Dr Stephen Wright’s widow considering legal action against AstraZeneca and government
A doctor died from a rare reaction to the AstraZeneca Covid jab in one of the first rounds of vaccinations, a coroner has ruled.
Dr Stephen Wright, 32, an NHS clinical psychologist and frontline health worker, suffered from a combination of a brainstem infarction, bleed on the brain and vaccine-induced thrombosis, an inquest at London’s Southwark coroner’s court heard.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Urgent legal advice being sought by courts to clarify how decision could affect pending and finalised cases
A damning ruling about the legality of Covid fines has prompted New South Wales police to quietly withdraw some infringements from court and forced the judiciary to put all remaining Covid breach cases on hold, pending urgent legal advice.
Earlier this month, the status of tens of thousands of fines issued during Covid restrictions was cast into doubt by a NSW supreme court ruling, which found infringements that failed to properly spell out an alleged offence were invalid.
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Continue reading...Mock hospital drills held as new Omicron variant suspected of causing highest number of infections since 2022
India has experienced its highest number of Covid infections in months, reportedly caused by a new variant, with almost 8,000 new cases reported on Wednesday.
Mock drills were carried out in hospitals and some states reintroduced mask mandates over concerns at the increase, with more than 40,000 active cases across India, the highest since last year.
Continue reading...Gatherings over Easter long weekend expected to cause further increase in infections, with Victoria already 60% up in past fortnight
Covid-19 cases are expected to rise further across Australia after family gatherings over the Easter long weekend, amid warnings of increasing pressure on hospital staff and a possible new wave of infections.
Most states and territories have recorded consistent increases in cases over the past two months, with Victoria recording a 60% jump in cases in the last fortnight. On Friday the state reported 5,772 new cases over the previous seven-day period.
Continue reading...Eligible children between six months and four years old will be offered jab from June
Children aged between six months and four years old who are deemed clinically vulnerable will be offered two doses of a Covid vaccine, public health bodies in the UK have announced.
The move, revealed by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) after approval by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), comes after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved for children of this age by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in December. Children who are not clinically vulnerable are not included in the UK-wide offer.
Continue reading...Fifth of hikikomori cases among working-age people attributed to pressures unleashed by pandemic
Almost 1.5 million people of working age in Japan are living as social recluses, according to a government survey, with about a fifth of cases attributed to the pressures unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Large numbers of hikikomori said they had begun retreating from mainstream society due to relationship issues and after losing or leaving their jobs, the cabinet office said. A significant proportion – 20.6% – said their predicament had been triggered by changes in lifestyle imposed during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Department of Health and Social Care in England has removed 269,500 pallets of PPE from its stock
The government has disposed of more than 3bn items of personal protective equipment (PPE) it bought during the pandemic, figures have revealed.
An estimated 3.14bn items have been shed through a mixture of recycling, energy from waste processes – including some incineration – donations and sales.
Continue reading...Scheduling makes Wales hearing look like ‘poorer relative’, say unions, while NI families say at least six weeks is needed
Bereaved families have strongly criticised proposals by the UK Covid-19 inquiry to set aside only three weeks each for its public hearings on the responses to the pandemic in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Members of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru argued that the Labour-led Welsh government would escape proper scrutiny unless more time was allocated. Trade union leaders suggested there was a risk Wales could be seen as the “poorer relative” in the inquiry.
Continue reading...Former PM should refuse to accept outcome if privileges committee rules he knowingly misled MPs, say supporters
Boris Johnson should refuse to accept the outcome of the privileges committee investigation if it concludes that he intentionally misled the Commons over the Partygate scandal, his allies have said.
Some of the former prime minister’s supporters believe he should reject the cross-party group’s findings if they decide, based on written evidence and a fractious three-and-a-half-hour evidence session on Wednesday, that he broke strict parliamentary rules.
Continue reading...Former PM suggests ‘unsocially distanced farewell gatherings’ were allowed at work and that he didn’t think following guidance meant following it perfectly
Turning back to the Northern Ireland protocol deal vote for a moment, Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland minister, has said that Boris Johnson risks being remembered as a “pound shop Nigel Farage” for his stance on the Windsor framework.
Baker said that reviving the Northern Ireland protocol bill, Johnson’s declared alternative to Rishi Sunak’s deal (see 9.40am), would “wreck our relations with the European Union and damage our standing internationally”. Sky’s Sam Coates has posted the full quote on Twitter.
