The second world war veteran, who raised almost £39m for NHS charities, has died after testing positive for Covid-19. Moore walked 100 laps around his garden to raise money, earning him his first of two Guinness World Records. He broke his second one when he became the oldest person to reach number one in the UK charts with the single You'll Never Walk Alone, which he recorded with Michael Ball and The NHS Voices of Care Choir. In July, he was knighted by the Queen
Continue reading...Category Archives: Coronavirus
Single dose of AstraZeneca vaccine could cut transmission by 67%
One jab could also offer protection of up to 76% for up to 12 weeks, a new study shows
One dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provides sustained protection against Covid for at least three months and cuts transmission of the virus by two-thirds, according to research that appears to support the UK’s decision to delay booster shots.
Analysis of fresh data from three trials found that the first shot conferred on average 76% protection against symptomatic infections from three weeks until 90 days, and reduced transmission of the disease by 67%.
Continue reading...Sputnik V vaccine has 91.6% efficacy against symptomatic Covid, Russian trial suggests
Preliminary findings based on analysis of data from more than 20,000 participants
The Sputnik V vaccine, which has been the subject of scepticism since Russia began using it last year before trials had ended, is 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid according to data published in one of the world’s leading medical journals.
Results in the Lancet from 20,000 trial participants suggest Sputnik’s efficacy is on a par with that of some of the leading vaccines now in use. There was good efficacy in older adults, who are at highest risk for death, but little diversity, since most participants were white males.
Continue reading...Hancock says UK will ‘come down hard’ on South Africa Covid variant – video
Matt Hancock said the government would take firm action to stamp out the South African Covid variant in the UK. The health secretary said 105 cases of the variant have been identified, including 11 without a direct connection to international travel. 'Our mission must be to stop its spread altogether and break its chains of transmission,' he said, as he summarised door-to-door testing efforts taking place in areas affected
Continue reading...Even with vaccines, we still need treatments for Covid. So what works?
Analysis: death rates in intensive care are falling as doctors identify more ways to help those with the disease
Vaccines may have been described as the great escape route from the Covid pandemic – but treatments, which are bringing down death rates, will be needed as much as ever in the era of jabs because the virus is not expected to go away in the foreseeable future, experts say.
“It’s going to take a long time to vaccinate the world,” said Peter Horby of Oxford University, chief investigator of the Recovery trial into Covid treatments and chair of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag). “I don’t know what the estimates are, but we’ve already seen issues with manufacturing scale-up and difficulties in delivering at scale.
Continue reading...Coronavirus variants: what you need to know – video explainer
Last year, Covid-19 spread around the world, sending millions of people into lockdown as health services struggled to cope. The surge in new variants of the virus has prompted fresh questions and concerns. The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, explains what we now know about the Covid-19 variants and what they could mean for the future of the pandemic
Continue reading...High infection rate makes effort to contain Covid variants even more vital
Analysis: scramble to stop spread of South African variant makes sense but may already be too late
When the coronavirus pandemic was in its infancy, one of the common silver linings scientists mentioned was the virus’s slow rate of mutation. It raised the hope that the virus lacked the agility to rapidly evolve around human immunity – whether from previous infection or vaccine. The virus is certainly slow to mutate by some standards. Sars-CoV-2 typically acquires two single letter changes in its genetic code a month, about half the rate seen in influenza.
So why are so many new variants emerging? At the heart of the problem is the fact the global pandemic is raging. Every new case is a chance for mutations to arise, spread and build up. In the simple arithmetic of evolution, when a virus mutates and gains an advantage it can rise above the others.
Continue reading...‘It disgusts me’: how a wealthy couple lied to get a vaccine meant for Indigenous people
Canadian casino executive and his wife sneaked into remote town to get injections meant for older population
On a chilly morning in late January, three planes landed on the lone airstrip of a remote community in northern Canada.
Related: Backlash grows for ‘selfish millionaire’ who got vaccine meant for Indigenous people
Continue reading...Covid mortality down dramatically since start of pandemic
New research shows global death rates among patients in intensive care have fallen from 60% to 36%
Death rates among people who end up in intensive care with Covid-19 have improved dramatically since the start of the pandemic thanks to advances in treatment, new research has found.
