Category Archives: Coronavirus

G20 backs crackdown on multinationals’ use of tax havens

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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.

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Ursula von der Leyen says EU has reached Covid vaccine target

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Commission president says EU has delivered enough vaccine to inoculate 70% of adults in the bloc

The EU has delivered enough coronavirus vaccine doses to member states to reach a target to fully vaccinate at least 70% of adults in the bloc, the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement on Saturday.

Von der Leyen, who had tweeted on 9 May that the EU was on track to meet its goal of inoculating 70% of adults by summer, urged EU countries to increase vaccinations and said about 500m doses would be distributed across the union by Sunday.

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Meals by wheels: UK drive-through booms as brands invest in new sites

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Social distancing is feeding an appetite for a new generation of US-style drive-through restaurants

Drive-through restaurants used to be a US-inspired novelty but a big increase in custom during the pandemic means money is pouring into new UK sites, with even upmarket names looking to serve food through car windows for the first time.

New property research suggests that demand for drive-throughs has increased by 25% post-Covid with restaurant chains looking to open a total of 200 sites a year. The clamour comes as established names such as McDonald’s and Burger King face competition from North American brands such as Tim Hortons, famous for its coffee and doughnuts, and burger chain Wendy’s.

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Boris Johnson may tone down ‘freedom’ rhetoric amid reopening jitters

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PM expected to urge public to behave responsibly as polls show widespread concern over end of rules in England

Boris Johnson is expected on Monday to urge the public to behave responsibly as he confirms plans for the 19 July reopening in England amid government jitters about the risks of the big-bang approach.

The final decision about 19 July will be taken on Monday morning, based on modelling from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) about Covid cases and pressures on the NHS.

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Government announces 50 new cases amid fears of extended lockdown – as it happened

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NSW reports 47 people in hospital, with 16 in intensive care including a teenager. This blog is now closed

We’re going to wind things up for the evening. Here’s a reminder of what we learned today:

NSW has updated its list of venues of concern. New close contact venues include Bupa Dental in Miranda from 10.50am to 12pm on Wednesday 7 July, Chemist Warehouse in Punchbowl on Thursday 8 July from 9.20am to 9.40am and Direct Trade in Merrylands from 2.20pm to 2.50pm on Saturday 3 July.

The full list of venues is on the NSW Health website.

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‘Stuffed’: how Australia’s ‘unconscionable’ gamble on Covid vaccines backfired

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The prime minister jumped the gun in November 2020 when he declared ‘we can look forward to a much better 2021’

Eight months ago, Scott Morrison faced the cameras in a laboratory in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and promised hope after a torrid year.

“Today is another day when we can look forward to a much better 2021,” he said.

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Vaccines working as expected in preventing Covid deaths, say experts

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Total of 118 people have died after two doses in England, as PHE says vaccine drive has prevented about 30,000 deaths

Two people under 50 and more than 100 over-50s have died of Covid after being fully vaccinated, official figures for England show, as experts said the jabs were working as expected amid surging infection rates attributed to the Delta variant.

Public Health England (PHE) figures show that between 1 February and 21 June this year, there were 118 deaths in people who had had both vaccine doses, 116 of them over 50.

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‘An accumulation of weakness’: the flaws fuelling Indonesia’s Covid surge

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Critics accuse government of incompetence, denial and dragging its feet in response to pandemic

From her home in Pamekasan, East Java, Dr Ratna Hermawati can hear the names of the dead echoing out across her neighbourhood. A new Covid-19 fatality is announced from a speaker at the nearby mosque at least five times a day. Ratna would normally be at work, managing the hospital’s overstretched isolation rooms, but, after testing positive for Covid, she has been required to stay home.

“I know my fellow medical workers are trying our best to use whatever we have to serve our patients,” she said. Nine other doctors in the hospital are also infected, just as the wards are busier than ever.

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French posters of kissing couples promote ‘desirable’ side of Covid jab

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Health authority creates adverts to send positive message about social effects of vaccination

A romantically suggestive French advertising campaign to persuade young people to have the Covid-19 vaccine has pointed out the “desirable” effects of getting jabbed.

The posters, produced by health authorities in the south of France, aim to show how getting inoculated can considerably improve people’s social lives, countering public concerns over “undesirable” or adverse side-effects of coronavirus vaccines.

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Australia Covid live update: Morrison doesn’t rule out further financial support as NSW records 44 new coronavirus cases

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Premier Gladys Berejiklian says 29 of the new cases were infectious in the community as new restrictions announced for Sydney; state and territory leaders meet with PM to discuss the vaccine rollout. Follow latest updates

And just a reminder these greater Sydney restrictions came into force about an hour and 15 minutes ago...

NSW residents must now carry ID while exercising to show they are within 10km of their home if they are asked by police. Other rules set out below #COVID19nsw https://t.co/De6jiaZURT pic.twitter.com/PAIVHyV94j

Significant NDIS development. We covered the background to this in detail this morning.

