Edward Argar denied the government is considering a two-week national lockdown, after a London-based former World Health Organization expert said the coronavirus infection rate could be nearing 38,000 a day. Argar said there was 'speculation in the press' that a new lockdown would be necessary to contain a rapid rise in infections, but said the prime minister did not want such tough measures to be reimposed nationally
Continue reading...Category Archives: UK news
UK coronavirus live: minister dismisses claim PM preparing for new two-week national lockdown
News updates: Edward Argar says Boris Johnson does not want a new national lockdown; Matt Hancock due to announce restrictions in north-east of England
- North-east of England faces new restrictions
- Boris Johnson appears to criticise Priti Patel for rule of six snooping
- Up to 25,000 teachers in England self-isolating
- Science Weekly: should we deliberately infect volunteers?
- Global coronavirus live blog
Care providers in England will receive more than £500m extra funding to help reduce transmission of Covid-19 during the winter, the government has announced. As PA Media reports, the infection control fund will help pay staff full wages when they are self-isolating and ensure carers work in only one care home, reducing the risk of spreading the infection. The fund was set up in May but has now been extended until March 2021 and will offer the sector an extra £546m ahead of an anticipated second wave of the virus over the winter months.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: infections surge in Czech Republic; India reports 97,894 new cases
Czech Republic records 2,139 new cases; India reports world record one-day cases; Trump appointee to take leave after rant likening CDC scientists to ‘resistance’
- CDC director says vaccine won’t be widely available until late 2021
- ‘Off the charts’: Ireland’s contact tracers face return of sleepless nights
- Chinese border city enters ‘wartime’ mode to tackle Covid outbreak
- UK coronavirus – live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic may take as much as five years, the World Bank’s chief economist Carmen Reinhart has said.
“There will probably be a quick rebound as all the restriction measures linked to lockdowns are lifted, but a full recovery will take as much as five years,” Reinhart said in a speech during a conference held in Madrid.
The Czech Republic has reported more than 2,000 new Covid cases in a single day for the first time as it battles a surge in infections that is among the fastest in Europe.
The health ministry recorded 2,139 cases of the new coronavirus on Wednesday, up from a previous record of 1,675 reported the previous day, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...‘Off the charts’: Ireland’s contact tracers face return of sleepless nights
Tracers express their fears as infected people reveal multiple close contacts in multiple locations
In the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, Ireland’s contact tracers often made calls to people who were very sick, with some struggling to breathe.
“In a lot of cases people were suffering extreme physical distress,” said Eamonn Gormley, a tracer at University College Dublin. “One person collapsed on the floor and we could hear them gasping for air. You got questions like: ‘Am I going to die?’ Some nights I had trouble sleeping.”
Continue reading...Device to curb microplastic emissions wins James Dyson award
Tyre attachment designed by four students aims to reduce road transport pollution
A device that captures microplastic particles from tyres as they are emitted – and could help reduce the devastating pollution they cause – has won its designers a James Dyson award.
The Tyre Collective, a group of masters students from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, scooped the UK prize of the international competition with their solution for the growing environmental scourge of tyre wear caused by road transport.
Continue reading...UK awards border contract to firm criticised over role in US deportations
Exclusive: tech firm Palantir has come under fire for links to Trump’s drive to eject migrants
The government has awarded oversight of the UK’s post-Brexit border and customs data to Palantir, an American tech firm notorious for assisting the Trump administration’s drive to deport migrants from the US.
Palantir, whose co-founder Peter Thiel has been a vocal supporter of Trump, was formally awarded a contract last week to manage the data analytics and architecture of the UK’s new “border flow tool”, which will collate data on the transit of goods and customs from 31 December, according to a Cabinet Office document seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...UK judge halts Home Office flight to remove asylum seekers
Lawyers argue group of up to 20 people will be left destitute in Spain if deported
A senior high court judge has halted a charter flight hours before up to 20 asylum seekers who crossed the Channel to the UK in small boats were due to be forcibly removed to Spain, a country they had previously passed through.