The proportion of those worst affected by the disease who die from it has fallen from 60% when it first appeared early last year to 36% by October, the study of global trends shows.
Continue reading...Australia politics live: RBA holds cash rate at 0.1% as government shuts down attempt to censure Craig Kelly
Doctors’ group lashes out at Liberal MP, saying ‘all public figures’ should ‘act responsibly’; Morrison government to face pressure on jobkeeper and jobseeker. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• Perth and WA’s Covid restrictions explained
• Perth and regional WA Covid hotspot locations; NSW hotspots
• Follow the global coronavirus liveblog
Ed Husic is also asked about the CFMEU ad that depicts Scott Morrison driving a literal bus (called the omnibus) towards workers, which is meant to illustrate workers being hit by IR changes, and whether it goes too far:
Husic:
Some of the unions, or some people will try and characterise it in that way, and whether or not that works in their favour, to be putting it bluntly, I think there is a genuine concern about what the government’s industrial relations reforms will do, what impact they will have on working people.
When you go through the detail of what they are proposing, they will be seeing the greatest burden placed on working Australians and it’s just wrong. They shouldn’t have cuts to their take-home pay.
Ed Husic is on the ABC this afternoon, where he is asked about the topic of the day – government backbencher Craig Kelly and the government’s leadership refusal to censure him.
Husic:
The prime minister occupies an important place in the country, the words of the prime minister matter, the actions mean even more, and in this case allowing Craig Kelly to just keep rolling on the way he is, to undermine the investment of taxpayer dollars, in information campaigns to embrace the inoculation process, to help us deal with a Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled the economy for the best part of 2020, resulted in 2 million Australians being unemployed or underemployed and the vaccine bringing one way to bring us closer to normal, as it were, this is just wrong, that you could have a government MP being allowed by virtue of inaction by the prime minister for that to continue.
It shouldn’t, and if he did take this matter seriously it would be reined in and it wouldn’t be an issue and you and me wouldn’t be talking about it.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: EU tightens rules for foreign visitors; first Covid vaccines arrive in South Africa
South African president hails chance to ‘turn the tide’; EU steps up guidance on non-essential travel from outside bloc; parts of China to suspend religious gatherings
- Germany considering Russian and Chinese vaccines
- French minister criticises UK’s ‘risky’ vaccine strategy
- What we know about the South African variant of Covid
- See all our coronavirus coverage
China reported the fewest new coronavirus cases in a month as imported cases overtook local infections, official data showed on Tuesday, suggesting the country’s worst wave since March 2020 is being stamped out ahead of a key holiday.
Reuters: Thirty cases were reported in the mainland on Feb. 1, the National Health Commission said in a statement, down from 42 cases a day earlier and marking lowest total since 24 cases were reported on 2 January.
The commission said 18 of the new cases originated overseas, overtaking locally transmitted cases for the first time in about a month. Out of the 12 local cases, northeastern Heilongjiang province accounted for eight while the neighbouring Jilin province reported the remaining four.
The rainforest city of Manaus in the north-west of Brazil was the first in the country to be struck by the pandemic. The virus rapidly spread, and by October last year it was estimated that 76% of the population had been infected – a number higher than the theoretical threshold for herd immunity. Yet, in January 2021, cases surged and the health system was once again overwhelmed, with hospitals running out of oxygen and doctors and nurses required to carry out manual ventilation.
Related: Covid-19: what can we learn from Manaus? – podcast
Continue reading...Tokyo Olympics: definitely going ahead unless cancelled again?
Billed as a celebration of humankind’s victory over coronavirus, Games could fall foul of pandemic for a second time
The Olympic rings have been spruced up and are once again overlooking Tokyo Bay. Countdown clocks have been reset, telling passersby there are just 171 days to go until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games begin.
They are supposed to build excitement in the host city and among sports fans around the world. But Japan’s Olympic dream is quickly turning sour in the face of the worst global health crisis for a century.
Continue reading...US tariffs on Scotch whisky ‘have cost £500m in lost exports’
Single malt sales to US have fallen more than third since retaliatory regime was imposed, says industry body
Losses to Scotch whisky exports after tariffs were imposed by the US have reached £500m, according to an industry body.
New figures suggest exports of single malt Scotch whisky have fallen by more than a third – amounting to more than £500m – since a 25% tariff was imposed in October 2019.
