Category Archives: Coronavirus

Ireland has contained South African Covid variant, say health officials

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‘No onward transmission’ from three cases found on Friday but UK variant still surging

Health officials in Ireland, where a more infectious variant of the coronavirus first discovered in England has been surging, said on Saturday they believe three cases of another new variant found in South Africa had been contained.

Ireland is grappling with a Covid-19 surge that has exceeded last year’s first wave. It confirmed the first cases of the more infectious variant found in South Africa on Friday in people who had travelled to Ireland from South Africa over the Christmas holidays.

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UK Covid deaths pass 80,000 and confirmed cases top 3 million

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A further 1,035 deaths are reported on Saturday, taking the official total to 80,868

More than 80,000 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test, official figures show.

The total number of lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK has now also exceeded 3 million, according to the government’s dashboard, though the true figure of people who have been infected is likely to be much higher.

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Is ‘hysterical’ market speculation pushing us towards another crash?

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Despite Covid, global stocks started 2021 on a high. But some analysts warn of an ‘epic’ bubble, amid fears that the flow of stimulus has created a monster

Insurrections are not usually seen by investors as buy signals. Yet even as rioters stormed the seat of US legislative government last week, stock market indices hit new highs in New York, adding another chapter to 12 months of apparent defiance of economic gravity.

Wall Street, measured by the benchmark S&P 500, was not alone in starting 2021 with a bang. London’s FTSE 100 jumped by more than 6% in the first week of the year as investors took in a heady cocktail of a President Joe Biden ready and able to spend money, cheap borrowing costs, and the hopes that vaccines will end the coronavirus lockdowns. Yet amid the exuberance a serious concern looms: are we on the cusp of another colossal crash?

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The Queen and Prince Philip receive first dose of Covid vaccine

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Injections given by royal household doctor at Windsor Castle, where the couple are spending lockdown

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have been vaccinated against Covid, joining more than a million people in the UK who have been given the jab.

In an unusual move, Buckingham Palace – which rarely comments on the private health matters of the couple – announced that the 94-year-old head of state and her consort had been given the injection.

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ICU medics in London plead with public to follow Covid rules

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Morale plummets as NHS sees ‘grave consequences’ of relaxed rules over Christmas

Intensive care medics in London have made a fresh appeal to the public to comply fully with England’s coronavirus restrictions, as they struggle to deal with more patients than at any time over the last four winters.

Morale among ICU staff is tumbling and concerns have been expressed about a “mass exodus” as the second wave of Covid infections escalates rapidly in London and elsewhere in England. Some doctors and nurses have already quit.

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Chris Whitty urges people to stay home in new Covid campaign – video

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'Once more, we should all stay home.' That is the message from England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, in a new coronavirus information campaign that warns the new variant is placing huge pressure on the NHS. Whitty is fronting adverts on radio, TV and social media from Friday which urge the public to ‘act like you’ve got it' to stop the spread of the virus

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One new case in Australia as woman released from hotel quarantine tests positive for Covid variant

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NSW records a single case, with Victoria and Queensland both reporting none, as Brisbane enters three-day lockdown

A single case of community-transmitted Covid-19 has been recorded in Australia on Saturday, but concern remains about a woman released from hotel quarantine in Victoria despite testing positive to the highly infectious UK variant of the virus.

New South Wales recorded one new case of Covid-19, with Victoria and Queensland both recording zero new cases. Other states were yet to report their numbers, but have not had cases of community transmission for several weeks, if not months.

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WHO tells rich countries to stop cutting the Covid vaccine queue – video

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World Health Organization chiefs urged rich countries to stop striking bilateral deals with vaccine manufacturers as low and middle-income countries are not yet receiving supplies of Covid inoculation. 

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on countries that have ordered excess doses to immediately hand them over to the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility

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California struggles under a staggering 2.5m coronavirus cases

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Hospitals are overwhelmed with 22,000 patients as officials warn hospitalizations could reach 30,000 by February

As the coronavirus in California rages out of control, staff in the state’s overwhelmed medical centers are warning they are increasingly struggling to keep up and may need to ration care as intensive care beds dwindle.

Only Arizona tops California in cases per resident and, with nearly 40 million residents, the huge coastal state is seeing staggering caseloads: more than 2.5m confirmed infections.

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Gatwick immigration detention centre closed due to staff Covid cases

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Serco-run Brook House has been shut and some detainees moved to another centre, Home Office says

An immigration detention centre has been temporarily closed after several members of staff tested positive for coronavirus.

The Home Office said Brook House, near Gatwick airport in West Sussex, has been shut for 10 days. It said a “very small number” of detainees had been moved to Colnbrook immigration removal centre near Heathrow.

