‘Don’t mingle’ advice comes as UK Health Security Agency says scarlet fever and strep A infections continue to rise
Flu and Covid are on the rise in England, with experts stressing the importance of vaccination and warning that people who feel unwell should stay at home rather than mingling with others during the festive season.
The figures come as cases of scarlet fever and strep A infections continue to rise.
Continue reading...No new fatalities reported this week, despite numerous reports of overloaded hospitals and crematoriums
China has moved to a narrower definition of Covid deaths, which will drastically cut its death statistics as cases increase following the relaxation of zero-Covid rules.
Authorities reported no new fatalities in the latest Covid statistics update on Wednesday, despite widespread reports and images of overloaded hospitals and crematoriums and queues of hearses. The official number of deaths since the pandemic began in Wuhan three years ago even had one struck off on Wednesday and now stands at 5,241 – an extremely low number compared with many less populous countries.
Continue reading...If Beijing is expecting an immediate boost from abandoning its tough controls it is mistaken
From zero tolerance to “let it rip”. China has not just changed its mind on how to cope with Covid, it has executed the mother of all U-turns in response to slower growth and mounting civil unrest at the draconian lockdowns.
If Beijing is expecting an immediate economic boost from abandoning its tough controls it is mistaken. There will be a growth dividend from the policy shift but the state of the world’s second biggest economy will get worse before it gets better, and it will be next spring at least before the easing of restrictions starts to pay off.
Continue reading...State media reports on increased efforts to boost health infrastructure, staffing and supplies
Chinese authorities are rushing to boost the number of intensive care beds and health workers and increase medication supplies as Covid-19 surges through the country.
Since the abrupt dismantling of the stringent zero-Covid regime, cases have skyrocketed in China. A full picture of the impact is difficult to gauge. Authorities have conceded it is “impossible” for the testing system to keep track, and the narrow parameters for attributing deaths to the virus mean the official count – fewer than 10 this week – is at odds with widespread anecdotal reports of fatalities and high traffic at funeral homes.
Continue reading...Loss of employees since Covid raises fears of weaker growth and higher inflation, says Lords report
An exodus of more than half a million people from the British workforce since the Covid pandemic is putting the economy at risk of weaker growth and persistently higher inflation, a Lords report has warned.
The House of Lords economic affairs committee said the sharp rise in economic inactivity – when working-age adults are neither in employment nor looking for a job – since the onset of the health emergency was posing “serious challenges” to the economy.
Continue reading...Chief epidemiologist says China is in the first of an expected three waves of Covid cases, despite official figures showing low numbers
Chinese authorities have warned of successive waves of Covid infections over the coming months, as cases continue to surge after the lifting of restrictions earlier this month.
Across major cities people appear to be staying inside, either with the virus or in fear of contracting it, but authorities have pushed on with the reopening.
Continue reading...City’s kindergartens and childcare centres also to stop in-person lessons as cases rise across China after easing of restrictions
Shanghai’s education bureau has told schools to hold classes online from Monday as rising numbers of Covid infections hit cities across China.
On Saturday the bureau also instructed kindergartens and childcare centres in the city to shut all in-person classes, according to an online statement.
Continue reading...Christian missionaries who ran a faith-based organization allegedly used federal funds to buy a multi-million-dollar home
A Florida pastor and his son have been arrested for allegedly fraudulently obtaining more than $8m in federal Covid relief funds.
Evan and Joshua Edwards of Orlando were arrested on Wednesday, alleged to have used such funds for luxury expenses including a multi-million-dollar house near Walt Disney World.
Continue reading...Some Beijing hospitals have as many as 80% of staff infected, according to one doctor, leading to serious staff shortages
Chinese doctors and nurses are being told to keep working even when infected with Covid-19, staff and residents reported, as the virus rips through the population in the wake of eased restrictions.
Some hospitals in Beijing have up to 80% of their staff infected, but many of them are still required to work due to staff shortages, a doctor in a large public hospital in Beijing told Reuters, adding he had spoken to his peers at other big hospitals in the capital.
Continue reading...Health officials cease recording asymptomatic cases as shortages of medical supplies and testing kits reported in wake of sudden end to strict Covid policy
The spread of Covid-19 in China is now “impossible” to track, the country’s health authorities have said, announcing they have stopped recording asymptomatic cases in their daily tallies.
The admission comes amid soaring presentations to hospitals and clinics as Covid-19 spreads rapidly through the population in the wake of the sudden removal of strict pandemic measures. Authorities have urged people not to seek emergency healthcare unless necessary, and announced the rollout of second boosters to elderly and vulnerable people.
