Government expected to bar unjabbed from some indoor venues and launch ‘green pass’ for travel
The Italian government is expected to impose restrictions on unvaccinated people as it scrambles to stem a resurgence in Covid-19 infections.
In a similar move to that seen in France, those not fully vaccinated could be barred from being served indoors at restaurants and bars and from entering stadiums, museums, theatres, cinemas, swimming pools and gyms.
Continue reading...Bira chief says guidelines fail to reflect rise in coronavirus cases, as workers fear employers won’t protect them
At a public library in London, staff members are filled with nerves about “freedom day” on 19 July. Billed as the big unlocking and an end to social distancing rules and mandatory face coverings in England, they fear for their safety as Covid cases grow daily.
“I will still be wearing a mask and so will lots of colleagues. We will still be washing and sanitising our hands and trying to keep a distance, but it is hard as a lot of people just walk straight up to you,” said Alan Wylie, a 55-year-old librarian.
Continue reading...Joe Biden’s administration renewed its assault on social media companies spreading Covid-19 misinformation on Sunday, as new infections continued to surge across the entire US.
Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general who has accused companies including Facebook of “poisoning information” about coronavirus vaccines, said they were not doing enough to check the online proliferation of false claims.
Continue reading...British prime minister and chancellor U-turn as Sunak says ‘I recognise that even the sense that the rules aren’t the same for everyone is wrong’
Following the announcement of stricter social distancing measures being introduced in Vietnam’s capital city, the country’s health ministry has confirmed that daily Covid cases have reached a record high.
The country reported 5,926 cases on Sunday, according to Reuters, as the country battles its worst outbreak so far. Vietnam has reported 53,830 cases overall, with 254 deaths.
Tony Blair has called on ministers to drop the requirement for people who are fully vaccinated to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, PA Media reports.
The former prime minister said the current system was “not rational” and he understood why people were deleting the NHS Covid app from their mobile phones.
We’re at risk of moving in two contradictory directions.
On the one hand we’re going to open everything up, free restriction altogether, and on the other hand we’ve still got this pinging track and trace system where people have got to go into complete isolation if they’re pinged in circumstances where probably the vast majority of those people do not need to do so.
I don’t want the prime minister of the country to be in isolation at the moment, I need him at his desk doing his job.
He’s double-vaccinated, he’s actually had Covid, he’s testing and presumably the tests are coming back negative. The point is to do this for everyone.
Continue reading...When should you open the windows, wear a mask and take a lateral flow test? As we enter the ‘personal responsibility’ era, here’s an expert guide
Freedom day is here, at least for those of us who live in England, and we’re back in the place nobody wants to be. On one hand: yay, freedom. On the other: an uneasy sense that the relaxation of restrictions has very little to do with the data, and very much more to do with a government that is bored of imposing Covid-related restrictions.
So we arrive on the unwanted (by me) territory of personal responsibility. Which freedoms should you grab with both hands, which should you foreswear for the time being, which should you exercise caution around? How should informed, polite, civic-minded and reasonable sorts conduct themselves? Expertise provided here is from Greg Fell, the director of public health in Sheffield; Prof Christina Pagel, the director of the clinical operational research unit at University College London, which applies advanced analytical methods to problems in healthcare; and Debora Robertson, the co-author of Manners: A Modern Field Guide.
Continue reading...Analysis: opinion is becoming sharply divided in the absence of official recommendations
The delay in deciding whether to vaccinate children over 12 against Covid is unlikely to help resolve what is already a contentious issue.
A survey by the Office for National Statistics has found that almost 90% of parents in England would favour giving their children a vaccine if offered, and school leaders have also backed jabs for pupils.
Continue reading...Once a bastion of Covid success, now two of the country’s largest cities are under tight restrictions amid mishandled vaccine program and growing Delta outbreak
At a press conference on Thursday morning, one day after a lockdown was extended by two weeks in Sydney and a few hours before a fifth lockdown would be declared in Melbourne, the premier of New South Wales grew flustered. “One question at a time. I will get to all of them,” Gladys Berejiklian said. “It is not nice being shouted at.”
Australians have a lot of questions. After managing the pandemic better than almost any country in the world, they are now watching the world open up while their own borders remain strictly closed. Meanwhile, just 10% of adults have been fully vaccinated and an outbreak of the Delta variant is slowly spreading.
Continue reading...Six new cases in Victoria; Sydney records 97 local cases; WA and Queensland to close border to Victoria
The Western NSW Local Health District has posted on its Facebook page that it has been notified of cases that travelled to Molong, near Orange in the state’s central west, on 16 July.
