Category Archives: Coronavirus

Microsoft to cut 10,000 jobs in March as tech firms, including Amazon, thin ranks

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Sector reacts to post-pandemic shift in digital spending and gloomy economic outlook for 2023

Microsoft is cutting 10,000 jobs as it cited a post-pandemic shift in digital spending habits and weakness in the global economy.

The tech group joined a list of US peers making extensive job cuts, including Facebook owner Meta, Amazon, and business software-maker Salesforce, who have scaled back on workforce expansions stoked by a pandemic-related boom in demand for their services and products that have lost momentum.

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England’s PCR Covid testing network drops one of three labs as demand falls

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Rosalind Franklin laboratory in Leamington Spa no longer to be part of laboratory network processing Covid tests

England’s PCR testing network for Covid is to be scaled back due to a fall in demand, public health officials have said.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that the Rosalind Franklin laboratory in Leamington Spa – which at its peak was processing about 75,000 Covid PCR tests a day – will cease to operate as part of the processing network.

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China’s economy slows sharply with GDP growth among worst on record

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The economy grew 3% in 2022, exceeding some forecasts, but still well below China’s official target for the year

China’s GDP expanded at its slowest pace since the mid-1970s bar the Covid-hit 2020 year, as the world’s second-largest economy struggled under tight pandemic restrictions that were abruptly ditched late in 2022.

The economy grew 3% last year, well shy of the 5.5% pace the government had targeted at the start of the year and the 8.1% recorded for 2021. The actual rate though, was better than the 2.7% predicted by the World Bank earlier this month.

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China braces for Covid surge as lunar new year travel rush begins

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Travellers leave cities for countryside amid warnings for most vulnerable and huge increase in official coronavirus death toll

Luggage-laden passengers flocked to railway stations and airports in China’s megacities on Monday, heading home for holidays that health experts fear could intensify a Covid-19 outbreak that has claimed thousands of lives.

After three years of strict and suffocating anti-virus controls, China in early December abruptly abandoned its zero-Covid policy, letting the virus run freely through its population of 1.4 billion.

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Chinese flock to Hong Kong to get private Covid booster shots

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Travel packages also advertised in Macau as interest grows in mRNA vaccines unavailable on mainland

Private services offering Chinese travellers access to mRNA vaccines are attracting droves of mainlanders to Hong Kong and Macau seeking a booster shot that their government has refused to approve.

As part of its dismantling of the country’s zero-Covid policy last month, China’s government also lifted quarantine and other border restrictions. It prompted a wave of interest in overseas travel, particularly for the upcoming lunar new year holiday later this month. However, there also appears to be a large contingent chasing the mRNA bivalent vaccines.

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Chinese warned not to visit elderly relatives as Covid spreads from cities

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People urged ‘don’t go home’ during lunar new year holiday if older family members not yet infected

People in China have been warned against travelling to visit their elderly relatives during the lunar new year holiday, as Covid spreads rapidly through cities and into regional and poorer areas.

Prof Guo Jianwen, a member of the state council’s pandemic prevention team, urged people “don’t go home to visit them” if elderly relatives had not yet been infected.

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Tokyo lodges protest after China punishes Japanese travellers over Covid test requirements

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Japan says Beijing’s decision to halt visa processing is ‘extremely regrettable’, amid uncertainty as to whether China will take action against other countries

Japan has lodged a protest with Beijing over its decision to suspend the issuance of visas to Japanese citizens in retaliation for Covid testing requirements for travellers from China.

Chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno characterised the move as an act of revenge rather than a public health measure and requested China reverse the decision. “It is regrettable that China unilaterally has taken visa suspension action for reasons other than steps for the coronavirus,” he said on Wednesday.

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MPs and peers should declare links to firms they back for contracts, says NAO

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Exclusive: After the Michelle Mone scandal and PPE questions, National Audit Office says monitoring conflicts of interest is ‘crucial’

Peers and MPs should have to declare any links to firms they recommend for contracts even in an emergency such as the Covid pandemic, the head of the National Audit Office (NAO) has said, in the wake of the PPE controversies including the Michelle Mone scandal.

Gareth Davies, the auditor and comptroller general at the NAO, said keeping on top of conflicts of interest was a “crucial part of public stewardship” that was not always followed during the VIP fast lane process.

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China halts short-term visas for South Korea and Japan over Covid travel curbs

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Beijing had said it would retaliate against countries that require negative tests from Chinese travellers

China has suspended issuing short-term visas in South Korea and Japan after announcing it would retaliate against countries that required negative Covid-19 tests from Chinese travellers.

China has ditched mandatory quarantines for arrivals and allowed travel to resume across its border with Hong Kong since Sunday, removing the last major restrictions under the “zero-Covid” regime that it abruptly began dismantling in early December after protests against the curbs.

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Travel between China and Australia tipped to rebound rapidly as Chinese airlines ramp up flights

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Industry hopes China’s reopening might bring wider benefits for travellers with more airfare price competition

Chinese airlines are ramping up flights to Australia as Covid restrictions ease, boosting the prospects for a rapid rebound in travel between the two nations.

Airports said the market was dynamic with carriers large and small restarting routes dormant during the pandemic years, with more flights likely to be added as demand picks up.

