Category Archives: Coronavirus

Queensland Covid: states slam borders shut as Brisbane enters snap three-day lockdown

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Two women who travelled to Byron Bay in NSW while infectious are among the four new local cases of the UK variant of coronavirus

A number of states have slammed their borders shut to Queenslanders as greater Brisbane enters a snap three-day snap lockdown after authorities discovered four new locally-acquired coronavirus cases.

Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr Jeannette Young, on Monday described the growing cluster of seven cases as “significant community transmission” of the UK variant. She warned people in greater Brisbane to stay home over the coming days.

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No play, no pay: Covid drives Zimbabwe’s pros to unofficial football matches

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Informal games are a lifeline while the Premier League is locked down, but at what risk to players?

Sweaty and tired, the players tussle before the winning goal is scored on a red-dust pitch at the No 1 ground in Mufakose, a township west of Harare. The football fans start up a chant on the touchline, triggering a frenzied response from opposing supporters, who break into rapturous song.

This parched pitch and others like it have become a source of livelihood for some Zimbabwean footballers, struggling to earn a living during the Covid-19 pandemic’s lockdown regulations.

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‘I can’t go on’: women in Japan suffer isolation and despair amid Covid job losses

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Suicide rates among Japanese women rose sharply during the pandemic, prompting calls for support for low-income households

The coronavirus had barely begun its surge across the globe when Ayako Sato was told that the nursery where she worked would temporarily close as part of Japan’s efforts to curb the outbreak.

The mother of two teenage daughters expected a few weeks of belt tightening, believing it wouldn’t be long before she was working again.

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Australia news live: premier announces three-day lockdown for Brisbane as Queensland records more Covid cases

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State reports four new local cases; Nationals MP Anne Webster lodges complaint over alleged sexual harassment in parliament. Follow the latest updates
• Queensland Covid hotspots
• Queensland authorities contradict earlier advice about Covid case hosting ‘party’
• Coalition women call for MP drug and alcohol testing in response to sexual misconduct crisis

The Victorian state government won’t release a three-page email chain in which a decision to put Melbourne under a coronavirus curfew was made, reports Karen Sweeney from AAP.

Victorian opposition MP David Davis requested all documents relating to the curfew to be released under Freedom of Information.

These are the documents that relate directly to the decision to put Melbourne under a curfew and the reality, in our view, is there is little reason the documents should not be in the public domain.

We have one document - it is three pages of an email chain containing legal advice.

It is a single document - it may just be a single decision has to be made by the tribunal...

It’s just hard to see why this has been strung out for so long.

It’s worth considering how soon this lockdown is coming after the end of jobkeeper and how close it is cutting it to the start of the federal government’s half-priced plane ticket program.

Jobkeeper ended on Sunday, and the tourism sector support program is slated to start on 1 April.

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Johnson urges caution as England takes first big step out of lockdown

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Outdoor group socialising allowed from Monday but ad campaign stresses Covid risks of indoor meeting

Boris Johnson will stress the need for people to be cautious on Monday as England takes its first significant step towards easing lockdown restrictions for adults.

People will now be able to meet up legally outdoors in groups of six, or in two households, including in private gardens, and organised outdoor sport can resume.

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Most US Covid deaths ‘could have been mitigated’ after first 100,000, Birx says

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Former coronavirus taskforce coordinator tells CNN deaths could have been prevented if Trump administration acted sooner

The “vast majority” of the almost 550,000 coronavirus deaths in the US could have been prevented if Donald Trump’s administration had acted earlier and with greater conviction, according to one of the public health experts charged with leading the pandemic response at the time.

Related: CDC ‘deeply concerned’ about rising Covid cases as vaccinations accelerate

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‘Lack of perspective’: why Ursula von der Leyen’s EU vaccine strategy is failing

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European commission president accused of focusing too much on UK and domestic German image

Forging unity within the European Union is rarely easy for a president of the European commission but Ursula von der Leyen managed at least to bring together two strange bedfellows in recent days.

When Jean-Claude Juncker, her predecessor in the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, took aim at the EU’s error-strewn vaccine strategy last week, it prompted a tweet of appreciation from Dominic Cummings, former chief adviser to Boris Johnson and key architect of Brexit.