No venues of concern are currently identified and contacts of the cases are being tested while in isolation. Urgent investigations are underway and contact tracing is continuing.
As a precautionary measure, a drive-through (testing) clinic will be established in Molong and capacity in Orange and Bathurst will be increased.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has released a statement following today’s national cabinet meeting:
National Cabinet discussed the outbreak in Greater Sydney and the additional measures introduced by the New South Wales Government to stop the spread of the virus. National Cabinet has agreed to a suppression strategy for COVID-19 with the goal of no community transmission.
All leaders expressed their full support for NSW to get on top of the current outbreak. National Cabinet noted the Commonwealth’s extension of the COVID-19 Disaster Payment support for Greater Sydney and Victoria, based on Commonwealth hotspot declarations.
National Cabinet received an update from the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on the four step plan to reopening and the progress of the Covid-19 Risk Analysis and Response Taskforce report and the Doherty modelling for the National Plan to transition Australia’s National Covid Response.
All leaders reiterated the importance of Australians, especially those in vulnerable groups, to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
Continue reading...WHO chief says ‘accidents happen’ in labs; Thailand cases near 10,000; first local Delta cases detected in Philippines
Russia on Friday reported 799 coronavirus-related deaths, the most in a single day since the pandemic began and the fourth day in a row it has set a record.
Reuters notes that the Russian coronavirus task force confirmed 25,704 new Covid infections in the last 24 hours.
Shaun Keasey is the general manager of Gorgeous nightclub in Dudley, in England’s West Midlands. He has been on Sky News explaining the precautions staff will be taking when they reopen on 19 July and they are … not much, to be honest.
He told Sky News:
We were expecting this huge freedom celebration. It’s not quite turning out that way though, with cases rising, but we’ve got to make the best of it. We’re a bit nervous, but we can’t wait to open the doors of the club, which will happen at one second past midnight from Sunday going into Monday.
No, we won’t be insisting on that. The majority of our customers are younger people. They haven’t yet had the opportunity to have two jabs. If anyone wants to wear a mask, they’re free to wear it. There will still be hand sanitisation points to make sure that we encourage the best personal hygiene, but we just want to get on with business now. We will still have our entry procedures where you show your age, and the door staff will be looking for people who potentially don’t look well. But other than that, you know, we’re a nightclub, we’re not a medical facility.
"We just want to get on with business."
Gorgeous Nightclub owner Shaun Keasey tells Sky News he is "a bit nervous" but "can't wait to open the doors one second past midnight from Sunday into Monday".
Latest on #COVID19: https://t.co/mlHZu2H5I1 pic.twitter.com/uviIMz60gT
Government says its Covid app is unlikely to be adjusted to make it less sensitive for weeks
Up to 1.6 million people in England have been told to isolate in a single week, Guardian analysis has found as the government said the Covid app is unlikely to be changed for weeks.
The number of new UK coronavirus cases climbed to 48,553 on Thursday – the highest since mid-January and the start of the third lockdown – with the upward curve showing no signs of abating, raising fears of a summer of chaos as businesses and households are hit by self-isolation. Sixty-three people were reported on Thursday to have died from the virus.
Continue reading...800,000 vaccinations in single day follows announcement that visits to many public venues will require a health pass
Within 72 hours of the French learning they would soon need to be vaccinated or tested to go to the cafe, more than 3 million had booked appointments and France had broken its vaccination record, administering 800,000 shots in a single day.
At the same time, daily infections, driven by the more contagious Delta variant, continued to climb, reaching nearly 9,000 on Wednesday – and on Bastille Day, about 20,000 demonstrators nationwide protested against what some called a “dictatorship”.
Continue reading...Charities warn that shift on 19 July to personal choice on virus precautions is instilling fear in many most at risk
Cancer patients, disabled people and other clinically extremely vulnerable groups say they will feel unsafe stepping the house after hearing that mask and social distancing requirements are to be abandoned, charities have warned.
Campaigners estimate that 3.8 million people have been left feeling abandoned by the government’s shift towards promoting “personal responsibility” as the sole means of navigating the surging Covid-19 infection rates in England.
Continue reading...Unvaccinated younger sufferers more at risk of debilitating long-term symptoms, study finds
The decision to lift England’s remaining Covid restrictions next Monday – even as cases of the Delta variant surge around the country – is expected to turbocharge the epidemic and push the nation into what one leading scientist called “uncharted territory” in terms of the numbers of people left suffering from long Covid.
