We talk to three people faced with moral crises over reconciling family festivities with the risks posed by coronavirus
Christmas is meant to be a time filled with joy, but for many families it can underline divisions between parents, children or siblings and bring unresolved tensions to the surface. This year adds a particular issue to that dynamic – whether or not individual family members are vaccinated.
Continue reading...Government privately being urged by advisers to tell people to work from home as UK cases of variant hit 134
UK ministers have been warned they cannot wait for new research on the Omicron variant and must act now to prevent a potentially “very significant wave of infections” that risks overwhelming the NHS.
A 75 further cases of the variant have been identified in England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Friday night, bringing the total number of UK confirmed cases to 134. The head of the agency, Dr Jenny Harries, said: “We have started to see cases where there are no links to travel, suggesting that we have a small amount of community transmission.”
Continue reading...As new strain dampens idea pandemic might be diminishing, what does the future hold for coronavirus?
When scientists predicted, months ago, that Covid-19 could be entering an endemic phase, many felt ready for the crisis period of the pandemic to be over. The tantalising suggestion that coronavirus might, at some foreseeable point, be just another seasonal cold felt welcome. But the emergence of the Omicron variant, just weeks before Christmas, shows this is not guaranteed to be a smooth or quick transition.
Continue reading...More than 100 cases of new variant have now been found in England; Strict social distancing will be required in Ireland’s bars and restaurants with mandatory table service and a maximum of six people per table
California is reporting its second confirmed case of the Omicron variant in as many days.
The Los Angeles County public health department says a full vaccinated county resident is self-isolating after apparently contracting the infection during a trip to South Africa last month.
Continue reading...Experts applaud Biden’s plan to expand testing but wonder if the effort goes far enough to stop the spread of the virus
US infectious disease experts largely agree with the Biden administration’s newly announced emphasis on Covid-19 testing in the wake of the emergence of the Omicron variant, but questions remain over whether the president’s plan goes far enough to ensure that testing stops the spread of the virus.
President Joe Biden announced new actions to combat the coronavirus in the US on Thursday, including a nationwide campaign encouraging vaccine boosters; a forthcoming rule requiring private insurance to reimburse the cost of at-home testing; a pledge to provide 50m free at-home tests to health centers and rural clinics for those not covered by private insurance; and a requirement that travelers to the United States, regardless of nationality or vaccination status, provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test within one day of boarding flights.
Continue reading...About 50 workers at the Mt Arthur coalmine had been stood down without pay over the mandate
The Fair Work Commission has ruled a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for all workers at BHP’s Mt Arthur coalmine was unlawful because the company did not consult adequately with its workers.
Approximately 50 mine workers were stood down without pay last month after they were told they would be required to have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to enter the work site after 9 November, and that they would need to be fully vaccinated by 31 January next year.
Continue reading...For the first time in a decade deaths from TB are rising, with the curable disease killing 20,000 Kenyans last year. Now testing ‘ATMs’ and other innovations are helping to find ‘missing cases’
One day in May last year, Violet Chemesunte, a community health volunteer in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, got a call from a colleague worried about a woman she had visited who kept coughing.
She asked if Chemesunte could go round and convince the 37-year-old woman, a single mother to three young children, to seek medical help. She suspected tuberculosis (TB), and feared it might already be too late.
Continue reading...Jabs offer far higher protection than that needed to prevent hospitalisation and death, Cov-Boost trial lead says
Covid booster shots can dramatically strengthen the body’s immune defences, according to a study that raises hopes of preventing another wave of severe disease driven by the Omicron variant.
In a study published in the Lancet, researchers on the UK-based Cov-Boost trial measured immune responses in nearly 3,000 people who received one of seven Covid-19 boosters or a control jab two to three months after their second dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Boris Johnson says ‘no need’ to cancel Christmas events as UK reports 53,945 daily coronavirus cases
Jeremy Corbyn posted a tweet this morning promoting a virtual Stop the War fundraiser this Christmas, not an in-person one. So my earlier post (now removed) about this being an example of a party going ahead that might not meet with George Freeman’s approval was completely wrong. I apologise for the mistake.
The Cabinet Office has been fined £500,000 for accidentally disclosing the postal addresses of the 2020 new year honours list recipients online, in breach of data protection laws.
On 27 December 2019 the Cabinet Office published a file on GOV.UK containing the names and unredacted addresses of more than 1,000 people announced in the new year honours list. People from a wide range of professions across the UK were affected, including individuals with a high public profile.
After becoming aware of the data breach, the Cabinet Office removed the weblink to the file. However, the file was still cached and accessible online to people who had the exact webpage address.