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5,000 attend rock concert in Barcelona after Covid screening

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Performance at Palau Sant Jordi concert hall in Barcelona on Saturday night recalls pre-pandemic times

If one overlooked the white face masks dotting the tightly packed crowd of music lovers, it was almost like pre-pandemic times in Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi concert hall Saturday night.

Five thousand rock fans enjoyed a real-as-can-be concert after passing a same-day coronavirus screening to test its effectiveness in preventing outbreaks of the virus at large cultural events.

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UK on track to hit Covid vaccine target by July, says Oliver Dowden – video

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A third coronavirus vaccine will start being administered in the UK next month, joining the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs already in use, the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, has confirmed. Britain has ordered 17m doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has a 94% efficacy rate in trials, which are expected to start arriving in April. Dowden also insisted the government was confident it would be able to meet its target of getting people over 50 vaccinated by 15 April, and all remaining adults by the end of July

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In and out of lockdown: the most uplifting and surprising videos from the past year – video

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As many countries faced restrictions and lockdowns to battle the coronavirus pandemic, communities adapted in surprising ways, with some of the most uplifting moments being filmed and shared across the world.

From concerts for plants, to animal roaming empty streets, here are some of the most memorable videos from 12 months of fight against Covid-19

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Chile imposes lockdowns to fight new Covid wave despite vaccination success

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Nearly half the population has received at least one vaccine dose but residents of the capital and other regions face strict new curbs

Despite mounting the world’s fastest per-capita Covid-19 vaccination campaign, Chile has been forced to announce strict new lockdowns as it plunges deeper into a severe second wave of cases which is stretching intensive care capacity.

Chile trails only Israel and the UAE in vaccine doses per 100 inhabitants worldwide, but new cases have risen quickly amid mixed health messaging, travel over the southern hemisphere summer holidays and the circulation of new variants.

Related: Chile emerges as global leader in Covid inoculations with 'pragmatic strategy'

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France accelerates vaccine rollout – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. For up to date coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, head to the link below:

Boris Johnson will stress the need for people to be cautious on Monday as England takes its first significant step towards easing lockdown restrictions for adults.

People will now be able to meet up legally outdoors in groups of six, or in two households, including in private gardens, and organised outdoor sport can resume.

Related: Johnson urges caution as England takes first big step out of lockdown

A government-funded study of care home residents in England has found that their risk of infection with Covid-19 – either symptomatic or asymptomatic – fell by 62% five weeks after they received their first Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine dose.

Those who were infected after having the vaccine may also be less likely to transmit Covid-19, initial findings showed. The study, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, is key, given that most clinical trials and observational studies evaluated the impact of the vaccines on symptomatic infections, but whether the vaccines can reduce asymptomatic infections – which play a crucial role in the spread of the virus – is still unclear:

Related: First Covid jab cuts infection risk by 62% in England care home residents

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Race to contain Brisbane Covid outbreak as cluster grows to three

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Queensland police contradict earlier reports from health authorities that man hosted a party for 25 guests after being told to self-isolate

Health authorities in Queensland are scrambling to track down contacts of two Brisbane friends who tested positive for coronavirus, amid fresh concerns about the outbreak growing.

Queensland Health said on Saturday night one of the men, aged 26, held a house party in Strathpine while he was waiting on his test result, despite instructions to self-isolate. But on Sunday morning, Queensland police contradicted that advice and said only five people had been directed to quarantine.

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New Zealand’s Covid quarantine fee change places politics over a citizen’s right to return | Sarah Habershon

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The government knows that to quell the mutinous grumbling at home you have to nominate an ‘outgroup’

Since the beginning of the pandemic I’ve taken huge comfort in the knowledge that just about everyone I love is safely inside the fortress-like border that’s been erected around New Zealand. I have no doubt that every other Kiwi still living or trapped in the Covid red-zones of the world feels the same way. But this week’s announcement that returning citizens must now commit to a stay of at least six months, double the previous requirement of three, to avoid a NZ$3,100 (£1,600) fee for their managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) prioritises politics over their right to return.

The government’s official line on the issue is that the changes are being made in the interests of fairness and sustainability. In practice, the policy amounts to a thinly veiled deterrence strategy. A strategy with the additional bonus of delivering visible action in response to public restlessness following the recent series of lockdowns. It neither contributes meaningfully to meeting the cost of the policy nor makes the policy more equitable, but it does make for a satisfying user-pays narrative to placate resentment towards the border and those who cross it.