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‘We’re bursting’: a day inside a Covid intensive care unit

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The Guardian spends a day with Covid patients and staff at Milton Keynes University hospital

In a private room by the locked entrance of the intensive care unit, Dilip Sharan is sitting up in bed, a plate of stew in front of him. He navigates his spoon around the breathing tube keeping him alive, every mouthful soundtracked by a discordant symphony of beeps and bongs from multiple monitors keeping tabs on his vital organs.

It is his fifth day in the last chance saloon of Covid care. He gasps for air, barely able to speak.

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Covid in the UK: why is it so bad now and when will cases decline? | Nicola Davis and Linda Geddes

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With a major incident declared in London and positive test results surging, experts answer key questions

The UK is seeing record numbers of people testing positive for coronavirus, with more than 60,000 positive tests reported on three days this week.

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Covid-19 is ‘out of control’ in London, says Sadiq Khan – video

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'I'm afraid this virus is out of control,' the mayor of London has said after declaring a major incident as the capital's hospitals struggle to cope with coronavirus patients. 'The NHS in London is at risk of being overwhelmed ... we could run out of beds,' Sadiq Khan said. The mayor told BBC News that as many as one in 20 people had the virus in some parts of the city. 'The best way you can help the NHS is by staying at home,' he said

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Why the delay? The nations waiting to see how Covid vaccinations unfold

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Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Japan are among those that won’t start vaccinating for months, in part to see how other populations react to the jab

They are the nations that have been held up as shining examples of coronavirus management. In Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, daily Covid infections are in the single digits and outbreaks are quickly suppressed.

But there is one area where these nations lag well behind the pack in vaccination. Countries with some of the most enviable healthcare systems in the world – including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea – will not begin to inoculate until the end of February or later.

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Iran bans importation of Covid vaccines from the US and UK

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Despite virus spread, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei forbids what he calls ‘untrustworthy’ jabs

Vaccines produced by the US and UK will be banned from entering Iran, its supreme leader has said, even though his country has suffered the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East.

“Imports of US and British vaccines into the country are forbidden ... They’re completely untrustworthy,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a live televised speech. “It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations.

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UK coronavirus live: ‘major incident’ declared in London as cases surge; Moderna Covid vaccine approved

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Latest updates: Sadiq Khan declares major incident in capital with ‘spread of virus out of control’; seven million doses of Moderna vaccine ordered

Making the announcement in London, Sadiq Khan said: “We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.

“If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.

BREAKING: I have declared a major incident in London because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.

One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.https://t.co/OjV7SZ4BgQ

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared an effective emergency in the city, as it grapples with soaring coronavirus case numbers and hospitals struggling to cope with the influx of patients.

London has been the worst-hit area of the UK so far in the winter peak of Covid-19 cases.

Related: Sadiq Khan declares Covid emergency in London

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Coronavirus live news: WHO says poorer countries not getting vaccines; Denmark to restrict all travel

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WHO urges rich countries to stop making bilateral deals with manufacturers; Denmark to restrict entry from all countries after today

The United States has set a new daily record for new coronavirus cases, with 290,000 cases reported in 24-hours, according to the Johns Hopkins global tally.

Some 3,676 people in the US died with the virus in the same period.

Mexico has reported 14,362 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 1,038 deaths.

It is one of the highest daily case increases and brings the total number of cases in Mexico since the pandemic began to 1,507,931, with 132,069 deaths.

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‘We cannot take chances’ with South African Covid variant, says Grant Shapps – video

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The transport secretary said fears that vaccines would not work against the new South African coronavirus strain prompted the introduction of testing for new arrivals into England and Scotland. 'There are concerns ... about how effective the vaccine would be against it, so we simply cannot take chances,' Shapps said

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Which countries have reported the new UK Covid variant?

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The visuals show 13 countries have recorded community transmission of UK variant, as 24 experience rising case rates

Forty-five countries have so far identified the UK coronavirus variant, with experts warning that more countries could report sharp increases in cases in the coming weeks.

Thirteen of these nations have recorded community transmission of the B117 variant, which spreads faster and has helped pushed England into a third lockdown.

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Covid livid: Canadian fury at leaders’ holidays amid other people’s misery

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More than a dozen politicians, political aides and public health figures have flouted their own advice to avoid foreign travel

Across Canada, December was a month of cancelled gatherings with friends and family and holidays spent alone. Vacations to escape snow and frozen rain were put on hold as Covid-19 cases surged again.

The message across the country had been clear: a shared sense of solidarity and sacrifice was necessary to fight the coronavirus.

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