Category Archives: UK news

‘We’re bursting’: a day inside a Covid intensive care unit

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The Guardian spends a day with Covid patients and staff at Milton Keynes University hospital

In a private room by the locked entrance of the intensive care unit, Dilip Sharan is sitting up in bed, a plate of stew in front of him. He navigates his spoon around the breathing tube keeping him alive, every mouthful soundtracked by a discordant symphony of beeps and bongs from multiple monitors keeping tabs on his vital organs.

It is his fifth day in the last chance saloon of Covid care. He gasps for air, barely able to speak.

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Hyundai’s value surges by $9bn amid reports of Apple electric car deal

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South Korean firm backtracks on statement confirming ‘early discussion’ with US company

Hyundai’s value surged by $9bn (£6.6bn) on Friday after reports that it could join with Apple in developing a driverless electric vehicle – despite confusion as it backtracked on a statement acknowledging “early discussion” with the iPhone manufacturer.

Investors sent the South Korean carmaker’s share price on the Seoul exchange up almost 20%, as local media reported a possible tie-up on electric cars and batteries with Apple, which has been developing its own vehicle technology.

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Covid in the UK: why is it so bad now and when will cases decline? | Nicola Davis and Linda Geddes

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With a major incident declared in London and positive test results surging, experts answer key questions

The UK is seeing record numbers of people testing positive for coronavirus, with more than 60,000 positive tests reported on three days this week.

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Covid-19 is ‘out of control’ in London, says Sadiq Khan – video

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'I'm afraid this virus is out of control,' the mayor of London has said after declaring a major incident as the capital's hospitals struggle to cope with coronavirus patients. 'The NHS in London is at risk of being overwhelmed ... we could run out of beds,' Sadiq Khan said. The mayor told BBC News that as many as one in 20 people had the virus in some parts of the city. 'The best way you can help the NHS is by staying at home,' he said

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Iran bans importation of Covid vaccines from the US and UK

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Despite virus spread, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei forbids what he calls ‘untrustworthy’ jabs

Vaccines produced by the US and UK will be banned from entering Iran, its supreme leader has said, even though his country has suffered the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East.

“Imports of US and British vaccines into the country are forbidden ... They’re completely untrustworthy,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a live televised speech. “It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations.

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UK coronavirus live: ‘major incident’ declared in London as cases surge; Moderna Covid vaccine approved

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Latest updates: Sadiq Khan declares major incident in capital with ‘spread of virus out of control’; seven million doses of Moderna vaccine ordered

Making the announcement in London, Sadiq Khan said: “We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.

“If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.

BREAKING: I have declared a major incident in London because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.

One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.https://t.co/OjV7SZ4BgQ

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared an effective emergency in the city, as it grapples with soaring coronavirus case numbers and hospitals struggling to cope with the influx of patients.

London has been the worst-hit area of the UK so far in the winter peak of Covid-19 cases.

Related: Sadiq Khan declares Covid emergency in London

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Giant sinkhole opens in hospital car park in Naples

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Nearby Italian residence for Covid-19 patients had to close temporarily because of electricity cuts

A giant sinkhole has opened up in the car park of a hospital in Naples, Italy, forcing the temporary closure of a nearby residence for recovering Covid-19 patients because the electricity was cut.

Operations at the Hospital of the Sea were not affected, and firefighters said no one appeared to be injured. The sinkhole consumed a few cars in the hospital’s otherwise empty visitors’ car park on Friday.

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Coronavirus live news: WHO says poorer countries not getting vaccines; Denmark to restrict all travel

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WHO urges rich countries to stop making bilateral deals with manufacturers; Denmark to restrict entry from all countries after today

The United States has set a new daily record for new coronavirus cases, with 290,000 cases reported in 24-hours, according to the Johns Hopkins global tally.

Some 3,676 people in the US died with the virus in the same period.

Mexico has reported 14,362 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 1,038 deaths.

It is one of the highest daily case increases and brings the total number of cases in Mexico since the pandemic began to 1,507,931, with 132,069 deaths.

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Hampshire police officers sacked over ‘shameful’ language

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Five officers from serious crime unit recorded making racist, sexist and other inappropriate comments

Five officers in an elite unit caught making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks have been sacked for their “shameful” conduct.

A covert bug recorded members of Hampshire police’s serious organised crime unit wishing death on foreigners, and an investigation found that part of the office where a black officer worked was called “Africa corner”.

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‘We cannot take chances’ with South African Covid variant, says Grant Shapps – video

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The transport secretary said fears that vaccines would not work against the new South African coronavirus strain prompted the introduction of testing for new arrivals into England and Scotland. 'There are concerns ... about how effective the vaccine would be against it, so we simply cannot take chances,' Shapps said

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Fears Covid vaccines would not work against South Africa variant led to travel curbs

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Minister says extra check on travellers introduced as ‘we simply cannot take chances’

Fears that Covid vaccines will not work against the new South African strain of the virus have prompted the introduction of testing for new arrivals into England and Scotland from abroad, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said.

