculate at least 70% of its population. It received vaccine donations some of which had a shelf life that left only weeks to administer the shots. Nigeria destroyed more than one million expired vaccines last month. “We are working very hard with the ministry of health to develop vaccines,” Buhari said on state television. “We shouldn’t make noise about it until we succeed.” Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has criticised the country’s health regulator Anvisa for authorising the vaccination of children aged five to 11 years against Covid. Vaccine sceptic Bolsonaro said in a radio interview that he had not heard of children dying of Covid and repeated that his daughter Laura, 11, would not be vaccinated. Bolsonaro insinuated that vaccines could have side effects on children, but gave no evidence. Anvisa and health regulators around the world have found that Covid vaccines are safe from age five and older. “Are you going to vaccinate your child when the possibility of dying is almost zero? What is behind this? What are the interests of vaccine maniacs?” Bolsonaro stated. The Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that it had bought 20 million paediatric vaccines developed by Pfizer and voluntary vaccination of children aged five to 11-years-old will begin by the end of the month. Mexico is likely to surpass 300,000 deaths from Covid this week - the fifth highest death toll worldwide - as infections rise after the holiday season, fuelled by the Omicron variant and largely unrestricted tourism. Infections have more than doubled to 20,000 during the last week when many tourists visited Mexico from the United States and Canada. Eleven of Mexico’s 32 states decided not to resume in-person school classes this week with cases climbing fast. The arrival of the highly contagious Omicron variant reversed a downturn in infections during the autumn, when the widespread application of vaccines provided relief, Reuters reported. Some Mexicans said people had dropped their guard as the holidays came. “Since December, a lot of people started to go out and there are many who no longer wear face masks,” said Isauro Perez, a 53-year-old taxi driver in Mexico City. “If we don’t take care of ourselves, the government won’t take care of us.” A group of passengers who filmed themselves partying without masks onboard a chartered flight from Montreal to Mexico face being stranded after three airlines refused to fly them home to Canada. Sunwing Airlines cancelled the return charter flight from Cancún that had been scheduled for Wednesday and Air Transat and Air Canada also both said they would refuse to carry the passengers. Adding insult to injury, they were branded “idiots” on Wednesday by the prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Videos of the 30 December flight shared on social media show unmasked passengers in close proximity while singing and dancing in the aisle and on seats. In one video, a large bottle of vodka appears to be passed among passengers and a woman appears to be smoking an electronic cigarette. Britain’s first wave of coronavirus raised the risk of death by more than 40% for most adults regardless of their underlying health and other factors, research suggests. Scientists examined medical records for nearly 10 million people aged 40 and over and found that, whatever a person’s risk of dying before the pandemic, it rose 1.43 times on average as the virus spread between March and May 2020. The finding means that Covid amplified people’s pre-existing risks by a similar amount, leading those most vulnerable before the pandemic to bear the brunt of the deaths. “Covid-19 seems to have multiplied the death rate by a similar amount for most adults in the UK,” said Dr Helen Strongman, an epidemiologist on the study at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “It really exploits any frailty or health or demographic risk factor. It picks on people who are already at risk of ill health or death more than other people in the population.” The researchers compared relative rates of all-cause mortality before and during the first wave, taking into account the impact of 50 different medical conditions and other characteristics, such as where people lived, their body mass index and ethnicity. Chile to become first Latin American country to offer fourth Covid jab Hello. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest Covid headlines over the next few hours. Let’s begin with the news that Chile will begin offering a fourth shot of the Covid vaccine next week to immunocompromised people, making it the first country in Latin America and one of the first in the world to offer the extra dose. “Starting next Monday, 10 January, we are going to start a new mass vaccination process with a fourth dose or a second booster dose,” said the president, Sebastián Piñera, in a press conference. Chile has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates and has been hailed as a model for its response to the pandemic, having administered two doses to more than 85% of the population. About 57% have received a third booster shot, according to Our World in Data. The announcement comes as the highly contagious Omicron variant is spreading worldwide, with several countries reporting all-time high Covid caseloads even among vaccinated populations. Cases in Mexico have more than doubled in the past week, while Peru imposed new restrictions this week [see 5.51pm.]