Big news: NSW families minister Alister Henskens confirms the government's NDIS independent assessments plan "will not proceed". pic.twitter.com/gJByatuma2

Although Victoria's disability minister Luke Donnellan is slightly less categorical about it in his statement. pic.twitter.com/zFIYR1bIgc

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Covid live: Tunisia posts highest daily death toll while WHO says worst ‘over for some countries’

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France recommends mandatory jabs for professionals coming into contact with vulnerable; WHO director says many countries have done ‘a good job’

Several countries promised to help Tunisia fight the coronavirus as the north African country recorded its highest daily death toll since the pandemic began, putting its health care system under severe stress and depleting oxygen supplies.

President Kais Saied said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had pledged to send vaccinations and whatever medical equipment Tunisia needed, Reuters reports.

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Gladys Berejiklian faces instability within as a Covid storm brews outside

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Disgruntled cabinet colleagues touting a plan B are making NSW premier’s job of imposing a lockdown on the public even harder

The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, emerged from her crisis briefing at the Department of Health on Friday looking more stressed – with good reason.

All the signs are that NSW is losing control of this outbreak of the Delta strain of Covid-19, despite the increasingly stringent lockdown rules.

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First year of pandemic claimed lives of 25 young people in England

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Analysis, showing 4% of 5,830 children hospitalised in 12 months to February entered ICU wards, could inform vaccine policy

During the first year of the pandemic 25 children and teenagers died as a direct result of Covid-19 in England and about 6,000 were admitted to hospital, according to the most complete analysis of national data on the age group to date.

Children seen to be at greatest risk of severe illness and death from coronavirus were in ethnic minority groups, and those with pre-existing medical conditions or severe disabilities.

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‘NSW facing greatest threat since pandemic started’, premier Gladys Berejiklian warns – video

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The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has announced stricter lockdown measures following 44 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, saying low vaccination rates are a significant concern. 'We cannot live with this variant,' she says. 'No place on Earth has unless they have their vaccination rates much, much higher than what we do. Because otherwise it subjects the population to thousands and thousands of hospitalisations, thousands of deaths.'

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Pfizer says no change to Australian Covid vaccine doses, contradicting reports of ‘game-changing’ deal

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Prime minister Scott Morrison says pace of vaccination rollout accelerating

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer says there is no change in the number of doses the company has contracted to deliver to Australia over 2021 – contradicting reports asserting the Morrison government had secured a “game-changing deal” to triple its access to the jabs.

The prime minister – who has been under significant political pressure because of the slow pace of the vaccination rollout, pressure that has ramped up during the lockdown of greater Sydney – embarked on a media blitz on Friday to argue the pace of the vaccination rollout was accelerating.

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Pfizer to ask US to authorize third Covid vaccine shot as booster

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Evidence shows a greater risk of reinfection six months after inoculation as Israel reports a drop in vaccine effectiveness

Pfizer plans to ask US regulators to authorize a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine within the next month, the drugmaker’s top scientist said on Thursday.

The announcement was based on evidence of greater risk of reinfection six months after inoculation and due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.

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Delta variant fears send shares down sharply in London and Europe

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Investors worry resurgence of Covid-19 cases will slow economic growth and stall global recovery

Fears that the fast-spreading Delta variant of Covid-19 will hurt the global recovery sent stocks sliding on Thursday, as investors worried that economic growth could be slowing.

Shares fell sharply in London and across other European exchanges, after losses in Asia-Pacific markets, on concerns that the economic rebound from the shock of the pandemic may have peaked, and on signs of a slowdown in China.

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Spectators banned from Olympics as Tokyo Covid emergency declared

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Japanese prime minister says Tokyo’s fourth state of emergency will begin on Monday

Olympic organisers have decided to ban spectators from the Tokyo Games after Japan’s prime minister declared a state of emergency in the host city.

The news was confirmed by the Olympic minister, Tamayo Marukawa, following talks between the government, organisers and Olympic and paralympic representatives - although he left open the possibility that some venues outside Tokyo could still have fans.

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Italian Covid victims’ families claim compensation from government

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Court in Rome hears lawyers say authorities moved too little, too late to tackle pandemic

A case brought by more than 500 families of Covid victims seeking a total of €100m in compensation from the Italian government has reached court, as the first hearing into continental Europe’s deadliest outbreak got under way in Rome.

Lawyers representing the relatives of coronavirus victims filed a dossier of more than 2,000 pages on Thursday containing hundreds of testimonies and evidence of “systemic negligence” by the Italian authorities, which allegedly caused the deaths of thousands of people.

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99.2% of US Covid deaths in June were unvaccinated, says Fauci

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Cases rise in nearly half of states as low vaccination rates met with more transmissible and severe Delta variant

More than nine out of 10 Americans who died from Covid-19 in the US in June were unvaccinated, according to Dr Anthony Fauci – a statistic that health officials say is especially concerning given the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in some regions and the rise of the Delta variant.

Maryland reported this week that 100% of those who died from coronavirus there in June had not been vaccinated, while more than 93% of those with new cases or who were hospitalized were similarly unprotected.

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