Outlining the new testing regime for England and Scotland, he told Sky News: “This is an extra check and we’re doing this now because there are these variants that we’re very keen to keep out of the country, like the South African variant, for example.

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‘I’m stuck here’: lorry drivers in Calais begin to feel effects of Brexit

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Truck drivers tell of long delays for checks at the Eurotunnel as trade barrier goes up between UK and EU

Roger White arrived in France at 2.30pm on Tuesday with a truckload of hard cheese from Somerset.

Before Brexit he would have rolled off the Eurotunnel train and carried on up the A16 to Belgium, unloading his wares a few hours later at his ultimate destination in Utrecht.

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Climate crisis: 2020 was joint hottest year ever recorded

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Global heating continued unabated despite Covid lockdowns, with record Arctic wildfires and Atlantic tropical storms

The climate crisis continued unabated in 2020, with the the joint highest global temperatures on record, alarming heat and record wildfires in the Arctic, and a record 29 tropical storms in the Atlantic.

Despite a 7% fall in fossil fuel burning due to coronavirus lockdowns, heat-trapping carbon dioxide continued to build up in the atmosphere, also setting a new record. The average surface temperature across the planet in 2020 was 1.25C higher than in the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900, dangerously close to the 1.5C target set by the world’s nations to avoid the worst impacts.

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Man, 19, guilty of murdering schoolboy he paid £2,000 to keep silent

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Engineering student Matthew Mason bludgeoned 15-year-old Alex Rodda to death with a wrench in Cheshire woods

A 19-year-old man has been found guilty of murdering a schoolboy after paying more than £2,000 to try to stop him revealing their sexual relationship.

Matthew Mason admitted bludgeoning 15-year-old Alex Rodda to death with a wrench in woods in Cheshire on 12 December 2019.

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University College London apologises for role in promoting eugenics

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Links to early eugenicists such as Francis Galton a source of ‘deep regret’ to institution

University College London has expressed “deep regret” for its role in the propagation of eugenics, alongside a promise to improve conditions for disabled staff and students and a pledge to give “greater prominence” to teaching the malign legacy of the discredited movement.

The formal apology for legitimising eugenics – the advocacy of selective breeding of the population often to further racist or discriminatory aims – is UCL’s latest effort to address its links to early eugenicists such as Francis Galton, who funded a professorship in eugenics at the university.

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Leave. EU leaves Britain after Brexit

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Eurosceptic campaign group founded by Arron Banks is now registered in Ireland

Leave.EU has left the UK, as Brexit forced the Eurosceptic campaign group to choose between its name and its country.

According to domain name registration records, the organisation, founded by businessman and activist Arron Banks, picked the former. The website is now registered in the name of Sean Power, the chief executive of the Ireland-based professional services company BSG.

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Slave trade links of Scotland’s Glenfinnan memorial revealed

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Historians find site famous for its connection to Bonnie Prince Charlie built using wealth from slave plantations

The history of Glenfinnan, one of the most famous sites linked to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite revolt, is being rewritten after significant links to the Atlantic slave trade were uncovered.

Historians have found evidence the Glenfinnan memorial, erected close to where Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard at Loch Shiel in 1745, was built using wealth from slave plantations in Jamaica by a descendant of clansmen who took part in the Jacobite rebellion.

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Covid kills half of Sussex care home’s residents over Christmas

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Exclusive: ‘We’re sitting ducks,’ says Edendale Lodge boss, as fears rise of variant breaching homes’ defences

A care home in East Sussex has been devastated by Covid, losing half of all its residents to the disease over Christmas, fuelling fears the new, more transmissible virus variant sweeping the south-east of England is beginning to breach homes’ defences.

Thirteen of 27 residents at Edendale Lodge care home in Crowhurst had died with confirmed or suspected Covid since 13 December, said the home operator’s managing director, Adam Hutchison, who also runs care homes in Kent.

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How the Covid surge has left the NHS on the brink – podcast

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Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown amid fears the NHS could be overwhelmed within weeks with Covid patients. Denis Campbell and Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden describe a service already at breaking point

Fears that the NHS could be overwhelmed within weeks have prompted new national lockdowns across the UK. There are now more than 30,000 people in NHS hospitals with coronavirus as staff levels have been hit too by the disease.

The Guardian’s health policy editor, Denis Campbell, tells Anushka Asthana that the rapidly rising number of Covid patients is forcing hospitals to cancel non-urgent operations and ration care. Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, who works in intensive care units, says staff are feeling exhausted as their workloads continue to expand. She welcomes the new lockdown but fears the toll on the NHS and staff is becoming unbearable.

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Coronavirus live news: Israel ‘to vaccinate all over-16s by April’; France’s border with UK closed ‘for foreseeable future’

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More than 17% of Israelis have had first shot; 26,391 new infections in Germany; Reuters says Europe has now had more than 25m cases

Brazil has hit another dire milestone in its struggle with coronavirus as its death toll rose above 200,000 with the epidemic again worsening.

On Thursday afternoon a coalition of news groups that tracks the number of deaths said Brazil’s death toll had risen to 200,011.

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