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Coercion or altruism: is China using its Covid vaccines to wield global power?

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Beijing has donated millions of vaccines to developing countries but its largesse often comes with conditions attached

In May 2020, China’s president, Xi Jinping, told the World Health Assembly its Covid-19 vaccines were “a global public good”, and their distribution would be part of Xi’s vision of a “shared future for the people of the world to work as one”.

But in the months since, China’s alleged “vaccine diplomacy” has been consistently criticised internationally for being rolled out with conditions attached, with allegations of expatriate Chinese nationals being prioritised, and the distribution of vaccines seen as a coercive tool with which to wield geopolitical influence.

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Dublin hospital told to stop giving Covid jabs after sharing surplus with private school

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Beacon hospital chief is believed to have sent his children to St Gerard’s school, where staff received jabs

The Irish health minister has moved to suspend coronavirus vaccines from being given at a private hospital in Dublin after it used spare doses to vaccinate teachers at a fee-paying school.

Stephen Donnelly said it was “completely unacceptable” and has asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to suspend vaccinations at the Beacon hospital, with the exception of already scheduled appointments.

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UK Covid deaths pass 150,000 milestone, analysis shows

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Figures collated by the Guardian reveal that one in 445 people have died from the virus during pandemic

More than 150,000 people have died from coronavirus in the UK, according to Guardian analysis.

The latest figures revealed at least one in three recorded Covid-19 deaths have taken place in the past three months, with 54,445 fatalities officially counted on death certificates in the UK since the beginning of 2021. It means one in 445 people have died from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

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‘Virtual meetings aren’t going anywhere soon’: how to put your best Zoom face forward

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Has a year of video calls made you self-conscious? Don’t turn your camera off: just relax and deploy a few of these beauty tips

Thought we were a nation of narcissists pre-Covid? Well, a global pandemic has taken things to a whole new level. It’s safe to say nobody planned to spend quite so much of the past year staring at their own grainy reflection, but with everything from weddings to work meetings forced online, our bid to stay connected with others has meant being constantly confronted with our own faces.

And not all of us like what we see. There’s a big difference between sharing a carefully filtered selfie on Instagram, and catching yourself slumped in front of the screen during your fourth video chat of the day, the cat cleaning its paws in the background as you stare in horror at your dark circles. What with the unflattering lighting, unforgiving camera angles and the fact that none of us has been inside a salon in months, it’s no wonder we’re sick of the sight of ourselves. But what effect does it have on our self-esteem? And can we do anything to boost it?

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Coronavirus live news: UK over-70s could start getting booster jabs in September, Czech government extends state of emergency

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Vaccines minister says first booster doses will go to the top four priority groups, which includes care home staff, NHS workers and clinically extremely vulnerable

Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster, has received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

The 50-year-old politician was given a shot of AstraZeneca’s vaccine by a GP at Castle Park leisure centre in Lisnaskea in her Co Fermanagh constituency on Saturday morning, according to PA.

There is a really positive community spirit here and across all of our centres in a collective effort to combat Covid-19. I am grateful to all of the wonderful team of medics and volunteers who are making this happen in GP practices and centres across Northern Ireland every day of the week.

Families in Israel are celebrating Passover following a successful vaccine rollout in the country in which more than half of its overall population have received both doses.

Giordana Grego, who immigrated to Israel from Italy, told AP:

For us in Israel, really celebrating the festivity of freedom definitely has a whole different meaning this year after what we experienced. It’s amazing that this year we’re able to celebrate together, also considering that in Italy, everybody is still under lockdown.

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‘The earlier you act, the more impact’: how Seattle tech industry led on Covid

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Technology companies rallied to apply their expertise as King county went from the US center of the pandemic to one of the country’s lowest death rates

Last year, four days after the first recorded Covid-19 death in the United States was reported in Kirkland, Washington, just east of Seattle, Microsoft leaders jumped into action – recommending that their employees in the area work from home. Two days later, Amazon made a similar declaration.

Combined, their announcements affected more than 100,000 employees in this Pacific north-west tech hub and came days before the Washington state governor’s first major Covid mandate and more than a week before the US president declared an emergency for Covid.

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