Continue reading...Previously unseen genomic samples suggest animals at Huanan market were potential source
Newly released data from early in the Covid-19 pandemic has offered a crucial insight into the outbreak’s origins, suggesting that Covid-infected animals were present at a market in Wuhan and could have been a “potential source of human infections”.
A pre-print report on Monday by a team of international researchers fleshed out analysis of previously unseen genomic samples collected by Chinese scientists at the Huanan market in Wuhan in the early days of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Move poses political risk for US president, who has a difficult relationship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping
A bill requiring the release of intelligence materials on potential links between the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan has been signed into law by US president Joe Biden.
“We need to get to the bottom of Covid-19’s origins … including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Biden said in a statement. “In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible.
Continue reading...Prediction comes as former PM set to be grilled by privileges committee as part of Partygate inquiry
Boris Johnson may emerge from a televised grilling next week over claims he misled parliament about Partygate unscathed and go on to lead the Conservative party again, a former cabinet minister has said.
Kwasi Kwarteng, who was made business secretary by Johnson before a short-lived stint as chancellor under Liz Truss – which ended after his notorious mini-budget – said he would “never rule out” a return by Johnson to frontline politics.
Continue reading...Ex-prime minister due at televised Commons committee hearing, with legal team about to publish new evidence backing his claims
A defiant Boris Johnson is preparing an extraordinary televised defence of his actions during the Partygate scandal, as his allies this weekend accused the parliamentary inquiry into the affair of relying on weak evidence compiled by a former civil servant recruited by the Labour party.
With a potentially explosive appearance at the Commons privileges committee due on Wednesday, the Observer can reveal that the former PM’s legal team intends to publish written evidence, including new witness statements, supporting Johnson’s claim that he did not knowingly mislead MPs over lockdown parties – as well as examples of the advice he was given at the time.
Continue reading...Melbourne forecast to reach 37C while northern regions of the state could exceed 40C. This blog is now closed
Federal government welcomes decision to hear MH17 case
The federal government has welcomed the International Civil Aviation Organization Council’s decision to hear Australia and the Netherlands’ case against Russia for the downing of flight MH17.
We have maintained since May 2018 that the Russian Federation is responsible under international law for the downing of Flight MH17.
We now look forward to presenting our legal arguments and evidence to the ICAO Council as we continue to seek to hold Russia to account.
Continue reading...Analysis of gene sequences by international team finds Covid-positive samples rich in raccoon dog DNA
Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say.
Swabs collected from stalls at the Huanan seafood market in the two months after it was shut down on 1 January 2020 were previously found to contain both Covid and human DNA. When the findings were published last year, Chinese researchers stated that the samples contained no animal DNA.
Continue reading...Experts say data points to early signs of a new wave but, given level of immunity, is not expected to be as severe as in the past
New South Wales is experiencing a rise in Covid-19 cases, with one expert warning the data indicates early signs of a new wave with a “patchwork quilt” of variants.
NSW Health recorded 8,032 Covid cases in the week to Saturday, an increase of 9.2% from the previous week.
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Continue reading...Authorities will resume issuing all visas after closing borders to international holidaymakers in 2020
China will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the Covid pandemic erupted by allowing all categories of visas to be issued.
The removal of this last cross-border control measure on Wednesday comes after authorities declared victory over the virus last month.
Continue reading...‘Fueling vaccine hesitancy undermines effort’ to protect lives, warns letter to Dr Joseph Ladapo sent by FDA and CDC
US health agencies have sent a letter to the surgeon general of Florida, warning that his claims about Covid-19 vaccine risks are harmful to the public.
The letter was sent to Joseph Ladapo on Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was a response to a letter Ladapo wrote to the agencies last month, expressing concerns about what he described as adverse effects from Covid vaccines.
Continue reading...Some advisers and civil servants speaking to the Guardian say an ‘anti-lockdown filter’ has been placed on events
The mass leaking of thousands of Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages have laid bare in the starkest terms the extent of the divisions inside the cabinet and among advisers and civil servants handling the deadliest pandemic in modern times.
But some who worked in Number 10 and across Whitehall, as well as bereaved families, have been angered by what they see as a rewriting of history by some cabinet ministers and by the framing of some of Hancock’s texts.
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