Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Building and repair ban had turned Dal Lake into graveyard for sinking boats even before coronavirus and Delhi crackdown
Ghulam Nabi Butt may be 90 years old, but he has never forgotten the three days that George Harrison came to stay on his houseboat in October 1966.
It was here, on one of Butt’s first historic Clermont houseboats moored on the northern bank of Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, that the Beatles lead guitarist met the Indian musician and composer Ravi Shankar and was taught to play the sitar – marking the beginning of an musical collaboration that would last decades.
SA Health says positive Covid-19 wastewater results may be linked to hotel quarantine, but further investigations are under way. Follow the latest updates
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended the pace of the vaccine rollout saying it can only be rolled out as fast as it’s being supplied by the federal government, reports AAP.
Queensland gave 6,300 people their first doses of the Pfizer jab last week, against a target of 3,000, but there’s been media criticism of the state’s slow rollout compared with other states.
All of this is being done in consultation with the Commonwealth, so please don’t disrespect the process...
We want to get it right, we want it to be rolled out smoothly, and of course we are making sure that the people have the adequate training to do this.
We are adapting very quickly to the numbers that we’re getting, but the Commonwealth are adjusting these numbers on a regular basis how much we’ll get.
And in some cases, as in the figures I was given like last week, we’re getting triple what we expected and they have to last us for a few weeks because they can’t necessarily guarantee (how much) we’re going to get each week.
Wentworth Liberal MP Dave Sharma’s idea for International Women’s Day seems to have backfired this morning after he handed out what I believe are pink carnations to women.
More than half of secondary schools and colleges in England have seen nearly all their students opt in for voluntary on-site coronavirus tests as they returned to class, a survey suggests.
PA reports:
Nearly three in four (73%) secondary school heads said more than 90% of pupils had complied with face covering policies in classrooms, according to the snap poll by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).
But some heads reported lower compliance with masks, with 2% saying it was below 70%.
Face masks can be worn safely during intense exercise, and could reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading at indoor gyms, preliminary findings suggests.
Scientists from the Monzino Cardiology Centre (CCM) in Milan and the University of Milan tested the breathing rate, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels of six women and men on exercise bikes, with and without a mask.
Around the world, coronavirus has both highlighted and worsened existing inequalities
One year into the pandemic, women have little cause to celebrate International Women’s Day tomorrow, and less energy to battle for change. Men are more likely to die from Covid-19. But women have suffered the greatest economic and social blows. They have taken the brunt of increased caregiving, have been more likely to lose their jobs and have seen a sharp rise in domestic abuse.
In the UK, women did two-thirds of the extra childcare in the first lockdown, and were more likely to be furloughed. In the US, every one of the 140,000 jobs lost in December belonged to a woman: they saw 156,000 jobs disappear, while men gained 16,000. But white women actually made gains, while black and Latina women – disproportionately in jobs that offer no sick pay and little flexibility – lost out. Race, wealth, disability and migration status have all determined who is hit hardest. Previous experience suggests that the effects of health crises can be long-lasting: in Sierra Leone, over a year after Ebola broke out, 63% of men had returned to work but only 17% of women.
After spending a third of his placement in France stuck in lockdown, modern languages student Elliot Bellman was worried that his conversation skills might suffer. But his weekly chats with Mme Tolu, a Parisian care home resident in her 80s, have helped keep his fluency up to scratch.
“During the pandemic it’s difficult to travel and have those normal experiences, going out and talking to new people,” said Bellman, 20, a third year student at the University of Warwick. “So this allows me to keep talking to someone in French. And Mme Tolu doesn’t have any family around her any more, so I feel like I am helping somewhat with the loneliness. It’s mutually beneficial.”
Joe Biden has hailed the passage of the American Rescue plan by an exhausted Senate. Lawmakers narrowly approved the bill on Saturday as the US president and his Democratic allies notched a victory they called crucial for hoisting the country out of the pandemic and economic doldrums
In Australia, the vaccine rollout which began a couple of weeks ago is about to enter a new phase with GPs to take a major role in the delivery.
While the Australian Medical Association says the majority of GPs have put up their hand to participate, there is criticism about insufficient information about how it will work and low payment rates.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to remain “cautious” in loosening coronavirus restrictions as pupils prepare to return to school for the first time in two months on Monday, PA media has reported.
Boris Johnson hailed the “truly national effort” to reduce coronavirus levels with the country on the cusp of marking the first phase of lockdown easing as classrooms reopen this week.
But, despite an improving picture in terms of declining Covid cases in England, Johnson said he wanted to be careful not to “undo the progress we have made”.
It comes as the vaccine programme continues to accelerate, with people aged between 56 and 59 being invited to book Covid-19 jabs this week. Hundreds of thousands of letters for the age group began landing on doorsteps on Saturday, and the latest round of invites comes after eight in 10 people aged 65-69 took up the offer of a jab, NHS England said.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng provided further optimism when he told The Times it was “possible” the Government will have offered a first dose to all adults by June - a month ahead of the current end of July target.
