Category Archives: Coronavirus

Relief tinged with unease as Japan reopens after two ‘really tough’ years

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In Kyoto, local shop owners are ready to welcome back tourists but there is a way to go before a return to pre-Covid days

After more than two years of near-total isolation, Japan has reopened its borders to overseas visitors – but the road back to the pre-Covid tourism boom could be long and bumpy.

Last week, the country lifted some of the strictest pandemic border controls in the world when it removed a 50,000 daily cap on arrivals, reinstated waivers for short-term visas and dropped a rule requiring tourists to visit as part of group tours.

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Fauci urges US to resume long Covid research funding efforts

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Top disease expert warns against prematurely declaring victory over pandemic in interview with the Guardian

Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, has warned against prematurely declaring victory over the pandemic, not only due to short-term needs but because long Covid represents an “insidious” public health emergency for millions of people.

In an interview with the Guardian, Fauci urged the US Congress not to be complacent and to resume funding efforts to combat the virus, including the scourge of long Covid, which remains scientifically elusive but understood to hit women and people of colour especially hard.

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Coronavirus levels rise across most of UK with 1.7m people infected

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In England about one in 35 people had Covid in week ending 3 October, according to ONS data

Covid infection levels are rising across much of the UK, with more than 1.7 million people thought to have had the virus in the most recent week, data has revealed.

About one in 35 people in England – 2.8% of the population – had Covid in the week ending 3 October based on swabs from randomly selected households, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. It is an increase from one in 50 the week before.

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Anti-CCP protest and lockdown fears fuel China tensions before congress

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Images show banners emblazoned with protest messages hanging from overpass on major road in Beijing

A rare protest against the Communist party in Beijing and fears over renewed Covid restrictions across Shanghai are stoking political tensions just days before President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third term in power in a key meeting on Sunday.

On Thursday, at least half a dozen photos and videos emerged on social media, showing two banners emblazoned with protest messages hanging from an overpass of a major thoroughfare in the north-west corner of the Chinese capital. The photos show plumes of smoke billowing from the bridge.

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Four out of five pupils in England say progress suffered due to Covid

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State school pupils twice as likely to feel they have fallen behind than peers in private schools, landmark study finds

Four out of five teenagers say their academic progress has suffered as a result of the pandemic, with state school pupils twice as likely to feel they have fallen behind than their peers in private schools, according to initial findings from a landmark study.

Half of the 16- and 17-year-olds questioned said the Covid disruption had left them less motivated to study, while 45% felt they have not been able to catch up with lost learning.

There was a lot of chaos in my life at the time and then we went into lockdown quite unprepared. There was a lot of confusion about schooling. I didn’t really have access to technology. I didn’t have online lessons, things like that. There was work that went on every week, but I couldn’t access it because I didn’t have the internet. I remember talking to one of my friends and they were like, ‘Oh have you seen the work that’s been put for English’, and I was like, ‘We have work?’

It was only in the September when we came back I finally got more support. I got a laptop and I got better access. A lot of people in my school had issues like me. A lot of people didn’t have technology or they didn’t have structured lessons, so we’ve had a lot to try to catch up on. A lot of the lessons have been quite content-heavy because it felt like we were trying to do two years in one, so that was quite stressful. And I felt like I had to work harder to do my GCSEs. I felt I had to do more to recover to my peers’ level.

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Taiwan opens borders to tourists as restrictions eased after 2.5 years

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Entry rules to island lifted to allow unfettered access, while mainland China remains one of the few places keeping borders closed

Taiwan lifted all its Covid-19 entry restrictions on Thursday, allowing tourists unfettered access the self-ruled island after more than 2.5 years of border controls.

Hong Kong and Taiwan, together with mainland China, required most visitors to complete a mandatory quarantine period throughout the pandemic, even as most countries reopened their borders to tourists.

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Covid outbreak on Ruby Princess ‘not an accident’ and cruise should never have sailed, court told

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Operators reject class action claims it was ‘negligent’ for ship to sail as it had insufficient medical supplies to combat an outbreak

The companies operating the Ruby Princess cruise ship have rejected allegations they were responsible for the 2020 Covid outbreak that led to the deaths of 28 people.