. “The success that Chile has had in the vaccination process [...] puts us among the best countries in the world in the way we have managed to combat this pandemic,” Piñera added. “And with this fourth dose we seek to maintain this leadership position and protect the health and lives of our compatriots.” The vaccines for the fourth dose will be a combination of the same shots that have been used so far in Chile, including Pfizer, Sinovac and AstraZeneca, said the health minister, Enrique Paris. This combination of different vaccines between the first and fourth doses should allow “an improvement in the immune response”, Paris explained. Chile reported its first case of the Omicron variant at the beginning of December and has confirmed 698 cases of this variant have been reported, the vast majority corresponding to people who travelled outside the country. Novak Djokovic’s family have said he is the victim of “a political agenda” aimed at “stomping on Serbia” as protesters in Belgrade called for his release and Serbia’s president insisted “the whole country” was behind him. The 34-year-old world tennis No 1, who was born in the Serb capital, is in detention in an immigration hotel in Melbourne pending a legal challenge to Australia’s decision on Wednesday to cancel a visa that would allow him to play in the Australian Open. Demonstrators gathered outside the Serb assembly on Thursday afternoon after a call for support from Djokovic’s family. The player’s father told a press conference that he could not be defeated “by anyone, not even the Australian government”. Djokovic was being “persecuted”, Sjrdan Djokovic said. “They’re keeping him in captivity. They’re stomping all over him to stomp all over Serbia and the Serbian people. [Scott] Morrison [Australia’s prime minister] and his like have dared attack Novak to bring Serbia to its knees.” Australian officials have said the player, who has refused to reveal his Covid vaccination status but previously said he was opposed to vaccination, was refused entry because he failed to meet vaccination exemption requirements. Summary Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today so far: Peru raised its pandemic alert level in numerous cities and tightened some restrictions amid a third wave of infections caused by the spread of the Omicron variant. The health minister, Hernando Cevallos, said that 24 provinces, including Lima, went from “moderate” to “high” alert as the average number of daily cases has increased 25% from the previous week. Among the restrictions were an extended curfew of 11pm to 5am, three hours longer than the previous curfew, and tightened capacity limits in shopping centres, banks and restaurants, Cevallos said. [see ]. The Stormont assembly is set to be recalled early from its Christmas recess to discuss the Omicron surge in Northern Ireland. A sitting of the assembly’s plenary is due to take place at noon on Monday so MLAs can debate a motion around the opening of schools amid the recent record-breaking wave of Covid cases. The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has ordered the arrest of unvaccinated people who violate stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing “galloping” infections driven by the Omicron variant. When the government tightened restrictions in Manila and several provinces and cities this week, unvaccinated people among the capital’s 13 million people were ordered to stay home, after infection numbers tripled in the last two days. “Because it’s a national emergency, it is my position that we can restrain” people who have not got their shots, Duterte said in a pre-recorded message. “I am now giving orders to the [village chiefs] to look for those persons who are not vaccinated and just request them or order them, if you may, to stay put.” He added: “And if he refuses and goes out of the house and goes around in the community or maybe everywhere, he can be restrained. If he refuses then the [official] is empowered to arrest the recalcitrant persons.” [see 5.12pm.]