Naruhito said to be ‘extremely worried’ and shares widespread public unease over the Games
Japan’s emperor has voiced concern over the possible spread of coronavirus during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in an unexpected intervention in the debate over holding the Games in the middle of a pandemic.
Naruhito, who ascended the Chrysanthemum throne in 2019 after his father, Akihito, abdicated, said he shared widespread public concern about the Games, which open in a month’s time.
Continue reading...Donald Trump wanted Covid-19 to “take out” his former national security adviser John Bolton, a new book is set to reveal, as a heated summer of further colourful revelations about the controversial former president spills out from competing tomes.
The forthcoming Nightmare Scenario will stake out the claim, in addition to telling of how Trump advocated shipping Americans who contracted coronavirus while abroad to the prison at Guantánamo Bay.
Continue reading...WHO reports issues with quality control data and test results as Slovakia announces it is offloading 160k doses
The World Health Organization has said it has concerns about the methods used at one plant producing the Sputnik V vaccine, as Slovakia announced it would sell or donate 160,000 of the 200,000 doses it has ordered of the Russian shot.
The WHO, which along with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is reviewing Sputnik V for eventual approval, said in a report on Wednesday it had issues with the integrity of quality control data and test results at one of the four production sites it had seen.
Continue reading...German leader’s comments come as disease control agency says Delta variant will account for 90% of EU cases by end of August
Angela Merkel has said travellers from the UK should be quarantined wherever they arrive in the EU, as the union’s agency for disease control forecast that the Delta variant of Covid will account for 90% of cases in member states by the end of August.
Ahead of Thursday’s summit with fellow EU leaders, the German chancellor said she wanted better coordination to fight the spread of the highly transmissible variant that has surfaced strongly in the UK and is now bedding down in the bloc.
Continue reading...Controversial vaccine to be given only by request later this year when Moderna and Pfizer will dominate
The federal government has announced it will shelve the controversial AstraZeneca vaccine by October, suggesting it will have enough supplies of other vaccines to meet “allocation horizons” for vaccinating the population by the end of the year.
The government released a revised planning document on Wednesday outlining how it intended to direct supplies over the rest of the year.
Continue reading...NSW urgently investigating four mystery cases overnight as premier Gladys Berejiklian announces Sydney restrictions. Follow all the latest updates, live
Question time ends.
There is one more of those before the winter break.
‘I’m sure there are blokes that dislike me’ - Barnaby Joyce’s response to the concerns of Nationals women.
The serious concerns these women have about Joyce’s return to a leadership position are worthy of a serious response - not one that deliberately minimises them.
European centre for disease control warns it is vital for people to get fully vaccinated as the summer holiday season begins
Here is the latest on the Covid situation in Australia:
Related: Morning mail: Sydney awakes to restrictions, vaccines wasted, John McAfee dead
The US will ship three million doses of the Johnson & Johnson one-jab Covid-19 vaccine to Brazil on Thursday, the country with the second highest coronavirus death toll in the world, a White House official said.
The shipment - part of Washington’s pledge to donate 80 million vaccines - will depart Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on an Azul Airlines flight, bound for Campinas, a city in southeastern Brazil about 100 km (62.14 miles) from Sao Paulo, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...Games officials faced accusations the event was getting preferential treatment while other Tokyo businesses still faced alcohol restrictions
The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics have been forced to abandon plans to allow the sale of alcohol at venues after public outcry.
The president of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, Seiko Hashimoto, said on Wednesday that the decision had been made to ensure the Games were “safe and secure” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Healths officials are racing to trace the movements and close contacts of visitor who toured New Zealand capital last weekend
New restrictions on gatherings have been introduced in Wellington after a Covid-infected Australian travelled to the New Zealand capital and visited a range of popular tourist locations.
“This is not a lockdown,” Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said, but indicated one could come if unconnected cases emerged in the community.
Continue reading...Fear of variants and desire to protect major events behind proposed China move; Italy to lift outdoor mask-wearing from 28 June
German chancellor Angela Merkel is hoping for better coordination on pandemic travel rules among the bloc’s 27 member states. She said it was problematic to have a patchwork of regulations.
“I regret that we haven’t managed yet to have completely uniform action among the member states on travel guidelines - that is coming back to haunt us,” she told reporters after a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, according to AFP.
Eight members of the Ugandan Olympic team have been quarantined in Japan until early July, a local official has said, after a coach tested positive for coronavirus on arrival last week.
