Category Archives: Coronavirus

Coronavirus live news: blood clot warning should be added to Johnson & Johnson vaccine label, says EMA

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European Medicines Agency issues advice after rollout of vaccine was paused

Greek registered a further 3,789 coronavirus cases and 87 deaths on Tuesday, according to media reports, as the country continues to battle its third wave.

Tuesday’s figures compare with 4,017 infections and 93 deaths reported a week ago.

Europe’s medicines regulator has found a possible link between Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine and very rare cases of unusual clotting disorders that prompted authorities in Europe and the US to pause the shot’s rollout last week.

The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement on Tuesday its safety committee had concluded a warning should be added to the vaccine’s product information, but that the shot’s benefits outweighed its risks.

Related: Possible link between Johnson & Johnson vaccine and rare blood clots, says regulator

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Possible link between J&J Covid vaccine and rare blood clots, EU regulator finds

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Watchdog says benefits outweigh risks but that warning should be added to product information

Europe’s medicines regulator has found a possible link between Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine and rare cases of unusual blood clotting disorders it said were “very similar” to those that had occurred with the AstraZeneca shot.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Tuesday recommended a warning should be added to the vaccine’s product information, but stressed that the benefits of the shot – whose rollout was paused last week in Europe and the US – outweighed its risks.

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UK in drive to develop drugs to take at home to ‘stop Covid in its tracks’

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Ministers announce taskforce to ‘supercharge’ search for antiviral treatments to roll out as soon as autumn

People with mild Covid-19 could take a pill or capsule at home to prevent the illness turning serious and requiring hospital treatment, under government plans to fast-track development of treatments for the disease.

The government is launching an antivirals taskforce to find at least two drugs by the autumn that people can take to stop coronavirus in its tracks and speed up recovery from it.

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France is first EU member state to start testing digital Covid travel certificate

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French trial will be extended from 29 April to include vaccination certificates

France has become the first EU member state to begin testing a digital coronavirus travel certificate as part of a Europe-wide scheme that Brussels hopes will allow people to travel more freely within the bloc by the summer.

The TousAntiCovid app, part of the country’s contact tracing programme, has been upgraded to store negative Covid-19 test results on travellers’ mobile phones and is being trialled on flights to Corsica and overseas départements from this week.

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Australia news live: Greg Hunt has ‘full confidence’ in NZ Covid controls after border worker contracts coronavirus

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Queensland premier says people need confidence in vaccine before mass rollout; US secretary of state says countries investing in new coal ‘will hear from US’. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• Secretary of state says countries investing in new coal ‘will hear from US’
• Australia increasingly isolated as US and others ramp up climate ambition
• Melbourne GP clinic with capacity to vaccinate 2,100 a week supplied with just 50 doses

The health department secretary, Brendan Murphy, has made opening remarks at the Covid-19 Senate inquiry. Murphy said Australia is “still in a very good place” even as comparable countries are battling fresh outbreaks and a fourth wave of the novel coronavirus.

He said:

“We are in a very fortunate place, even though we have border measures in place we are basically living a normal life – we have full football stadiums, restaurants, things are back to normal.”

Two state education ministers, Labor and Liberal, had criticised the milkshake video earlier today, via AAP.

Victoria’s Education Minister James Merlino called for the federal government to pull all content featured on The Good Society website, which launched as part of the Department of Education’s Respect Matters program last week.

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Oppression of journalists in China ‘may have been factor in Covid pandemic’

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China placed 177th in Press Freedom Index, with warning that persecution of reporters can have international impact

Persecution of journalists in China may have contributed to the global coronavirus outbreak by stopping whistleblowers coming forward in the early days of the pandemic, according to the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.

China ranks 177th out of 180 countries on the organisation’s annual Press Freedom Index, with the organisation warning that persecution of journalists in totalitarian regimes affects citizens in western democracies.

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Tens of thousands in UK avoided universal credit during Covid over stigma

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Fear of being seen as a “scrounger” meant those entitled didn’t sign on during early stage of pandemic

Tens of thousands of people did not claim universal credit during the early part of the pandemic because they felt too ashamed to sign on benefits, often despite struggling to pay rent and bills, a study has found.

The perceived stigma around benefits – with some people feeling, for example, that they were for “dole scroungers” and “freeloaders” – meant many refused state help, or put off making a claim until they ran into serious difficulty.

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Greta Thunberg condemns vaccine inequality between rich and poor countries

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Climate activist calls for governments and Covid vaccine developers to ‘step up their game’ to address vaccine nationalism

Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has urged governments, vaccine developers and the world to “step up their game” to fight vaccine inequity after the richest countries bought up most Covid-19 vaccine doses and those in poorer nations have gone without.

Her comments on Monday came as the World Health Organization announced 5.2 million new confirmed virus cases over the latest week, the largest weekly count yet, according to the UN health agency.

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Canada stimulus budget pledges funding for childcare and Covid-19 relief

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  • Finance minister Chrystia Freeland seeks to slash deficit by 2025
  • ‘This budget is about finishing the fight against Covid’

Canada’s federal government has put childcare and Covid-19 relief at the heart of the country’s first pandemic budget, as the governing Liberals announced massive spending plans in an attempt to address growing inequality – and avert a snap election.

Delivering her government’s first budget in more than two years, the finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, on Monday framed the ambitious spending programme as both necessary to combat the disastrous “economic wounds” of the coronavirus pandemic and an opportunity to build a more equitable society.