Charterer Carnival and shipowner Princess Cruise Lines are facing a class action in Australia’s federal court over the outbreak.

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Lockdown babies slower to meet some milestones, study finds

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Irish research shows infants were slightly less likely to speak, point or wave at 12 months but were more likely to crawl

Babies born during the first lockdown met fewer developmental milestones aged one compared with those born before the pandemic – although they may have been faster to crawl, data suggests.

About 600,000 babies were born in Britain, and a further 60,000 in Ireland, during 2020 – when Covid restrictions and mask wearing put a stop to many social activities, including toddler rhyme-times, antenatal group outings and cuddles with grandparents. Since then, parents and psychologists have pondered the impact of such enforced isolation on babies’ social development.

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Japan opens borders to tourists as last pandemic travel restrictions eased

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Japan removes strict Covid-19 travel curbs, fuelling hopes a tourist boom will reinvigorate the economy

Japan has fully opened its doors to visitors after more than two years of pandemic isolation.

On Tuesday, the country reinstated visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world’s strictest Covid-19 border controls. Japan has also lifted the 50,000-person entry cap and ended the requirement for tourists to travel as part of tour groups, Kyodo news agency reported.

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Half of poorest countries have cut health spending despite Covid, says Oxfam

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Analysis of budgets finds rich nations, including UK, ‘exacerbated explosion of economic inequality’

Many of the world’s poorest countries have cut health spending during the last two years, sometimes to make debt repayments to rich creditors, according to a report by Oxfam that shows inequality between rich and poor nations worsening during the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysis of national budgets across 161 nations found that despite the biggest global health emergency in a century, half of low- and lower-middle-income countries cut health spending, while almost half cut their welfare budgets and almost three-quarters cut education spending.

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England’s social care workforce shrinks for first time in 10 years

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Experts say loss of 50,000 workers exposes ‘absolute crisis’ facing system still reeling from impact of Covid and Brexit

The social care workforce has shrunk for the first time in almost a decade despite rising demand and bed congestion in hospitals fuelled by a lack of care places.

England is projected to need close to 500,000 more care staff by the middle of the next decade, but last year there was a net fall in the workforce of 50,000 people, leaving about 165,000 jobs vacant, according to new figures from Skills for Care.

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Nearly a fifth of Australia’s Covid vaccine stock binned amid warning of fresh wave of cases

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Dwindling demand for booster shots causes concern immunisation gaps leaving country open to new variants

Australia binned almost 20% of its national Covid vaccine supply last month while leading epidemiologists and doctors have warned the country will face another wave of cases in November when existing immunity wanes.

Millions more vaccines are due to arrive in Australia before the end of the year, with the first Omicron-specific version of the Moderna shot becoming publicly available on Monday.

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Australia news live: increased risk of floods, tropical cyclones and heatwaves, long-range forecast warns

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The Bureau of Meteorology has released its long-range forecast for Australia’s coming severe weather season. Follow all the day’s news live

‘It’s time to move on now’: Tanya Plibersek on Andrew Thorburn saga

On Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek was asked about a war of words between Victoria premier Daniel Andrews and Andrew Thorburn, the would-be CEO of Essendon who resigned following criticism about his role as chairman of City on a Hill.

When it comes to rampant homophobia, when I lead the pride march every year, I do that with a sense of genuine concern, support and commitment.

I think the important thing here is that the fellow in question has resigned from the position, it really is a matter for the football club. It seems like they are moving on from a national perspective, the government is committed to making sure that we introduce religious discrimination laws, as we said we would. I think it’s time to move on now.

I think that his personal views should be separated from the overarching views of the church that he is involved with … I’m in the Catholic Church, it doesn’t mean I believe in every tenet of the Catholic Church. This is completely out of order and Mr Thorburn should get his job back. The whole thing looks like a total mess.

I think you always look back and think I could have done this or not. I tried to do as much as I could as prime minister in the sense that every day was precious, every day we were trying to drive big reforms forward. On sexism and misogyny I specifically regret not calling it out earlier.

