Variant similar to that in UK appears to be causing faster spread than during first wave
South Africa is struggling to contain a second wave of Covid-19 infections which appears to be driven by a new and more infectious variant of the disease, similar to that in the UK.
Scientists and officials have warned the country’s 56 million people that the new variant, referred to as 501.V2, carries a heavier viral load and appears to be more prevalent among the young.
Continue reading...About 1,500 lorries are stuck in Kent after France imposed a ban on any accompanied freight or cargo entering the country from Britain because of the new coronavirus variant discovered in the UK. The move triggered government crisis plans at Dover and other major pinch points, with some drivers redirected to a nearby airfield to ease congestion on the roads
First minister tells MSPs tough restrictions were ‘essential’ to suppress new strain of virus
Nicola Sturgeon has warned MSPs she may have to introduce full lockdown measures across Scotland in the coming days to contain the faster-spreading Covid variant, which has already led to Wales bringing forward a countrywide lockdown from last Sunday and Northern Ireland announcing a six-week lockdown from Boxing Day.
Sturgeon used her weekly coronavirus statement to the Scottish parliament to tighten level 4 measures – the strictest of Scotland’s five-tier system of Covid controls and which all of mainland Scotland will enter from 26 December.
Continue reading...Exclusive: government shelves Christmas rollout of lateral flow test centres
The government has shelved plans to open rapid-turnaround coronavirus test centres across England over Christmas amid concerns from public health experts about the accuracy of their results, the Guardian has learned.
Ministers had planned to convert a number of existing testing sites into centres for lateral flow tests, which provide results in 30 minutes, to help cope with an anticipated surge in demand.
Continue reading...The US could see a decline of two to three years in life expectancy in 2020 due to the coronavirus, the steepest drop since the second world war. Covid-19 is poised to become the third-leading cause of death in America, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Related: US Congress passes $900bn Covid-19 aid bill after months of gridlock
Continue reading...Professionals and French nationals will have to provide negative Covid test before crossing
France is expected to reopen its border with the UK but only to its own nationals, French residents and professionals such as truck drivers, all of whom will have to provide a recent negative test, France’s public broadcaster has reported.
Britons or other non-French nationals with a permanent residence in France will be able to return, but the border is set to remain closed to all other non-French citizens in the UK, France Info said. It was not yet clear how long the measures would be in place.
Continue reading...The chief executive of the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech said he was confident its coronavirus vaccine worked against the new UK variant, but that further studies were needed to be certain. 'Scientifically, it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variants,' Uğur Şahin said. If the vaccine needs to be adjusted for the new variant, the company could do that in about six weeks, he added
Continue reading...Our 20 favourite pieces of the year
What links an eccentric Oxford classics don, billionaire US evangelicals and a tiny, missing fragment of an ancient manuscript?
Continue reading...President Iván Duque says undocumented Venezuelans will be denied access in a move denounced as unethical and impractical
Colombia will refuse to administer coronavirus vaccines to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees within its borders, President Iván Duque has announced, in a move which stunned public health experts and prompted condemnation from humanitarian groups.
Speaking to a local radio station on Monday, Duque that only Venezuelans with dual nationality or formal migratory status will have access to the vaccine when it is eventually distributed in the country.
Continue reading...Fewer coronavirus patients have died in the state of Kerala than anywhere else in India. No wonder Vogue India named its health minister ‘leader of the year’
By mid-May, the Indian state of Kerala had contained the first wave of Covid-19, earning praise for the quick thinking and joined-up response of its health minister, KK Shailaja, and her team. By July, however, there were suggestions that those plaudits had been premature, and that Kerala’s Covid-19 response had come unstuck. Had it?
Shailaja Teacher – as the 64-year-old minister is affectionately known – had been expecting a surge in infections once India’s lockdown was lifted later in May. Kerala, home to 35 million people, has the country’s most robust health systems, but it is one of India’s poorer states, with one of its oldest populations. About 17% of workers leave to find jobs in neighbouring states, and there were fears about what would happen when, inevitably, these migrants returned. The authorities knew they could not keep Kerala’s borders shut or, given that the state relies on imports, keep it isolated from its neighbours.
Continue reading...From the pandemic, to the death of George Floyd, to America’s presidential elections, 2020 has been a year of distress – with moments of hope and endurance. These were some of the images that stood out
Continue reading...Victoria reports one Covid case as the number of new cases in NSW falls for a second day. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• NSW Covid hotspots – list of venues and case locations
• Border restrictions: the new state and territory rules for NSW travellers
• Australia’s Covid restrictions and lockdown rules – state by state
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Police have charged four men with unlawfully lighting fires on K’gari/Fraser Island that started the blazes which scorched more than half of the World heritage-listed tourism drawcard.
