There’s been much debate about lateral flow tests – their accuracy depends on context and the theories of a 18th-century cleric
Maths quiz. If you take a Covid test that only gives a false positive one time in every 1,000, what’s the chance that you’ve actually got Covid? Surely it’s 99.9%, right?
No! The correct answer is: you have no idea. You don’t have enough information to make the judgment.
Continue reading...Next year’s Élysée race looks like a battle between a fading Emmanuel Macron and the far-right leader. And some believe she might win this time
In Paris’s symbolic Place de la République, under the watchful gaze of France’s allegorical figurehead Marianne, the skateboarders are not in the mood to discuss politics.
For the young here, as everywhere, life has been paused during a pandemic that has halted studies, jobs, socialising and parties. What they want is their lives back, not to talk about an election.
Continue reading...The realities of ownership are dawning as the UK’s lockdown eases and the dogs left at home need to be looked after
Pet cameras and activity trackers are flying off the shelves. Demand for anti-chew sprays, automatic feeders and water fountains for pets has rocketed, and dog walkers and sitters are being inundated with inquiries.
As lockdown restrictions ease, dog owners are snapping up products and services that will enable them to monitor and care for their pets while they are out at work.
Continue reading...Thomas Bach expected to give Japan the all-clear to host the Games, as PM secures extra vaccine doses from Pfizer to fight new virus wave
See all our coronavirus coverage
The head of the Olympic movement will visit Japan in May as the nation struggles to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases before the start of the Games, with Pfizer agreeing to supply extra vaccine doses to the country.
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, will attend a torch relay ceremony in the western city of Hiroshima on 17 May and meet prime minister Yoshihide Suga the next day, Kyodo News agency said on Saturday, citing sources close to the matter.
Continue reading...NSW Health reclassifies three coronavirus cases to locally-acquired after testing showed they shared same viral sequence as infected family next door
The NSW health department is investigating how three members of a family acquired Covid-19 while in hotel quarantine in Sydney.
They were staying next door to a family with the virus at the Adina Apartment hotel.
Continue reading...Global death toll tops 3m; pandemic made 2020 ‘the year of the quiet ocean’, say scientists
Mexico’s recorded another 4,157 coronavirus cases and 535 new deaths on Saturday, according to health ministry data, bringing the total number of cases to 2,304,096 and 212,228 deaths.
Israel will lift its mandatory requirement to wear a mask outdoors on Sunday, but wearing masks in closed spaces will remain compulsory.
Haaretz reports:
This comes as a result of Israel’s Health Minister Yuli Edelstein’s instruction to his ministry’s director general Chezy Levy on Thursday to sign an order lifting the restriction, after the opinion of ministry professionals stated that masks can be dispensed with in open-air areas due to low coronavirus morbidity.
The statement from Edelstein’s office on Thursday stressed that Israelis would still be required to wear a mask indoors, and this message was echoed by Israel’s coronavirus czar, Professor Nachman Ash.
Continue reading...Michigan, which had some of the nation’s strongest health regulations, saw its second highest single-day case total on Friday
While the United States’ Covid-19 vaccination initiative has eclipsed that of many other countries, a significant number of US cities and states remain hotspots where coronavirus continues to spread at record rates. The upticks come as more states loosen public health restrictions that have been in place to stop Covid-19’s spread.
As of 16 April, the US saw an average of 70,117 cases daily, a surge of 8% from the mean 14 days ago, with hospitalizations increasing 9%, according to the New York Times. A minimum of 21 states have seen at least a 10% increase in daily positive coronavirus cases, CNN reports of recent Johns Hopkins University data. However, deaths are down 12% in this period.
Continue reading...Indian coronavirus variant has potential to ‘scupper’ lockdown easing, says professor of immunology
India should be placed on the UK’s “red list” for travel after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant, according to a leading scientist.
Prof Danny Altmann, from Imperial College London, said it was “mystifying” and “confounding” that those flying in from the country were not required to stay in a hotel.
Continue reading...Hundreds of Christian clergy say proposal could ‘bring about the end of liberal democracy’
Hundreds of UK church leaders have told the prime minister that plans to use vaccine passports for entry into venues is “one of the most dangerous policy proposals ever to be made in the history of British politics” with the “potential to bring about the end of liberal democracy as we know it”.
An open letter to Boris Johnson signed by more than 1,250 clergy from different Christian denominations across the UK says the “introduction of vaccine passports would constitute an unethical form of coercion and violation of the principle of informed consent”.
Continue reading...Shares rise by more than 30 points as China reports record economic growth
The FTSE 100 has closed above 7,000 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a collapse in global markets last year, driven by rising hopes for the world economy after record growth in China.
The index of leading UK company shares ended the day up 36 points on Friday, or 0.5%, at 7,019, the highest level since late February 2020 when the first wave of Covid-19 sent shock waves through financial markets around the world.