The judge, Sir Duncan Ouseley, ordered the flight to be grounded because of concerns that the asylum seekers due to fly might be left destitute in the streets of Madrid, as happened to another group earlier this month.
Continue reading...UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson admits there is not enough testing capacity; 3,991 new cases recorded
PM says testing capacity will be 500,000 per day by end of October; close to 4,000 lab-confirmed new cases reported in UK
- Tameside hospital Covid deaths are ‘canary in the mine
- South Wales outbreak blamed on trip to Doncaster races
- Rayner rebukes Johnson over ‘collapsing’ test system
- Global coronavirus updates – live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Scotland’s children’s commissioner has called for “clear and direct communication to children and families” from the Scottish government, amidst growing concerns that the rule of six impacts disproportionately on poorer children.
Parents have asked why it is that both grouse shooting and fox hunting can continue under the new restrictions, while it is against the law for children from more than two families to play together indoors or out, resulting in an effective ban on home-organised birthday parties and limits on free play in parks, as well as excluding those who can’t afford paid-for group activities.
Public health is the first priority, and we need the public to have confidence that the rules are fair ... The fact is, current regulations mean children can only invite all their friends to celebrate their birthday if their parents can afford to pay someone else to organise it.
A children’s rights impact assessment is essential in demonstrating the legitimacy of decision-making and should be a part of any significant policy changes, along with clear and direct communication to children and families so the legitimate reasons for the restrictions are widely understood.
Continue reading...Bugs in NHS website add to UK’s Covid-19 testing crisis
Many users report errors that prevent them booking a test or being told tests aren’t available
The NHS website used to book coronavirus tests is struggling to cope with the number of requests, adding yet more problems to the government’s troubled test-and-trace scheme.
Britons who attempt to book a test for Covid-19 online are directed – once they have passed screening questions to ensure they are entitled to the testing – to a purpose-built website where they can theoretically book either a home test kit or a walk-through or drive-through test. However, in practice, an increasing number of users are reporting errors on the site itself, which prevent them from even attempting to book a test.
Continue reading...Dark hair was common among Vikings, genetic study confirms
Research reveals Vikings were genetically diverse group and not purely Scandinavian
They may have had a reputation for trade, braids and fearsome raids, but the Vikings were far from a single group of flaxen-haired, sea-faring Scandinavians.
A genetic study of Viking-age human remains has not only confirmed that Vikings from different parts of Scandinavia set sail for different parts of the world, but has revealed that dark hair was more common among Vikings than Danes today.
Continue reading...UK repatriates child orphaned in Syria after Isis collapse
Child is thought to be first to have returned from the country since November
A British child left orphaned by the collapse of the Islamic State caliphate has been repatriated from Syria, the Foreign Office has said.
The child is understood to be the first to have returned to the UK from Syria since November, when a small number of other unaccompanied British children were repatriated.
Continue reading...‘Confounding’: Covid may have already peaked in many African countries
One explanation for virus not behaving as expected could be previous exposure to other infections, experts tell MPs
The coronavirus pandemic has peaked earlier than expected in many African countries, confounding early predictions, experts have told MPs.
Scientists do not yet know why, but one hypothesis is the possibility of people having pre-existing immunity to Covid-19, caused by exposure to other infections.
Continue reading...Biden and Pelosi warn UK over risking Good Friday agreement
Leading Democrats tell UK foreign secretary that Northern Ireland peace deal cannot be casualty of Brexit
Joe Biden on Wednesday joined the clamour of Democrats warning Boris Johnson not to let the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement become a casualty of his Brexit talks.
The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, is in Washington trying to repair relations with pro-Irish Democrats amid concerns that the UK’s attempt to leave the EU on its own terms will undermine the Good Friday peace agreement.