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Indian expansion of Covid vaccine drive may further strain supplies

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All adults to be eligible from 1 May, making jab available to at least 400 million more people

India has announced it will soon open its vaccination programme to every adult in response to soaring Covid-19 infections – a measure that could further strain supplies in parts of the world reliant on Indian-made vaccines for their own campaigns.

From 1 May, Indian states will be free to administer doses to anyone aged older than 18, the central government announced on Monday as part of a package of policies to tackle a second wave that has overwhelmed hospitals and led to oxygen shortages across the country.

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Ontario shifts strategy as it scrambles to combat worsening Covid outbreak

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Province announces plans to make coronavirus vaccines more accessible in response to public pressure

Canada’s most populous province has announced plans to make coronavirus vaccines more accessible and the federal government pledged emergency aid as authorities scramble to combat a worsening outbreak in Ontario.

The shift in strategy comes after the premier, Doug Ford, was forced into a U-turn over deeply unpopular new restrictions announced on Friday.

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Coronavirus live news: EU may not renew AstraZeneca contract; US widens vaccine rollout to over-15s

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Commissioner says AstraZeneca only delivered 30m doses of 120m ordered; US expands vaccine eligibility to everyone aged 16 years and above

India will let all citizens aged over 18 get coronavirus vaccinations from May 1, the government said on Monday, as cases there surge to record highs.

Vaccine manufacturers will need to supply 50% of doses to the federal government and the rest to the state and the open market at a pre-declared price, the government said.

It come as new coronavirus cases in India reached more than 273,000 on Monday, a doubling of the peak of new infections during the country’s first wave in September last year, while Boris Johnson was forced to cancel his India trip due to the coronavirus situation.

You can read more on that story below:

Related: Boris Johnson cancels India trip due to Covid situation

Hi there, this is Rhi Storer taking over from Clea Skopeliti for the next hour. Please send your contributions to rhi.storer@guardian.co.uk, or alternatively, you can message me on Twitter.

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Boris Johnson cancels India trip due to Covid situation

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Downing Street says next week’s visit won’t go ahead ‘in light of the current coronavirus situation’

Boris Johnson’s planned visit to India next week has been cancelled because of the country’s escalating coronavirus crisis, a joint statement by the UK and India has announced.

“In the light of the current coronavirus situation, prime minister Boris Johnson will not be able to travel to India next week,” said the statement, released by Downing Street.

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Joy, actually: happy reunions fill Auckland airport as trans-Tasman bubble begins

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Emotional scenes in arrivals hall as hundreds of travellers touch down on first day of quarantine-free travel from Australia

Lisa Tetai warned her son not to take a sick day when he picked her up from Auckland airport. “I thought there might be media there,” she explains.

She wasn’t wrong.

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Cambodia accused of using Covid to edge towards ‘totalitarian dictatorship’

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New law means people could face 20 years in prison for lockdown breaches, as campaigners warn of ‘human rights disaster’

Cambodians who break Covid rules could face 20 years in prison under a new law that human rights groups say takes the country “a step towards a totalitarian dictatorship”.

Prime minister Hun Sen warned that Cambodia was “on the brink of death” as a two-week lockdown was imposed in Phnom Penh on Thursday to try to control the spread of the virus.

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Coronavirus live news: Turkey and Gaza both report record daily death tolls

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Ankara records 318 deaths in 24 hours, while Gaza authorities have received 80,000 vaccine doses for population of 2 million people

Half of all adults in the US have received at least one Covid-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.

The Associated Press reports:

Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

The US cleared the 50% mark just a day after the reported global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though the actual number is believed to be significantly higher.

Guinea received on Sunday a shipment of 300,000 Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines purchased from China and is also set to receive a donation of 200,000 Sinopharm shots, Guinean foreign minister Ibrahima Khalil Kaba said.

Reuters reports:

Kaba gave no further details on the Sinopharm donation. Guinea is reporting 93 new coronavirus infections on average each day, 59% of the peak in March.

There have been 21,460 infections and 138 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.

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Fauci: Republican vaccine deniers are hurting efforts to lift Covid restrictions

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‘On the one hand they want to be relieved of the restrictions. On the other hand, they don’t want to get vaccinated’

Republicans who refuse the Covid-19 vaccination are actively “working against” efforts to lift the very coronavirus restrictions they insist are an infringement of their civil liberties, Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s leading infectious disease expert, said on Sunday.

Fauci, who was involved in a fiery exchange over the issue with the Republican congressman Jim Jordan on Thursday, told CNN’s State of the Union he was frustrated by recent studies showing that up to 45% of Republicans would not take the vaccine.

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Eager Londoners queue up to be tested in race to find Covid variants

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Officials ‘astonished’ at level of public engagement a year into the pandemic

The steady stream of people at the two surge testing units in Finchley, north London, last week suggests that, more than a year after the pandemic hit, the public spirit to do something about Covid is still strong.

The effectiveness of surge testing is a more open question, however. The rapid testing of 5,000 households last week was an attempt to isolate the South African variant and others of concern. Yet although standard PCR tests come back within 24 hours, genomic sequencing tests to identify a Covid variant take 14 days – by which time the period of infectiousness is usually over.

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British families took bigger hit to income during Covid pandemic than Europeans

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UK’s greater inequality levels made impact worse for the less well off, study suggests

British households were plunged into the Covid pandemic with lower savings, more debt and weaker welfare support than their French and German counterparts, according to analysis revealing how inequality increased the impact of the UK crisis.

High levels of income inequality also weakened the financial resilience of poorer households as the pandemic hit. The greater exposure of British households, revealed in an analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank to be published in full this week, comes despite similar levels of average income with our European neighbours.

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