I had thought when I first became prime minister that the maximum reaction to me being the first woman would be in the early days and it would wash away … I was clearly wrong on that. Knowing what I know now it was going to gather and get worse. Potentially if I called it out earlier it could have been a bit easier. You never get to run the control test in politics.

I think things have changed, I think it’s impossible to imagine a prominent woman in Australian politics would be called the things I was without it having huge negative consequences today … but we’ve still got a way to go.

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Challenge to government’s lateral flow test contracts rejected by high court

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Health and social care secretary’s decision to grant contracts to UK firm Abingdon Health was the subject of litigation

A legal challenge to the government’s award of multimillion-pound contracts for lateral flow tests that later failed to gain regulatory approval has been rejected by the high court.

The health and social care secretary’s decision to grant three contracts to UK firm Abingdon Health was the subject of litigation by campaigning organisation Good Law Project (GLP), which has brought several cases challenging the way contracts were awarded during the pandemic.

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Covid: one in 50 thought to be infected in England, data shows

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Based on results from random swabbing, ONS says 1.1 million people in country have virus

Covid infection levels are continuing to rise in England, with more than 1.1 million people thought to have had the virus in the most recent week, data has revealed.

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, based on swabs from randomly selected households, about one in 50 people in England – 2% of the population – had Covid in the week ending 24 September, an increase from one in 65 the week before.

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Zero-Covid measures cause chaos as China prepares for Beijing summit

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President Xi Jinping expected to start third term while citizens express frustration with restrictions

Lockdowns and travel restrictions are continuing to cause chaos across China in the run-up to a crucial political meeting next week as the government holds fast to hardline zero-Covid policies.

As thousands of Communist party delegates prepare to descend on Beijing for the twice-a-decade congress meeting, where Xi Jinping is expected to start his third term as leader, local authorities are under pressure to control contain outbreaks. This week 2,883 cases were reported across more than 25 provinces, including 227 on Wednesday. The number is small compared with global cases but relatively high for China’s zero-tolerance approach.

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Australia’s CMO warns further Covid waves ‘highly likely’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

The minister for sport, Anika Wells, is speaking to ABC Radio about an announcement to expand the government’s scope to help people in sport report racism, abuse and mistreatement.

It comes after a range of high-profile cases in elite sport, including the damaging review into Hawthorn Football Club which contained allegations of serious mistreatment of First Nations former players, as well as the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report into the culture of gymnastics, the findings in Swimming Australia’s review of the treatment of female swimmers and the Do Better report.

It absolutely is concerning ... it’s shocking and certainly action will be taken.

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Australia’s Covid vaccine review recommends expansion of Novavax eligibility amid fears of Moderna shortfall

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Prof Jane Halton says country has not reached ‘Covid stable’ and suggests vaccination advertising campaigns continue to 2024

Australia’s vaccination advisory body is investigating whether to expand the availability of the Novavax Covid jab, amid concerns tens of millions of doses could be wasted due to recommendations it not be used as a general booster shot.

It comes as a review of Australia’s Covid vaccine procurement found the former Coalition government’s actions were “consistent with other high-income countries”, but warned of a potential shortfall in Moderna unless the Labor government orders more supply.

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Biden’s claim that Covid pandemic is over sparks debate over future

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With more than 400 people dying daily, many experts say his remarks were premature – but it is unclear what impact they may have

Joe Biden’s recent declaration that the Covid-19 pandemic was over was premature, according to several infectious disease experts, but there was not a consensus among them about whether the remarks will cause a significant change in Americans’ attitude towards the virus and lead to worse public health outcomes.

That’s partly because Biden was simply catching up to most of the US population, who see how much lower the case and death counts are than earlier in the pandemic, and as such, have stopped wearing masks in public and now gather regularly indoors, the experts said.

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Japan to reopen to tourists after more than two years of Covid border restrictions

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PM says relaxation will take effect from 11 October as Hong Kong scraps hotel quarantine measures for visitors

Japan has announced it will lift tough Covid restrictions on foreign tourists, reopening the borders after two and a half years.

The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said on Thursday that the pandemic had interrupted the free flow of people, goods and capital that had helped the nation flourish.

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