Category Archives: Coronavirus

Amid unease on the left, Starmer aims to ‘bring Labour home’

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A year on from landing the party’s top job, the leader plans on taking his message directly to the voters

Keir Starmer plans to spend the summer months criss-crossing the country to make his pitch directly to voters at scores of town hall-style meetings, in an attempt to “bring Labour home” to its traditional supporters.

A year after his election, with his personal poll ratings slipping and amid growing internal unease about his leadership, Starmer’s team say he hopes to emulate David Cameron, who fielded voters’ questions face to face on his “Cameron Direct” tour in 2008.

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The eggs factor: Belgian pop star finds fame again from rural Irish exile

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Philippe Robrecht was living the quiet life with his wife and hens when stardom came calling back

Something odd happened to Philippe Robrecht while hunkered down in lockdown on Inishbofin, a tiny island with just 170 inhabitants off Ireland’s Atlantic coast: he became, again, a pop star.

The 55-year-old musician and singer had not made an album in almost a decade and was all but forgotten in his native Belgium when the Covid-19 pandemic reached Ireland last year.

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Irish government’s authority frays amid fears of new Covid wave

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U-turns, infighting and vaccine blunders cast sense of disarray over Dublin’s pandemic response

When Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, gave his latest Covid-19 address earlier this week there was none of the poetry or literary allusions that have peppered previous speeches.

Sensing the nation was fed up and in no mood for high-brow quotes, Martin appealed for patience on what he termed the final stretch of a terrible journey. “A lot has been asked of everyone … it has been, and continues to be, exceptionally difficult.”

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Curfews and quarantines: Europe faces another Easter of Covid restrictions

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From France to Spain, Germany to Greece, tight rules are in place to contain the spread of coronavirus

Europe may not be subject to the drastic lockdown measures introduced to combat the first wave of coronavirus a year ago, but many countries still face another Easter of greatly reduced meeting and movement.

In France, new restrictions come into effect across the country from 7pm on Saturday that limit travel to within 10km (six miles) of home, absent one of the allowed “imperative” reasons. Sworn declarations known as “attestations” will be necessary for anyone travelling outside these rules.

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‘We’re in a really good place’: is Israel nearing the Covid endgame?

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Vaccination centres are winding down and infections continue to fall as country reopens

At the peak of Israel’s Covid vaccination drive, the halls of a huge basketball arena in Jerusalem were filled with people, each anxiously waiting up to two hours until their number was called. More than 3,000 people a day were being vaccinated here in January.

On Monday, no more than 15 people lingered around long rows of empty chairs. Some barely had time to sit down before they were called to receive a jab. “They wait about 10 seconds,” said Shani Luvaton, the head nurse at the vaccination centre. She only uses half her booths for just a few hundred people a day.

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‘We want to deliver’: Covid vaccine delays hit vulnerable Melbourne tower residents

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Community health groups have nurses, GPs and locals ‘ready to go’, but a lack of deliveries has forced them to cancel vaccination clinics

For the past four months, in the towering Richmond housing estate of Melbourne, community health workers have been hard at work, preparing locals for the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine.

It’s a difficult but vital task. Many of the roughly 2,000 residents are vulnerable or elderly, use shared services and are densely packed into the estate’s five towers, creating a high-risk Covid-19 environment.

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Brazil’s gravediggers exhume bodies to make space for Covid victims

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As cemeteries run out of space, World Health Organization experts warn multiple states in ‘critical condition’

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The Brazilian city of São Paulo has sped up efforts to empty old graves to make room for a soaring number of Covid deaths as the sprawling metropolis registered record daily burials this week.

As the World Health Organization warned that the pandemic has put a number of Brazilian states in “critical condition”, gravediggers worked on Thursday to open the tombs of people buried years ago, bagging decomposed remains for removal to another location.

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Overseas holiday destinations ‘to be ranked using traffic light system’

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Countries to be graded green, amber or red based on Covid rates and vaccination rollouts, reports say

Foreign holiday destinations will be ranked under a traffic light system, with fewer restrictions tied to the places boasting the lowest coronavirus rates and high vaccination take-up, it has been reported.

Countries will be graded either green, amber or red, according to how well they are coping with the pandemic, it was claimed.

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Pandemic 2020 review – a masterly mapping of the Covid outbreak

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The team behind Once Upon a Time in Iraq has compiled a moving and sometimes hopeful three-parter that offers a global perspective on the crisis

Like the virus itself, the programmes about it have moved from localised subjects to a slightly wider field and now have expanded to take in a global view. It hasn’t been a perfectly linear progression, of course, but most of the first documentaries were composed largely of footage recorded by medical professionals themselves, at work and then – exhausted and tearful – at home.

After that came socially distanced films recording the impact on local communities and bereaved families, the experiences of survivors and the long-term consequences for those who do not make a full recovery. Alongside that have come considerations and critiques of the UK response to the crisis and comparisons – not generally favourable – with that of other countries.

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US may be in early stages of fourth wave as Covid cases rise, reports say

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US has tallied on average 63,000 new cases daily over the past week while only five states have seen declines in new infections

The US could be in the early stages of a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that is taking renewed hold across the country, with coronavirus cases increasing in 25 states, according to reports.

The US has tallied, on average, 63,000 new cases daily over the past week–an increase of 17% from the week prior, news website Axios reported. Only five states have recently seen declines in new cases. The third wave of the pandemic, which peaked in January, saw about 250,000 people daily testing positive for Covid-19, the Hill reported.

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Pfizer vaccine has 91% efficacy for up to six months, trial shows

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Findings based on two doses three weeks apart are first to show shot remains effective for many months

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech protects against symptomatic Covid for up to six months, an updated analysis of clinical trial data has found.

