Category Archives: Coronavirus

Biden announces US has administered 150m Covid vaccine doses – as it happened

Posted on by

– Joan E Greve and Maanvi Singh

Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican congressman who is being investigated over child sex trafficking charges, and who reportedly shared nude pictures of women with colleagues, is speaking at former president Donald Trump’s resort in Doral, at a rally for a pro-Trump women’s group.

Politico reports:

Women for America First announced late Tuesday that Gaetz would be a speaker at the three-day “Save America Summit.” This is the same group that helped organize the “March for Trump” rally in Washington that took place just hours before the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead.

The organization praised Gaetz as one of the “few members of Congress” willing to “stand up & fight on behalf of President Trump & his America First agenda.” Women For America First says on its website that “We won’t be pushed around by bullies who tell us who we are ‘supposed’ to like. And we’re not going to keep quiet just because the Washington, D.C. power elites and mainstream media want us to!”

Related: Katie Hill: Matt Gaetz backed me but he must quit if nude-photo reports are true

Continue reading...

Patients in Wales to be first in UK to receive Moderna Covid vaccine

Posted on by

Nation’s mass rollout begins on Wednesday, while Scotland will administer first doses later this week

Patients in Wales will from Wednesday become the first in the UK to receive the Moderna vaccine as part of a mass vaccination programme, with the first doses in Scotland set to come later this week.

The initial jabs would be given at the West Wales general hospital in Carmarthen, the Welsh government said.

Continue reading...

AstraZeneca Covid vaccine: weighing up the risks and rewards

Posted on by

Despite scientific advice to continue getting the jab, answers about fatal blood clots are urgently needed

Vaccines have side-effects, as do all medicines. Most often, jabs cause sore arms, a headache or a bit of nausea – none of which would be very significant when weighed against the toll of a serious virus such as Covid-19.

But sometimes the risk-benefit calculation may look less simple, as in the case of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s Covid jab and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), the blood clots in the brain that have led to fatalities in the UK and Europe.

Continue reading...

The UK needs a robust border policy, but right now we can’t see if it is working

Posted on by

Analysis: it is incredibly challenging to scrutinise the system because data on movement is so opaque

The official response to coronavirus at the UK border has been problematic from the start. It was not until February this year that the government introduced mandatory hotel quarantine – some 11 months after coronavirus was first recorded the UK – despite it being used in countries such as New Zealand from the off.

Even now with stricter requirements for arrivals in place, critics say the current border policy is seriously lacking. Reports claiming as many as 8,000 tourists a day are arriving in the UK have significantly fueled those concerns.

Continue reading...

Israel and Chile both led on Covid jabs, so why is one back in lockdown?

Posted on by

Analysis: contrasting national outcomes highlight how easily UK could blow its chances

As mass vaccination programmes take hold around the world, some countries have begun to get on top of the virus while others have continued to struggle. Two countries that have streaked ahead with immunisations are Israel and Chile, but as Israel edges back to a new normal, Chile has been plunged back into lockdown. Can the UK and other countries repeat Israel’s success and avoid the setbacks of Chile?

Continue reading...

EU drug agency denies already finding causal link between AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots

Posted on by

European Medicines Agency says review ongoing after head of vaccines spoke of ‘clear’ association

Europe’s drug regulator has denied it has already established a causal connection between the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and a rare blood clotting syndrome, after a senior official from the agency said there was a link.

In a statement to Agence France-Presse, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday it had “not yet reached a conclusion and the review is currently ongoing”, adding that it expected to announce its findings on Wednesday or Thursday.

Continue reading...

UK Covid passports – who’s for and who’s against?

Posted on by

Labour leftwingers and Tory libertarians oppose them, while Keir Starmer’s position appears flexible

One of the most significant political controversies of the coronavirus period is likely to be over the idea of Covid “passports” – app-based, biometric certificates that would allow people entry to potentially crowded spaces. While they are sometimes referred to as “vaccine passports”, these would not just show vaccination status. Other ways people could prove they were safe to mingle would be a sufficiently recent test showing significant Covid antibodies, or a very recent negative test for the virus.

These are distinct from the idea of a proof of vaccination to be allowed to enter overseas countries, which is less contentious.

Continue reading...

The dogs keeping office workers company through lockdown

Posted on by

Owners say taking four-legged friends to work helps tackle loneliness and livens up Zoom calls

“Dogs are just like ‘play, eat, sleep’ – they bring me back into the moment. I think we can all learn something from that,” says Carole Henderson, who has been taking her “furry backup” to the office for the last few months.

They are not so good at making the tea and things get a bit rowdy when the delivery man comes round, but Henderson’s labradors Barney and Rusty, and labradoodle Lily, have been her sidekicks for the last decade. As well as being excellent foot-warmers, they have helped her emotionally with getting through solo months in the office.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison blames international supply issues for slow Covid vaccine rollout

Posted on by

Prime minister refuses to say how many doses of AstraZeneca vaccine CSL is producing in Melbourne each week

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has rejected claims Australia’s vaccine rollout has been held up by the batch testing of 2.5m domestically made doses and instead blamed international supply issues.

At a press conference on Tuesday after New Zealand announced a trans-Tasman travel bubble, Morrison said Australia had not received 3.1m AstraZeneca doses from overseas. He said that was to blame for the massive discrepancy between the 855,000 vaccinations administered so far and the missed target of 4m doses by the end of March.

Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern announces ‘trans-Tasman travel bubble’ with Australia in pandemic milestone – video

Posted on by

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has announced details of a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia, meaning Australians will be able to travel to New Zealand without needing to quarantine. Though most Australian states have allowed quarantine-free visits from New Zealanders for months, New Zealand has continued with enforced isolation for arrivals from its neighbour, citing concern about small Covid-19 outbreaks. The move to allow cross-border travel is one of the first such agreements since the pandemic prompted countries to block foreign arrivals to stop the virus spreading

Continue reading...