Ministers have been told to expect at least one to two million coronavirus infections in the coming weeks. And while the mass rollout of vaccines – which started with elderly and vulnerable people – will dramatically reduce the proportion who are hospitalised and die, the wave may leave hundreds of thousands of younger people with long-term health problems, researchers have said.
Continue reading...A man in his 70s from Sydney’s east has died of coronavirus; Queensland keeps border open for now; support package for NSW to include increased payments for people who have lost work. Follow the latest updates live
It’s a little late today, but pleased to keep up Matilda Boseley’s tradition of highlighting the bizarre graphic design choices of the Queensland premier’s social media team.
Today’s special announces 100 new Tafe scholarships. Someone has spent time etching the bloke’s arm in front of the graphic, for some reason.
100 TAFE scholarships valued at up to $5,000 are up for grabs.
The skills TAFE offers can change lives and set people up for stable and rewarding careers. pic.twitter.com/9TOHAsIbuz
Looks like we’re learning about that Covid relief package at 3.30pm.
Just enough time to take a breath, grab a coffee, watch a couple of episodes of he Office and settle in for the announcement.
Very glad @joshgnosis tweeted these together. pic.twitter.com/yCJ9AWus1o
Continue reading...Beijing had offered Taiwan the vaccines, amid a major shortage on the island, but Taiwan’s ruling party did not want to deal with China directly
Major Taiwanese tech companies have inked a deal to buy 10m vaccine doses for Taiwan, sidestepping months of complicated geopolitical wrangling between Beijing and Taipei.
The US$350m purchase from German manufacturer BioNTech, is split between TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, and Foxconn, one of the world’s largest contract electronics makers, and its charity foundation. The two companies will donate the vaccines to Taiwan’s central epidemic command centre for distribution.
Continue reading...Scare campaigns can make people more fearful of jab side-effects, expert says
A new Australian government Covid awareness advertisement featuring a young woman gasping for air in a hospital bed has been criticised for leaning into scare tactics and for urging vaccination among a group who are still not eligible for the recommended vaccine.
The federal government released two ads at the weekend, one featuring the young woman, which also carries a message for people to stay at home and get tested, and the other showing a parade of arms bearing Band-Aids after vaccination with the tagline: “Arm yourself against Covid-19.”
Continue reading...Biden chief medical adviser says guidance may change in future as Pfizer suggests booster ‘may be beneficial’ after six months
Dr Anthony Fauci has said there is no immediate need for a Covid-19 booster for fully vaccinated Americans but remained open to the possibility in the future, as reports suggest that one major pharmaceutical company plans to lobby government officials to approve booster shots next week.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced last week that it had observed that its vaccine, while effective against the virus, had “a decline in efficacy against symptomatic disease over time”. The company suggested that as new variants continue to emerge a booster shot after six months “may be beneficial”.
Continue reading...Europe’s strictest border controls to be relaxed as Ireland prepares to allow visits for essential reasons
Up to 400,000 Irish people in Britain are to be given the green light to visit family and friends at home for the first time in six months as Ireland prepares to lift the strictest border controls in Europe.
Only those with essential reasons such as haulage, health or funeral attendance have been allowed to enter the country since the border restrictions were imposed in January.
Continue reading...Masks must be worn in all indoor construction sites across NSW and from 13 July in residential common areas as new restrictions placed on people entering greater Sydney. This blog is now closed
That’s where we’ll end today’s live coverage of Covid news.
Here are the key developments:
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian Medical Association have both backed NSW Health’s call for Sydney residents to bring their second shot of AstraZeneca forward to six weeks after the first dose.
Both the RACGP and the AMA said that the six week window made sense, as it would provide quicker protection against catching, spreading and also potentially dying from Covid-19.
We will definitely will be looking at giving boosters for those who get it early.
You will actually have a benefit from coming in early, because we’ll keep you on that list.”
Related: NSW urges people to bring forward second AstraZeneca dose to six weeks from first
Continue reading...Finance chiefs endorse landmark move to prevent profits being shifted to low-tax countries
Finance chiefs of the G20 economies have endorsed a landmark move to stop multinationals shifting profits to tax havens and will also warn that Covid variants threaten the global economic recovery.
At talks on Saturday, they also acknowledged the need to ensure fair access to vaccines in poorer countries. But a draft communique to be rubber-stamped at the meeting in Venice did not contain specific proposals on how to achieve that.
Continue reading...