Continue reading...Andrzej Krauze on Boris Johnson’s latest Brexit manoeuvre – cartoon
The UK, with an inflated view of its negotiating power, is threatening to renege on the EU withdrawal agreement
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away’ because of ‘herd mentality’
‘It would go away without the vaccine,’ Trump says on ABC town hall. India’s total cases pass 5 million; Virus death toll linked to Maine wedding grows to 7; Follow the latest updates
- World still at the beginning of the pandemic, WHO expert warns
- Sweden records its fewest daily cases since March
- Covid cases near 30m; China expects vaccine in November
- World map: which countries have the most cases and deaths?
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Me, traveling abroad 10 minutes after getting the vaccine: pic.twitter.com/xe2odYxXBT
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus could be three or four weeks away, underscoring predictions made by US public health officials and Pfizer Inc earlier this month, Reuters reports.
Trump, speaking at a town hall hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, defended his handling of the coronavirus crisis, and said a vaccine could be ready for distribution soon.
“We’re very close to having a vaccine,” he said. “If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals. And we’re within weeks of getting it you know could be three weeks, four weeks.”
Coronavirus live news: Netherlands records second successive daily case high; targeted lockdowns in Madrid
1,542 new cases in Netherlands; Madrid accounts for a third of Spain’s caseload; Trump says ‘herd mentality’ will beat Covid virus
- ‘I up-played it’: Trump disputes own admission on pandemic
- Sweden spared European surge as infections stay low
- England: ‘There are no more tests today’
- UK coronavirus updates – live
- US coronavirus updates – live
The average age of people infected with Covid-19 is coming down, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) expert, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove. She has told a Q&A that incidences of hospitalisation among those aged 15 to 49 years are increasing.
She also said it was possible for the same person to be infected with influenza and Covid-19, adding that the WHO was looking into the prevalence of that.
Earlier, we posted that the Czech Republic had reported its highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic. The country’s health minister, Adam Vojtěch, has told its parliament the government plans to ban stand-up indoor events as of Friday to help stabilise the situation.
Inevitably the numbers in the coming days will be very similar to the current increases.
We have to calculate with that, although we are hoping for a certain decline or at least stabilisation from the measures adopted.
Continue reading...Barbados revives plan to remove Queen as head of state and become a republic
The Caribbean island’s leader says its people want a ‘Barbadian head of state’ and aim to achieve the goal by November 2021
Barbados has announced its intention to remove the Queen as its head of state and become a republic by November 2021.
A speech written by its prime minister, Mia Mottley, quoted a warning by the Caribbean island nation’s first premier, Errol Barrow, against “loitering on colonial premises”.
Continue reading...Stress, anxiety and depression levels soar under UK Covid-19 restrictions
Researchers say mental health levels may worsen as infections rise and lockdowns are imposed
Restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus in the UK has driven stress, anxiety and depression far above normal levels and may do again in coming months if widespread lockdowns are re-imposed, researchers say.
A major study into the mental health impact of the pandemic found that in the early stages of lockdown 57% of those who took part reported symptoms of anxiety, with 64% recording common signs of depression.
Continue reading...UK coronavirus live: Covid testing shortage will take weeks to resolve, says Matt Hancock
News updates: health secretary signals access to testing could be prioritised for those most in need; just 1% of deaths in England and Wales linked to Covid, ONS says
- Private labs unable to process all Covid tests, NHS email reveals
- Two families of four chatting in street ‘would break English Covid laws’
- PM was warned over Covid ‘moonshot’ testing plan
- UK map: confirmed Covid cases and deaths today
- Coronavirus – latest updates
Almost nine in 10 pupils have attended schools in England since their full reopening this month, government figures show. Around 92% of state schools were fully open on Thursday September 10, and approximately 88% of students were back in class on the same day, the Department for Education analysis suggests.
There have been a further 110 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19,681. Public Health Wales said no further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic remaining at 1,597.
Continue reading...Boat migrants to be housed in former barracks in Kent
Around 400 people to be housed in Kent as UK deals with record levels of arrivals crossing Channel
Migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats are to be housed in former military barracks while their asylum claims are processed, it has emerged.
Around 400 people including families are to be housed in temporary accommodation at Napier Barracks near Folkestone, Kent, from 21 September, MP Damian Collins said.
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