In a statement released on Thursday, the companies reported efficacy of 91.3% against any symptoms of the disease in participants assessed up to six months after their second shot. The level of protection is only marginally lower than the 95% achieved soon after vaccination.

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Dire situation in North Korea drives ‘collective exit’ of diplomats

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Russian embassy staff cite medicine shortages and unbearable conditions arising from strict Covid restrictions

Russian diplomats fleeing North Korea have described acute shortages of medicines and other basic goods in the country, indicating a crisis fuelled by one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter posted online on Thursday, employees of the Russian embassy in Pyongyang described a “collective exit” of foreign diplomatic staff that they predicted would “unfortunately not be the last” due to unbearable conditions in the North Korean capital.

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What is allowed under Covid lockdown rules around the UK?

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How restrictions are being eased varies in the UK’s four constituent parts

The lockdown is being gradually eased in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the details of how and when this is happening vary in the four constituent parts of the UK.

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Coronavirus live news: Pfizer vaccine has 100% efficacy against South African variant in small trial

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Trial of 800 people in South Africa shows 100% efficacy at preventing illness; WHO Europe director criticises ‘unacceptably slow’ vaccine rollout

Reuters reports:

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said on Thursday their Covid-19 vaccine has around 91% efficacy at preventing the disease, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months.

The shot also showed 100% efficacy in preventing illness among trial participants in South Africa, where a new variant called B1351 is dominant, although the number of those participants was relatively small at 800.

Here is an update from Our World in Data about the proportion of people who have received at least one does of Covid vaccine:

Our data is updated: https://t.co/03pQ8rRViP

Share of people with at least 1 dose:
Israel 61%
Bhutan 49%
UK 46%
Chile 36%
Bahrain 30%
US 29%
Hungary 21%
Serbia 21%
Uruguay 18%
Singapore 16%
Finland 16%
Estonia 15%
Canada 13%
Slovakia 13% pic.twitter.com/lSRZINhhl8

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Long Covid: snapshot poll finds more than 1m people with symptoms in UK

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ONS estimates 1.1m people in community had ongoing symptoms in four weeks to 6 March

More than a million people in the UK were experiencing “long Covid” in a recent four-week period, according to new survey figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Statisticians estimate that 1.1 million people in the community had ongoing symptoms in the four weeks up to 6 March after contracting the disease at least three months beforehand.

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Covid vaccine scheme ‘unacceptably slow’ in Europe, says WHO

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Hans Kluge urges ramping up of manufacturing and asks governments to share excess shots

Europe’s vaccination campaign is “unacceptably slow” while rising infection rates in most countries across the region mean its virus situation is “more worrying than we have seen in several months”, the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said on Thursday that vaccines “present our best way out of this pandemic. Not only do they work, they are highly effective in preventing infection. However, their rollout is unacceptably slow.”

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Vaccine volley: debate rages over ambivalence of tennis professionals

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The ATP and WTA support Covid-19 vaccination but some players have shrugged their shoulders as they would have to remain in tournament bubbles regardless

As the Miami Open marched towards its climax, one of the many off-court discussions that have raged on during the event is the simple question of the sport’s attitude towards vaccination during the pandemic. Players were asked during the week about their stance, and a trend of ambivalence became clear.

For Andrey Rublev, the Russian world No 8, vaccination would make little difference to him as he would still have to remain in the tournament bubbles: “I don’t know,” Rublev said. “There is no reason. Just – I don’t know. Just by the feelings, because I never have any vaccine since I was a kid, so I don’t know. I feel OK with this way. I never had any problems with my health.”

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Covid-19 live news: EMA says ‘no evidence’ to support restricting use of AstraZeneca; German leaders demand tighter lockdown

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Europe’s medicines agency says no risk factors identified; two state premiers say time for discussion is over and lockdown needed

A court in Belgium has ordered the government to either lift all coronavirus measures within 30 days or frame them properly in law, after a case brought by a human rights organisation challenged the use of ministerial decrees to implement them.

A night-time curfew and a ban on non-essential travel are among the restrictions currently in place in Belgium. The court in the capital, Brussels, said the state would have to pay fines of €5,000 (£4,256) a day if it fails to abide by the ruling.

We believe that in view of the restrictions on fundamental freedoms imposed to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, a debate in parliament was essential.

While restrictions on these rights and freedoms may of course be made, given the importance of the issues at stake and the need to protect the rights to life and health of individuals, they must be fair and proportionate.

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will be vaccinated against Covid next week, according to Reuters.

“The doctors recommended that I get vaccinated,” he said during his regular morning news conference, without disclosing which day he planned to receive the shot.

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Outdoor mask decree met with dismay by Spain’s tourism industry

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Ruling that face masks must be worn on beaches comes amid fears of fourth Covid wave

The Spanish tourist industry has reacted with dismay to the government’s decree that face masks must be worn in all outdoor spaces, including beaches and swimming pools, even when it is possible to maintain social distancing.

“We’re going through hell with thousands of jobs and businesses threatened and now they want to turn the beaches into open-air field hospitals,” José Luis Zoreda, vice-president of Exceltur, the umbrella organisation that represents Spain’s tourism industry, told El País newspaper.

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UK weather: Wednesday could be hottest March day on record

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Spell of early spring warm weather continues after record 24.5C on Tuesday

Forecasters say there is a small possibility the UK could see the hottest day on record on Wednesday, as the spell of early spring warm weather continues.

It has been particularly welcomed in England, where temperatures have been the highest and people have just emerged blinking into the light as the nation begins to shake off a long national lockdown.

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