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Group aiming to sabotage Whitmer’s Covid policies funded by dark money

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Non-profit affiliated with utility DTE Energy funded effort to repeal Michigan governor’s emergency order powers

A dark money non-profit linked to power utility DTE Energy funded a group behind the effort to repeal the emergency order powers of Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and end the state’s Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

Internal Revenue Service records revealing a $100,000 donation made in 2020 were not publicly available until late 2021, and show the funds were contributed to another dark money non-profit that served as a primary funder of the Unlock Michigan repeal campaign.

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90% of people in China province infected with Covid, says local health official

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Data from the health commission for central Henan suggests 88 million people in the province may have had the virus

Almost 90% of people in China’s third most populous province have now been infected with Covid-19, a top local official has said, as the country battles an unprecedented surge in cases.

Kan Quancheng, director of the health commission for central Henan province, told a press conference that “as of January 6, 2023, the province’s Covid infection rate is 89%”.

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China reopens borders as lunar new year travel kicks off amid Covid surge

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Virus outbreaks tipped to worsen as mainland China opens to Hong Kong, ends quarantine for visitors and millions begin holiday-period travel

China has lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travellers, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation even as the country battles a surge in Covid cases.

On Sunday, mainland China also opened its border to Hong Kong, dismantling the last pillars of a zero-Covid policy that had shielded people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.

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Covid deaths in Australian aged care surpass 100 a week, the highest rate since August

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Health department data shows deaths have progressively increased from October, with 738 outbreaks now active in facilities

The number of Covid deaths in residential aged care has again surpassed 100 a week, spiking to levels not seen in months.

Health department data, published late on Friday, shows 738 outbreaks are now active in residential aged care facilities, down from 915 outbreaks in the week to 23 December.

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China Covid: wave of celebrity deaths sparks doubt over actual toll

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Users of Chinese social media have questioned the country’s official statistics after a surge in the number of public figures dying

A spate of deaths among celebrities and public figures across China has sparked concerns that the actual death toll from Covid-19 may be far higher than authorities are reporting.

Many on Chinese social media have been mourning the death of actor Gong Jintang, who died aged 83 on New Year’s Day. He was known for his portrayal of Father Kang in the sitcom Kang’s Family, which first aired in 2000.

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NSW Health warns of rise in invasive bacterial infections – as it happened

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Warning as cases of meningococcal disease and invasive group A streptococcus rise. This blog is now closed

Albanese government and Business Council agree to disability employment pilot

The Albanese government has announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Business Council of Australia to create and implement a “new disability employment pilot”.

There are 2.1 million Australians with disability of working age, but only 53.4% are in the labour workforce. We also know 93% of working-age people with disability face difficulties finding work due to the lack of suitable employment and perceived limitations of their disability.

This new employment pilot seeks to address this and provide significant benefits to people with disability, employers and businesses, the economy and the broader community.

There has been a big increase as a consequence of the indexation made necessary by this higher inflation. And so that indexation is flowing through I think in welcome ways to people who are on payments. There will always be an appetite to do more and to do better when it comes to these payments. And we will always do what we responsibly can to support people, particularly people on low and fixed incomes.

It’s not something I’m contemplating because ... our position on those tax cuts hasn’t changed. And it’s not the only factor frankly in the budget which people are talking about right now, in welcome ways. As we get towards the budget, that I’ll hand down in May, there’s a lot of pressure on the budget when it comes to aged care, health care defense, spending the NDIS, the cost of servicing the trillion dollars of debt that we inherited from our predecessors.

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Australian health minister suggests pre-flight China tests designed to make Beijing share more data on Covid outbreak

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Mark Butler signals measure could be lifted if China provides ‘real-time uploading’ of genomic sequencing of cases

Australia’s health minister says he wants pre-flight Covid testing for travellers from China to be “temporary”, suggesting the requirement could be lifted if Beijing shares more information about its outbreak.

Mark Butler suggested on Thursday – the first day of the new testing regime – that the measure was put in place as part of an international push for China to provide real-time data on the genomic sequencing of Covid cases.

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China data ‘under-represents’ true impact of Covid outbreak – WHO

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Analysis of Chinese data finds no new variants of concern emerging, but world health body says it still does not have ‘complete data’

The World Health Organisation has criticised China’s “very narrow” definition of Covid-19 deaths, warning that official statistics are not showing the true impact of the outbreak.

There is growing concern over the steep rise in Covid infections since Beijing last month abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly overwhelmed.

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PPE Medpro: UK government alleges firm supplied defective gowns to NHS

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Exclusive: DHSC alleges gowns were not sterile, could not be used within NHS ‘for any purpose’, and technical labelling was ‘invalid’

The UK government has accused a company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone of supplying defective gowns that could have compromised the safety of patients had it been used in the NHS.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) paid the company, PPE Medpro, £122m for 25m sterile surgical gowns under a contract awarded in June 2020 after Mone first approached ministers offering to supply PPE. However, the DHSC has alleged the gowns were rejected because they were not sterile, their technical labelling was “invalid” and “improper”, and they “cannot be used within the NHS for any purpose”.

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EU wants travellers from China to take pre-departure Covid tests

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Bloc recommends negative coronavirus tests from all arrivals despite warnings from Beijing of retaliation

The European Union wants all travellers from China to take pre-departure Covid tests, in response to surging levels of the virus after Beijing hastily abandoned strict controls.

EU officials meeting on Wednesday in the “integrated political crisis response” format said there should be a requirement for a negative Covid test from all travellers from China, despite warnings from Beijing of retaliation.

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