North Korea pulls out of Tokyo Olympics, citing coronavirus fears

Posted on by

With the Games just months away, the regime’s sports ministry says it wants to protect athletes from the ‘global health crisis’

North Korea’s sports ministry said on Tuesday that it will not participate in the Tokyo Olympics this year to protect its athletes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision was made at a meeting of North Korea’s Olympic committee, including its sports minister Kim Il guk, on 25 March the ministry said on its website, called Joson Sports. “The committee decided not to join the 32nd Olympics Games to protect athletes from the global health crisis caused by the coronavirus,” it said.

Continue reading...

Trans-Tasman travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia to start on 19 April

Posted on by

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern warns that further Covid-19 outbreaks could mean border closures return

After nearly a year shut off from the world, New Zealand is cracking open its borders, with a trans-Tasman travel bubble allowing two-way quarantine-free travel with Australia.

The NZ prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced on Tuesday the bubble would open from 19 April, allowing quarantine-free travel between the two nations. Travellers from New Zealand have been able to enter selected Australian states without quarantining since October but the arrangements did not apply in the other direction.

Continue reading...

Bat catchers fight the next pandemic – in pictures

Posted on by

Researchers at the University of the Philippines Los Baños aim to catch thousands of bats to develop a Japanese-funded simulation model over the next three years that they believe could help avert potential pandemics. They hope the bats will help in predicting the dynamics of a coronavirus outbreak by analysing factors such as climate, temperature and ease of spread

Continue reading...

Letting go: my battle to help my parents die a good death

Posted on by

My parents were determined to avoid heroic medical interventions in their dying days, even before the pandemic. Why wasn’t anybody listening?

Almost as soon as the word Covid is coined, my parents update their “advance decision” documents. They’re constantly adjusting them, fine-tuning their wishes for future medical treatment. “Like a dowager with an elaborate will,” I tease them, blowing the ink dry on yet another signature.

When they first completed their advance decision document, 20 years ago, they were mostly concerned with not being resuscitated should they have a stroke, perhaps while shopping in the market or cycling home. Now, aged 84 and 82 and debilitated by multiple illnesses, they’ve had to give up their bikes and those hopes of a dramatic end. “We look like the old people road sign,” says my mum, bent over her walking aid, handing my dad his stick. And they do. Frail as leaves, they totter down the road to the vegetarian cafe: the wind could blow them away.

Continue reading...

Family of Captain Sir Tom Moore issue charity challenge to nation

Posted on by

People encouraged to set fundraising goal that echoes Moore’s 100 garden laps on his 101st birthday weekend

Captain Sir Tom Moore made it his mission to raise money for the NHS by doing 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.

Now, one year and nearly £39m later, his family are asking people to follow in his footsteps and come up with their own challenge based around the number 100 that they can complete over what would have been his 101st birthday weekend.

Continue reading...

Global rollout of vaccines is no longer a guarantee of victory over Covid-19 | Susan Michie, Chris Bullen, et al

Posted on by

New variants of concern have changed the game, spreading worldwide and threatening to derail pandemic control efforts

At the end of 2020, there was a strong hope that high levels of vaccination would see humanity finally gain the upper hand over Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. In an ideal scenario, the virus would then be contained at very low levels without further societal disruption or significant numbers of deaths.

But since then, new “variants of concern” have emerged and spread worldwide, putting current pandemic control efforts, including vaccination, at risk of being derailed.

Continue reading...

Biden’s $2tn infrastructure plan ‘needs to be changed’, says key Democrat Manchin – live

Posted on by

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

The Guardian’s Abené Clayton reports:

The bankruptcy trial for the National Rife Association (NRA) kicked off this morning, and for the first time embattled CEO Wayne LaPierre and other NRA executives will be testifying about the organization’s finances in open court.

Good morning. Today is the first day of the @NRA’s trial in bankruptcy court. For those of you who can’t wait, here are some disturbing excerpts from Wayne LaPierre’s deposition (filed over the weekend). #nrabankruptcytrial

Continue reading...

Covid live: Saudi Arabia reveals Mecca restrictions; Italy reports almost 300 daily deaths

Posted on by

Only vaccinated people will be allowed to perform umrah; Italy death toll reaches 111,326

Mexico’s government has reported another 252 more deaths from Covid, and a further 1,247 cases, according to the health ministry on Monday.

It means that 204,399 have now died from the virus, and there have been 2,251,705 infections. The country’s government says that real both figures are likely to be significantly higher, and the death toll itself may be 60% above the confirmed figure, Reuters reports.

Hospitals are coming under mounting pressure in Poland, where daily infections have been above more than 35,000 in each of the last two days.

Continue reading...

What are Covid-status certificates and how might they work?

Posted on by

Domestic vaccine passports could be used to help the UK economy reopen, but a broad coalition of MPs are opposed to the idea

After months of speculation regarding whether Covid-status certificates – domestic vaccine passports – will come into force in the UK, it appears that the government is taking steps to draw up a scheme. An official document published on Monday states a commitment to examining “whether and how Covid-status certification might be used to reopen our economy, reduce restrictions on social contact and improve safety”.

Continue reading...

Mecca to accept only ‘immunised’ pilgrims from Ramadan

Posted on by

Worshippers must be vaccinated against Covid or have recovered from the virus, say Saudis

From the start of Ramadan, only Muslims immunised against Covid-19 will be allowed to perform the umrah pilgrimage, Saudi authorities have said.

Unlike hajj, the shorter umrah pilgrimage is non-compulsory and can be performed at any time of year.

Continue reading...