Across the whole of the UK, more than a million people have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, while almost 21.8 million people have had one dose.
According to the Prime Minister’s road map, the second part of stage one, which will allow outdoor gatherings of either six people or two households, is due on March 29. Shops could open by April 12 and all restrictions could possibly be lifted by June 21.
Officials say no new local cases on Sunday, though masks still required on public transport
Auckland has come out of a weeklong lockdown imposed after a community cluster of the more contagious UK coronavirus variant.
There were no new local Covid-19 cases recorded on Sunday, health officials said, allowing for the restrictions to ease. If no community cases are confirmed during the rest of Sunday it would make a full seven days since the last community case.
Children encouraged to burn masks in state without mandate
Republican-led states move to relax coronavirus restrictions
A least 100 people gathered in front of the Idaho state capitol on Saturday to burn masks, in a protest against measures to limit infections and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Republican opposition holds through marathon ‘vote-a-rama’
Speaker Pelosi has said measure should be law by 14 March
Joe Biden hailed “one more giant step forward on delivering on that promise that help is on the way”, after Democrats took a critical step towards a first major legislative victory since assuming control of Congress and the White House, with a party-line vote in the Senate to approve a $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has warned that the Covid-19 pandemic could endanger progress made on gender equality, as women take on the lion’s share of childcare in lockdown and are more likely to work in at-risk jobs.
“We have to make sure that the pandemic does not lead us to fall back into old gender patterns we thought we had overcome,” Merkel said in a video message ahead of International Women’s Day on Monday.
India’s federal government has asked local authorities to prioritise vaccinations in several districts of eight states, including New Delhi, that have seen a spike in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.
Reuters reports:
More than 60 districts across New Delhi, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Chandigarh, “continue to be of concern”, the government said.
“These districts are seeing a decrease in total tests being conducted, low share of (tests), increase in weekly positivity and low number of contact tracing of the COVID positive cases,” it added, citing a risk of transmission to neighbouring regions.
More than 1,000 people in north-east England have been checked for coronavirus in the first day of surge testing after a variant from South Africa was discovered in their area.
The BBC reports that everyone aged over 16 living in Stockton’s TS19 postcode area was being urged to get tested even if asymptomatic. The local council said the variant was “more infectious” and cases needed to be identified “as quickly as possible”. Early studies indicate that this variant could be much more resistant to vaccines than the original strain.
Biden’s $1.9tn relief package struggles through Senate but majority leaders vows passage ‘however long it takes’
A fiery speech and last-ditch effort by Bernie Sanders to secure a place for a federal minimum wage hike in the $1.9tn coronavirus relief package appeared as good as doomed on Friday, following a day that saw the flagship legislation hit grinding delays in the Senate.
Senate leaders and moderate Democratic senator Joe Manchin struck a deal late on Friday over emergency jobless benefits, breaking a nine-hour logjam.
The arrival of Covid-19 vaccines promises a return to more normal life – and has created a global market worth tens of billions of dollars in annual sales for some pharmaceutical companies.
Among the biggest winners will be Moderna and Pfizer – two very different US pharma firms which are both charging more than $30 per person for the protection of their two-dose vaccines. While Moderna was founded just 11 years ago, has never made a profit and employed just 830 staff pre-pandemic, Pfizer traces its roots back to 1849, made a net profit of $9.6bn last year and employs nearly 80,000 staff.
The Dalai Lama, the 85-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, was administered the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine on Saturday at a hospital in the north Indian hill city of Dharamshala.
After receiving the injection, he urged people to be brave and come forward to be vaccinated.
BMA, Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Midwives and Unison say pay recommendation ‘fails the test of honesty’
The government is under mounting pressure to reconsider its proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff in England, with four trade unions writing a joint letter to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to express their “dismay” and calling for a fair pay deal.
The British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing and Unison said the pay deal “fails the test of honesty and fails to provide staff who have been on the very frontline of the pandemic the fair pay deal they need”.
The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, told citizens to stop ‘whining’ about Covid, despite the virus having killed more than 260,000 people in the country.
The far-right populist made the inflammatory declaration on Thursday, as Brazil’s already dire Covid situation deteriorated and its average daily death toll rose above that of the United States.
‘Enough fussing and whining. How much longer will the crying go on?’ Bolsonaro asked supporters in the midwestern state of Goiás, where nearly 9,000 people have died.
A person who tested positive for the Brazilian variant of Covid has been tracked down to Croydon and appears not to have infected anyone else, the health secretary said. Matt Hancock said the effort took a team of 40 people and was launched in an attempt to prevent the mutation, which is believed to be more transmissible and have greater resistance to vaccines, from spreading