Queensland Police and and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service carried out a joint investigation and detectives yesterday charged the four men in their 20s who are all from the Warwick area, 130 kilometres southeast of Brisbane.
Related: Fighting for Fraser Island: how tourism and climate change put an ancient environment at risk
Berejiklian says she is frustrated with other premiers who are closing borders to the whole of NSW.
“There are parts of New South Wales completely unaffected by this current outbreak and yet everybody in New South Wales is suffering because other state leaders made decisions,” she says.
Continue reading...Anthony Fauci ‘extremely confident’ in vaccine; BioNTech’s CEO says tests being run on mutant strain. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog below
We are closing this live blog now, but you can stay up to date with the latest on our new global blog, which you can find below.
Related: Coronavirus live news: US cases increase 14% in one week, France to reopen UK border
Tesco has introduced buying limits on items including toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash. Customers at the supermarket are now limited to one item per person of toilet roll, and up to three products of eggs, rice, soap and handwash.
It is understood the extra limits are pre-emptive measures to help smooth demand in the coming weeks, rather than a reaction to shortages or a change in buying behaviour. They are on top of a three-item limit on essential items such as flour, dried pasta and anti-bacterial wipes which has been in place for several months.
Related: Tesco limits purchases of toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash
Continue reading...Joe Biden received his first injected dose of the Covid-19 vaccine live on television on Monday, in an effort to boost confidence in its safety ahead of its distribution next year. 'I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about,' the US president-elect said. His wife, Jill Biden, who got the injection earlier in the day, stood nearby.
Continue reading...The UK government’s chief scientific adviser has suggested that coronavirus restrictions across the country could be tightened in the coming weeks. This follows a surge in cases of a new variant of the virus that is thought to be up to 70% more transmissible than the old strain. ‘I think it is likely that this will grow in numbers of the variant across the country and I think it’s likely, therefore, that measures will need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced,’ Sir Patrick Vallance told a Downing Street press conference.
Continue reading...Biden thanks medical staff after taking first dose of Pfizer vaccine in front of cameras, in bid to show Americans vaccines are safe
Joe Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on live US television on Monday afternoon, in keeping with public officials’ efforts to show Americans such vaccines are safe.
Shortly after 3.20pm, Biden appeared before cameras at a medical facility. He rolled up his sleeve and said: “I’m ready.” After the jab, Biden thanked scientists and medical workers, saying their efforts were “just amazing”.
Continue reading...Premier of Canadian province says restrictions will last for up to a month and should save thousands of lives
Canada’s most populous province is to enter a “hard lockdown” as Ontario experiences an alarming rate of new coronavirus cases before the Christmas holidays.
“Thousands of lives are at stake now,” said Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, on Monday, as he announced a slate of new restrictions that go into effect on Boxing Day. “If we fail to take action now, the consequences could be catastrophic.
Continue reading...B117 is more transmissible than original virus, but there is no evidence it makes people sicker
If a new virus sounds scary, a new mutating virus sounds scarier still. In Kent in September, scientists now believe, somebody with Covid was the unlucky first person to pass on a variant form of the coronavirus that is maybe as much as 70% more transmissible than the version we have been used to.
The exponential recent rise in cases now blamed on that incident and the UK government response have sparked alarm around the world, with other countries banning flights into the UK for at least 48 hours while everyone figures out what is going on.
Continue reading...India joins France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Bulgaria in flight bans over new strain; US aid bill should have votes to pass
That’s all from me, Caroline Davies. Thank you for your time. Handing over now to my colleague Aamna Mohdin.
The chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, Ken Marsh, has said there is “no way” officers will be knocking on the doors of “normal” households in London to check coronavirus restrictions were being followed now the city is in Tier 4.
“We won’t be knocking on people’s doors at all, unless there is a large group and noise, ie a party or something like that.
Continue reading...Judges’ decision appeared to rely on government accounts of violence at protest rallies in 2019
Hong Kong’s court of final appeal has reinstated a full ban on wearing masks at public gatherings, ruling in favour the government’s use of colonial-era laws.
The decision overturns the ruling by an appeal court in April, which found the ban, made unilaterally by the city’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, at the peak of 2019’s protests, was partly unconstitutional in that it could not be declared for lawful public gatherings. It also upheld the constitutionality of using the colonial-era ordinances for the first time in half a century.
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