. Pre-departure testing for travellers entering Scotland has been scrapped in line with the rest of the UK. The change will take effect from Friday at 4am, while those coming into the country will also be able to use a lateral flow test instead of a PCR as their post-arrival test, taken on or before the second day of their stay, from Sunday at 4am. The requirement to self-isolate until a negative PCR is returned will also come to an end. Only travellers above the age of 18 and who are fully vaccinated with two doses are impacted by the change – a booster is not required, according to Scottish government guidance. [see ]. The UK recorded another 179,756 Covid casesand a further 231 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest figures from the government’s coronavirus dashboard. Story here. The more infectious Omicron variant appears to produce less severe disease than the globally dominant Delta, but should not be categorised as “mild”, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Speaking at a media briefing, the director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also repeated his call for greater equity globally in the distribution of and access to vaccines. Based on the current rate of vaccine rollout, 109 countries will miss the WHO’s target for 70% of the world’s population to be fully vaccinated by July, Tedros added. That aim is seen as helping end the acute phase of the pandemic. Austria’s government is to roll out tighter Covid-19 rules from Saturday as the country fights a wave of infections from the Omicron variant. The new measures include shortening quarantine times to five days, requiring people to wear masks outdoors when in crowds, and limiting to six months the validity of vaccine certificates, officials said. Previously, people who tested positive had to quarantine for 14 days. From next week, stricter inspections will be in place to make sure only vaccinated or recovered people are going into shops and cultural venues. The government has also told Austrians to keep working from home if possible. Portugal will allow students to return to school from next week and nightclubs to reopen on 14 January despite a record surge in Covid cases, with hospital admissions still well below levels seen earlier in the pandemic. From Monday, only coronavirus-infected people and those who live with them need to isolate, while those who have received a booster shot – a total of about 3 million people – no longer need to do so. Students can return to school on Monday but a work-from-home order, imposed around Christmas, will stay in place until 14 January, António Costa, the prime minister, said. Nightclubs and bars can reopen on 14 January, but a negative test will be required to enter. A negative test will also continue to be requested from all air passengers travelling to Portugal. Boris Johnson criticised anti-Covid vaccine activists for spreading “nonsense” on social media, while stressing that he does not support moves to overtly pressure people into getting vaccinated. “I want to say to the anti-vax campaigners, the people who are putting this mumbo jumbo on social media: they are completely wrong,” Johnson told broadcasters on a visit to a vaccination centre. “You haven’t heard me say that before, because I think it’s important we have a voluntary approach in this country and we’re going to keep a voluntary approach.” Story here. Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier will stand trial in August accused of travelling from Glasgow to London in September 2020 knowing she had symptoms of coronavirus and wilfully exposing others to the risk of infection. Ferrier pleaded not guilty to the single charge on Thursday morning at Glasgow sheriff court. Story here. An estimated 1.3 million people in the UK – one in 50 – had long Covid in early December, the highest number since estimates began, according to figures from the ONS. That includes more than half a million people who first had Covid, or suspected they had the virus, at least one year ago. [see 12.20pm.]. Peru raises Covid alert and tightens restrictions amid Omicron wave Peru, which has one of the world’s highest Covid mortality rates per number of inhabitants, has raised its pandemic alert level in various cities and tightened some restrictions due to a third wave of infections caused by the spread of the Omicron variant, Reuters reports. The health minister, Hernando Cevallos, said that 24 provinces, including Lima, went from “moderate” to “high” alert as the average number of daily cases has increased 25% from the previous week. Among the restrictions were an extended curfew of 11pm to 5am, three hours longer than the previous curfew, and tightened capacity limits in shopping centres, banks and restaurants, Cevallos said. The heightened restrictions come amid signs that countries across Latin America are entering another wave of Covid infections, despite South America being the world’s most-vaccinated region. “We’re at a level of infections that’s rising more and more quickly,” Cevallos said in a press conference. The minister said that in Lima, where close to a third of the country lives, “Omicron is the prominent [variant]”, accounting for half of all new cases. Cevallos also said that despite the rise in infections, the number of deaths in the country had only increased moderately, and that the majority of the deaths were among the unvaccinated. About 80% of Peru’s eligible population has received two doses of the Covid vaccine. As of Tuesday, according to the health ministry’s most recent update, the country has recorded a total number of 2.3 million infections and 202,904 deaths.