Coronavirus live: four stillbirths in Ireland potentially linked to Covid-19; UK investigates new variant

Irish health officials investigating placental infections that led to stillbirths; Sixteen cases of new variant identified so far

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• About 40% of over-80s in England broke Covid rules after jab
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11.07pm GMT

The Japanese government plans to extend a state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures to combat Covid-19 until 21 March, two weeks longer than originally scheduled, the economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Friday.

Nishimura, who is in charge of the government’s coronavirus response, made the comment at the start of an early-morning meeting with advisers to seek approval for the move.

10.54pm GMT

An anti-corruption watchdog on Thursday publicly urged Honduras to come clean about a snag in its plans to buy millions more vaccine doses through the Covax mechanism, increasing pressure on the government over its management of the pandemic.

Honduras originally had said it planned to purchase the extra doses through Covax and the Pan American Health Organization to cover about 2 million people this year to ramp up its Covid-19 vaccine campaign.

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