Continue reading...Black Americans make up only 5.4% of Covid-19 vaccine recipients, CDC finds
Figure is lower than proportion of black people who live in long-term care homes or work in healthcare, but CDC warns data is incomplete
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found only 5.4% of coronavirus vaccine recipients were black, in its first analysis of how vaccines were given out among different demographic groups in the first month of US distribution.
Continue reading...Thousands in England to be tested in ‘sprint’ to halt South African Covid variant
Health officials and mobile units to be sent to affected postcodes while waste water could also be tested
Tens of thousands of people will be tested in a door-to-door “two-week sprint” to halt the spread of the South African coronavirus variant as cases were found across England.
Squads of health officials, firefighters and volunteers have been established to deliver and collect PCR test kits door-to-door and mobile testing units will be sent to each area. Wastewater could also be tested to determined the prevalence of the strain.
Continue reading...What we know about the South African variant of Covid
Experts say 501Y.V2 variant is more infectious and resistant to vaccines, though there are no signs that it leads to more severe disease
The South African variant, like the new UK variant, contains a mutation known as N501Y which is believed to make the virus more contagious than older variants. The South African variant also contains other mutations of concern, including E484K and K417N. These two mutations are thought to explain why the South African variant appears to be better able to evade neutralising antibody responses by the body.
Continue reading...The pandemic has illustrated New Zealand’s hypocritical attitude to Māori health | Emma Espiner
Prioritising Māori for the vaccine would be a concrete sign the government is committed to improving our health
A Māori doctor on the government’s immunisation implementation advisory group, Dr Rawiri Jansen, said recently that Māori would be prioritised in the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. A predictable outcry ensued, with familiar protestations about “race-based policy” and convenient ignorance displayed about the other priority groups being discussed – the elderly, those with known risk factors, front-line workers.
New Zealand’s first Covid-19 community case in months was confirmed two weeks out from Waitangi Day. The new case is awkwardly located in Northland – the site of the annual commemorations of the signing of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, an event attended by politicians, iwi leaders, whānau, lobbyists and tourists from all over the country.
Continue reading...UK Covid live: Labour says community spread of South African variant means tougher border policy needed
Latest updates: mass testing after two people with no history of travel catch variant; some care home staff yet to receive first jab
- South African variant of Covid found in eight areas of England
- Half of care home staff at UK’s largest provider have not had vaccine
- Two London clinics mistakenly offer Covid jab to young people
- UK Covid patients dying needlessly over unfounded ventilator fears
- Global coronavirus updates - live
Here are some of the main points from the Downing Street lobby briefing.
In Wales parents and children may know by the end of the week whether schools in Wales will be reopening after half-term, the Welsh government minister Eluned Morgan has indicated. She told a briefing:
We’re expecting an announcement on that on Friday but of course that will be determined by those negotiations [with teaching unions] that will be held this week.
The focus will absolutely be on those children who are youngest, who find it most difficult to learn online and need that socialisation perhaps more than some of the older children.
Continue reading...Biden and Harris to meet Republican senators to push for Covid aid package – live
- 25.5 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose
- How red states might block Biden’s roadmap to Covid recovery
- Trump hires new impeachment defense team after lawyers quit
- Stacey Abrams nominated for Nobel peace prize
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The group of Senate Republicans who will meet with Joe Biden today have proposed their own $600 billion coronavirus relief package.
A package of that size would be about one-third as large as the relief legislation that Biden has proposed.
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
Here’s what the blog is keeping an eye on today: The president and the vice-president will meet with a group of Republican senators to discuss a coronavirus relief bill.
Related: Biden promised bold action. Will his efforts to compromise get in the way?
Continue reading...Germany considering Russian and Chinese vaccines to boost Covid inoculation drive
Health minister’s comments come before summit on country’s sluggish programme
Germany should use the Russian and Chinese coronavirus vaccines if they win EU approval, the health minister has said, as the French president said Europe must step up its vaccine roll-out and several European countries began easing restrictions.
Speaking ahead of an emergency summit with vaccine manufacturers to tackle the country’s sluggish rollout, Jens Spahn said that if a vaccine “can be considered safe and effective, regardless of what country it has been produced in, then it could help”.
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