Continue reading...New measures to enforce stay-at-home order with hospitals ‘bursting at the seams’ but civil liberties campaigners cry foul
Ontario has announced sweeping new police powers to enforce an extended stay-at-home order, in the latest sign that officials in Canada’s most populous province have lost control of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
With a record number of new cases, there is growing worry among experts that the already-strained healthcare system is being further pushed to the brink.
Continue reading...From Doug to Nelly and Eeek, we look at how mutations are affecting the battle against the virus
From the moment public health officials started to track new variants of coronavirus, it became clear that the same mutations were cropping up time and again and making the virus more troublesome. What are these mutations, what do they do, and what do they mean for the pandemic?
Continue reading...Advice comes as country’s clinicians claim P1 Covid variant more aggressive during pregnancy
Brazil has warned women to delay getting pregnant until the worst of the pandemic passes, saying the virus variant that is devastating the South American country appears to affect expectant mothers more than earlier versions of the coronavirus.
The recommendation comes as Brazil continues to be one of the global epicenters of the pandemic, with more Brazilians dying of the virus each day than anywhere else in the world.
Continue reading...Spike in Indian cases spurred by hundreds of positive tests at major religious gathering; Japan to extend Covid restrictions to 10 regions
The head of the world’s largest vaccine maker directly tweeted the US president Joe Biden on Friday urging him to lift an export ban on raw materials desperately needed to make more coronavirus shots.
The unusual step by Serum Institute (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla underlined the crisis in providing vaccines to developing nations, many of which rely heavily on the firm for supplies, AFP reports.
Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details.
Johnson & Johnson reached out to rival Covid-19 vaccine makers to join in an effort to study the risks of blood clots, but Pfizer and Moderna declined, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Only AstraZeneca, which had been buffeted by similar blood-clotting concerns for weeks, agreed, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Continue reading...This time last year, NHS bosses asked doctors and nurses to ‘wear aprons’ and work without protective full-length gowns when treating Covid-19 patients, as hospitals were within hours of running out of supplies.
This is just one example of how the UK government has been slammed for its handling of the pandemic, through a series of missteps, U-turns, lockdowns, denials – and more than 150,000 deaths.
Twelve months on, the Guardian's Pamela Duncan looks at three major areas where officials were out of line with the data on coronavirus infections and deaths available at the time.
A government spokesperson responded, saying: ‘Throughout the pandemic, our approach has been guided by data and the advice of scientific and medical experts … As new evidence emerged, we acted quickly and decisively to implement life-saving measures, including restrictions and lockdowns, to protect lives, livelihoods and our economy. We are doing everything we can to ensure care home residents and staff are protected, including providing more than 9.9 billion items of PPE to the frontline.’
Continue reading...NSW woman, 48, died this week after receiving vaccine on 8 April, federal health authorities say
Australia’s drugs regulator has determined the death of a 48-year-old diabetic woman who developed blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine was likely to be linked to the vaccine.
After a meeting of Australia’s vaccine safety investigation group on Friday, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said experts had concluded the case of the New South Wales woman, who died this week, “was consistent with causal association to immunisation”.
Continue reading...Highly transmissible variant and behavioural factors blamed as intensive care units fill with younger patients
One month after Michel Castro’s premature brush with death, the coronavirus infection has receded but the nightmares persist.
In them the 31-year-old father relives the spine-chilling scenes he witnessed as his Covid-hit body battled for survival in a Rio ICU. The six-month-old baby who appeared to be suffocating right next to him. The man urinating blood after his kidneys failed. The unnerving bleep-bleep-bleep of machines warning doctors that yet another life was on the line.
Continue reading...New stations at health clinics improve hygiene in locations where warm water seen as ‘an absolute luxury’, helping to tackle Covid
In Eswatini, the southern African country which lost a prime minister to Covid-19 in December and where most people have no access to hot water, handwashing – a key weapon in the fight against the pandemic – has been a problem.
No government health clinic in the kingdom, formerly known as Swaziland, had hot running water for patients. Nine out of 10 didn’t have hot water for operations and cleaning instruments.
Continue reading...Authorities act to counter rumours out-of-date shots are being used as people drag their heels over being vaccinated
More than 16,000 expired AstraZeneca Covid-19 doses are to be destroyed in Malawi as concerns over vaccine hesitancy increase.
The vaccines are among 102,000 doses donated by the African Union (AU) to the Malawian government last month.
Continue reading...German chancellor will be vaccinated on Friday; NI executive to outline reopening dates; Cambodia ‘on brink of death’, says premier
Poland’s top vaccination official said he did not see any obstacle to the country’s inoculation program from the “moral” reservations expressed by the powerful Catholic Church about two vaccines.
Poland’s Episcopate bioethical team on Wednesday said the use of the AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines raised “serious moral opposition.”
Continue reading...