The country’s delegation arrived on Saturday just over a month before the pandemic-postponed Games. But despite being vaccinated and testing negative before travel, a coach tested positive during screening at Tokyo’s Narita airport, AFP reports.
Continue reading...More than 2bn Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide. Find out which countries are vaccinating the most
Since the first Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 was injected into the arm of a British woman in December 2020, hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.
Dozens of countries now have advanced vaccination campaigns as they rush to protect their people and get their economies back up and running. Many are in a position where the most vulnerable people are fully vaccinated, raising hopes that the pandemic’s worst effects may be over.
Continue reading...New Zealand suspends travel bubble with NSW over ‘several unknowns’ including unlinked case in a primary school student
New Zealand has paused quarantine-free travel with New South Wales after the state recorded 10 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus.
NSW Health subsequently said a confirmed case had flown from Sydney to Wellington on the night of Friday 18 June and from Wellington to Sydney on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Authorities deny reports that inmates were beaten after a 10-day sit-in over concerns about virus spread and lack of medical care
In early April, inmates at Bahrain’s Jau prison crowded into the corridors to protest. They were angry about a lack of medical treatment and fearing for their lives after the death of another inmate. Their sit-in at building 13 lasted 10 days, and spread to other blocks in Jau, an infamous prison complex in the south of the kingdom.
Inmates claim authorities regularly delay or deny vital medical care to prisoners – especially prisoners of conscience. The concern has grown since late March when Covid-19 began to tear through the prison system. Prisoners and rights groups claim authorities failed to prevent the outbreak and have denied some inmates their choice of vaccine.
Continue reading...Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the country battles one of Asia’s worst outbreaks, with a cumulative total of more than 1.3 million cases and 23,000 deaths.
“You choose, get vaccinated or I will have you jailed,” Duterte said in a televised address on Monday following reports of low turnouts at vaccination sites in the capital, Manila
Continue reading...Protest leaders have agreed to pause mass marches as hospital ICUs struggle to cope with surging coronavirus cases
Related: ‘This is a revolution’: the faces of Colombia’s protests
Marisol Bejarano, an intensive care unit doctor at El Tunal hospital in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, has watched people die – slowly and far from family – since the pandemic began.
Continue reading...President says he is ‘exasperated’ by reports of vaccine hesitancy in the capital amid slow rollout
President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Philippines battles one of Asia’s worst outbreaks, with a cumulative total of more than 1.3 million cases and 23,000 deaths.
“You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed,” Duterte said in a televised address on Monday following reports of low turnouts at several vaccination sites in the capital Manila.
Continue reading...The country’s infections, the worst in south-east Asia, have passed two million
Indonesian health authorities are battling a new surge in coronavirus infections, as the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) reported the highest one-day total, with 14,535 cases confirmed in the 24 hours to Monday.
Daily case totals are reaching levels last seen in January, the peak of Indonesia’s fight against the virus.
Continue reading...Follow all the latest updates, live
Meanwhile, while the government is crowing about Australia’s strong economy, Grogs has taken a look at inequality.
Spoiler – it’s growing
New data from the bureau of statistics shows the drop in spending by households due to the pandemic increased the level of savings, but while incomes rose strongly for low income households due to a big rise in social assistance, inequality remains worse than it was at the start of the century.
It's not enough to have progressive taxation, you also need social assistance *and* public services like health and education to reduce inequalityhttps://t.co/WMMlMdYodJ pic.twitter.com/dWOZ62Z5JX
Then there is this:
I chaired the Senate inquiry into why the Government gave the small private @GBRFoundation $444m to manage the reef. After months of hearing evidence the National Audit Office discovered the purpose of the grant was to avoid a UNESCO World Heritage “in danger” listing.
Continue reading...After Mario Draghi’s remarks, head of Italian football federation says they are not seeking to move match
Italy’s prime minister Mario Draghi has said he wants the final of the European football championships to be held in Rome rather than in London, because of Britain’s rising number of coronavirus infections.
Asked during a news conference in Berlin if he was in favour of the move, Draghi said: “Yes … I will try to stop the final being held in a country where infections are rising quickly.”
Continue reading...Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, has responded strongly to growing rightwing criticism and conspiracy theories connected to the release of thousands of his emails under freedom of information laws.
Related: Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is key source for media he ‘hates’, columnist says
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