Continue reading...Crammed wards, burnt-out GPs, patients waiting hours for ambulances – the health service is at breaking point
Inside the dimly lit command centre at King’s College hospital, staff arriving for the first beds meeting of the day are greeted with a warning: the hospital is already under strain. “So, we are under pressure this morning,” the head of nursing, Naomi Hosking, informs colleagues stood around her in a semi-circle. No one registers surprise. “We’ve got a lot of patients in ED [emergency department] with little space to see new patients, so we need to get some early movement.”
It’s 8.32am and ED – maximum capacity 60 – is packed, with 61 patients inside. The oldest is 98; the youngest 30 days old. Later, that pressure will intensify: the number of ED patients – in beds, on trolleys or in chairs – will more than double to 137.
Continue reading...Yang Zijing, 25, apparently detained in Guangzhou after taking part in rallies against harsh restrictions
A young protester has been held in police detention in southern China for nine days after taking part in rallies against Covid restrictions, her mother has said, expressing fear and anguish over her daughter’s safety.
China last week effectively ended its harsh zero-Covid policy, after years of economic damage and simmering public discontent that erupted in nationwide protests on a scale unseen in decades.
Continue reading...AMA concerned by ‘significant disincentives’ to virus testing and psychologist body ‘bitterly disappointed’
Some free Covid PCR tests will require referrals and Medicare-supported psychologist sessions will be reduced by the federal government under changes to Covid management that suicide prevention groups have called “baffling”.
The national Covid-19 health management plan for 2023, released on Monday, outlines federal government plans for handling the pandemic next year. The health minister, Mark Butler, said Labor was investing $2.8bn to manage the virus, with measures including vaccine procurement, public information campaigns, hospital funding and plans for aged care and multicultural communities.
Continue reading...Health authorities sound warning on infection rate, with hundreds of thousands of doctors redeployed across the country
China has announced plans to scrap its primary Covid tracking app in the latest rollback of pandemic control measures, just days after abruptly abandoning its long-running zero-Covid policy.
It came as health authorities warned of widespread infections on the horizon, and redeployed hundreds of thousands of doctors and nurses to intensive care units in preparation for an Omicron surge through the population of 1.4 billion people.
Continue reading...Low rate of vaccination of elderly and a lack of natural immunity mean country may be in for a bumpy ride
Beijing’s abrupt dismantling of zero-Covid controls has been welcomed by economists, even as the country braces itself for the human impact of letting the disease spread through a vulnerable population.
The leadership’s abrupt U-turn on how it handles the pandemic appears to have been triggered by protests against controls that began last month, a nationwide show of discontent on a scale China had not seen in decades.
Continue reading...Senior politicians from both major parties to travel to Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Palau this week. This blog is now closed
The Bureau of Meteorology expects scattered showers expected over South Australia.
Meanwhile the heatwave that has settled across northern Australia is expected to ease.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Vaccine recommendations should also consider effects of long Covid on the health system and workforce, Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah says
Labor MP and infectious disease specialist Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah has criticised Australia’s immunisation experts for keeping “overly restrictive” rules on access to coronavirus vaccines, urging the government to expand eligibility for children and young people in a bid to address long Covid.
The Melbourne doctor called on the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) to provide more transparency on its decision to not recommend fourth shots for people under 30 and to not allow under-fives to receive Covid vaccines. She said many parents were “desperate” to have their children vaccinated.
Continue reading...Some people are keen to enjoy their new freedoms, but others are fearful of a major wave of infections
China’s scaling back of its zero-Covid regime has left its population reeling. Some are embracing their new freedoms, while others are struggling to overcome their fears of being infected after three years of tough restrictions.
Frustration at protracted lockdowns and mass testing boiled over in late November into widespread protests, the biggest show of public discontent in decades.
Continue reading...Changes to zero-Covid policy could prove insufficient if lockdowns are expected to continue
China’s nearly three-year policy of enacting strict lockdowns to contain outbreaks of Covid-19 came with a heavy price for the world’s second largest economy.
The question for its president, Xi Jinping, and his inner court of advisers is whether a sudden relaxation of lockdown rules brought in this week will both prevent a recurrence of the shockwave of protests across the country and turn the economy around.
Continue reading...Amid signs that supply chain woes are improving, economists remain uncertain that China is ready to live with Covid
Global shares and the price of some key commodities have risen on hopes that the easing of China’s strict zero-Covid measures would help to bring down inflation, even as some experts warned that the country was not prepared to live with the disease.
China’s government on Wednesday announced a significant shift towards living with the virus. People with Covid-19 who have mild or no symptoms can quarantine at home, while officials have been instructed to stop launching temporary lockdowns. Testing will no longer be required for “cross-regional migrants”.
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