When data breaches happen, they have real-life consequences. In this case, more than 1,000 people were affected. At a time when they should have been celebrating and enjoying the announcement of their honour, they were faced with the distress of their personal details being exposed.
The Cabinet Office’s complacency and failure to mitigate the risk of a data breach meant that hundreds of people were potentially exposed to the risk of identity fraud and threats to their personal safety.
Continue reading...Scientists warn of higher rate of repeat infections but say vaccines appear to protect against serious illness
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 appears to be reinfecting people at three times the rate of previous strains, experts in South Africa have said, as public health officials and scientists from around the world closely monitor developments in the country where it was first identified.
As the EU’s public health agency warned that Omicron could cause more than half of all new Covid infections in Europe within the next few months, evidence was emerging, however, that vaccines still appear to offer protection against serious illness.
Continue reading...Plans include a drive to encourage vaccine boosters, expansion of at-home tests and tighter restrictions on international travel
Joe Biden is set to announce new actions to combat the coronavirus, including a nationwide campaign encouraging vaccine boosters, an expansion of at-home tests and tighter restrictions on international travel.
Buffeted by the emergence of the Omicron variant and a political backlash from Republicans, the US president will visit the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Thursday and lay out a pandemic battle plan for the winter months.
Continue reading...Experts hope better understanding of rare side effect of vaccine could help ‘turn the tide’ on pandemic
Scientists believe they may have found the trigger behind the extremely rare blood clot complications stemming from the Oxford/AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine.
According to a team of researchers from Cardiff and the US, the reaction can be traced to the way the adenovirus used by the vaccine to shuttle the coronavirus’s genetic material into cells binds with a specific protein in the blood, known as platelet factor 4 (PF4).
Continue reading...Germany is seeking to break a surge in coronavirus infections; India detects two cases of new Omicron variant in Karnataka; Greece and Finland detect first Omicron cases
Some Covid numbers from Germany are now in.
The European nation reported another 73,209 new Covid cases for Wednesday and 388 deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
Continue reading...The EU must consider mandatory vaccination in response to the spread of the 'highly contagious' Omicron Covid variant across Europe, the European Commission president has said. Ursula von der Leyen said one-third of Europe's 150-million population were not vaccinated and it was 'appropriate' to discuss the issue
Continue reading...Duke of Sussex says on World Aids Day that vaccinating the world against Covid is ‘test of our moral character’
The Duke of Sussex has warned of “corporate greed and political failure” prolonging the Covid pandemic, comparing a “spectacular failure” of global vaccine equity to the struggle by millions to access HIV medicines.
In a letter read out at a World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS event on World Aids Day, Prince Harry said lessons must be learned from the HIV/Aids pandemic.
Continue reading...Senior UK scientist says extent of threat posed by Omicron will not be clear until end of year
People should not assume that Covid will evolve to become a milder disease, a senior scientist has warned, adding that the threat posed by the Omicron coronavirus variant will not be clear until the end of December.
Prof Neil Ferguson, head of the disease outbreak analysis and modelling group at Imperial College London, told MPs on Wednesday that while evolution would drive Covid to spread more easily the virus might not become less dangerous.
Continue reading...Case identified in California; UK infections on rise amid fears over Omicron variant; non-EU travellers to France must have negative Covid test regardless of vaccination status
Three people who escaped an Australian Covid quarantine facility have been arrested.
Our reporter Cait Kelly from Melbourne, Australia, has the story.
Continue reading...European Commission president says EU states need to discuss idea in response to spread of Omicron variant
The EU must consider mandatory vaccination in response to the spread of the “highly contagious” Omicron Covid variant across Europe, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said.
In a call to arms, Von der Leyen said the EU’s 27 member states should rapidly deploy booster doses and a commission communique backed countries that opted to temporarily enforce pre-travel PCR tests even within the bloc’s borders.
Continue reading...Two cases of new Covid variant found in Netherlands predate last week’s alert from South Africa
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 was present in Europe at least 10 days ago and already appears to be spreading in the Netherlands and elsewhere.
“We have found the Omicron coronavirus variant in two test samples that were taken on November 19 and 23,” the Dutch health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “It is not yet clear whether these people had also visited southern Africa,” the ministry added.
Continue reading...PM tells Downing Street press conference temporary vaccine centres will be ‘popping up like Christmas trees’
Every eligible adult in the UK should be offered a Covid booster by the end of January as ministers race to increase protection against the Omicron variant, Boris Johnson has announced.
“We’re going to be throwing everything at it, to ensure everyone eligible is offered a booster in just over two months,” the prime minister said, adding that he would be getting his own third vaccine on Thursday.
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