An intensive care unit nurse is believed to have become the first person in the US to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on Monday. Sandra Lindsay, who has treated some of the sickest coronavirus patients for months, was given the vaccine at Long Island Jewish medical centre in New York City, receiving applause on a livestream with the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo
Continue reading...Category Archives: Coronavirus
UK coronavirus live: Hancock holds news briefing after revealing new Covid variant and putting more areas into tier 3
Latest updates: health secretary holds press conference after tougher restrictions announced for London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire
- London to enter tier 3 Covid restrictions from Wednesday
- New Covid strain may be cause of rise in cases, says Hancock
- How a new strain may have spread virus in south of England
- No 10 urged to rethink Christmas rules to head off rise in cases
- Global coronavirus updates - live
Prof. Whitty reiterates a “minimalist, responsible” Christmas meeting families sticking to the rules, calling it a “limited relaxation”.
Hancock tells @Kate_M_Proctor he's repeatedly answered the question on whether the Christmas relaxation could be tightened up if cases rise
Narrator: He has not answered the question on whether the Christmas relaxation could be tightened up if cases rise
Highlighting heroic work of tube cleaners | Letter
London Underground cleaning staff are on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus, but are among the lowest paid workers, writes Mike Cash, RMT general secretary
Sean Smith has done a great service to your readers by bringing into the daylight the hidden labour of those who have worked every day to keep the London underground clean through the pandemic (‘Unsung heroes’: cleaners keeping London’s transport Covid-safe – photo essay, 10 December).
He is right to spot that they are among the lowest-paid workers. London underground cleaning is outsourced to a company called ABM. The cleaners do not receive the same pension provision as their Transport for London counterparts and they are not entitled to free travel on the network they clean. Their workloads have soared as the company has cut back their numbers every year since the contract began, leaving them desperately overstretched during the pandemic.
Continue reading...New variant of coronavirus identified in UK, Matt Hancock says – video
Health secretary suggests that variant could be linked with the rapid spread of the virus in south-east England, although it was highly unlikely a vaccine would not work against it
- New strain of Covid-19 may be cause of rise in cases, Hancock tells MPs
- UK coronavirus news - live updates
This year has shown how easily goals can be crushed. Will I have the government’s support?
The little job security and freedom Noah Gwatkin had has vanished. He is one of a generation of young Australians whose lives are being shaped by Covid
Name: Noah Gwatkin
Age: 18
Continue reading...Italy likely to follow Germany with Covid Christmas lockdown
Netherlands also set to announce more restrictions amid mounting fears of surge in infections
Italy and the Netherlands are set to impose tough new anti-coronavirus measures before the holidays as Germany, already facing a hard Christmas lockdown, warned its restrictions were unlikely to ease early in the new year.
Italian media reported that the government could place the whole country under so-called “red-zone” lockdown from Christmas Eve until at least 2 January amid mounting fears of a possible surge in infections over the festive period.
Continue reading...Migrant worker at Malaysian medical glove manufacturer dies of Covid-19
Nepali man is first known fatality at biggest global producer Top Glove, accused of failing to protect workers
A worker at the biggest global producer of medical rubber gloves has died after contracting Covid-19, in the first known Covid-related death of an employee at the Malaysian company since the virus began to spread through its factories and dormitories.
Top Glove’s profits have surged during the pandemic, but the company has faced repeated criticism over its treatment of migrant workers, including claims that it has failed to protect them from the coronavirus.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: key moments – timeline
From December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19 – here are the points where momentum shifted
From December 2019, when an unknown virus was found in China, to the release of vaccines for Covid-19, it has been an extraordinary year. Here’s how the momentum shifted
Continue reading...Australia news live: New Zealand agrees to travel bubble; wild weather hits south-east Queensland
Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand’s cabinet has agreed to a proposal for a trans-Tasman travel bubble; storms forecast to continue in parts of south-east Queensland and northern NSW. Follow the latest updates
If you were hoping to grab some of the Victorian government’s vouchers for travelling into regional Victoria for a holiday, you have missed out on the second round, AAP reports 30,000 vouchers sold in 31 minutes.
An extra 30,000 Regional Travel Voucher Scheme vouchers, worth $200 apiece, were snapped up within 31 minutes of becoming available from midday on Monday via a new-look state government webpage.
AAP reports the extreme weather in northern NSW and southeast Queensland will continue to intensify overnight.
Sites in NSW’s Northern Rivers District had about 400mm of rain in just a few days, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jane Golding told reporters on Monday.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Netherlands heading for month-long lockdown; Poland facing ‘third wave’ of Covid
Dutch PM to speak to the nation tonight; ministers to recommend restrictions are extended in Poland
- Vaccines roll out of Pfizer plant in US but Trump not taking it yet
- London to have tougher Covid restrictions from Wednesday
- Student parties blamed as South Africa braces for second wave
- UK coronavirus updates - live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The US has reported 16,113,148 cases of new coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 1,476,230 cases reported in the last seven days.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday that 17,184 people had died from Covid-19 in the previous week, taking the total US death toll so far to 298,266.
Turkish president has said Turkey will impose a five-day full lockdown beginning on 31 December, as official data showed new daily coronavirus deaths hit a record 229.
Recep Tayip Erdoğan, speaking after a cabinet meeting, said the stay-home order would begin at 9pm on New Year’s Eve and run to 4 January.
Continue reading...China’s Sinopharm vaccine: how effective is it and where will it be rolled out?
Trials have claimed 86% efficacy, but Peru has suspended tests because of ‘an adverse event’ and there is concern about lack of transparency
Read all our coronavirus coverage here
Trials in the United Arab Emirates have shown that China’s Sinopharm vaccine has 86% efficacy. So what is the Chinese treatment, where is it being trialled and will it challenge the vaccines being developed in western countries?
Continue reading...Bolsonaro branded ‘homicidally negligent’ over Brazil’s vaccine planning
President accused of ignoring China-produced Covid vaccine because of political expediency
Jair Bolsonaro is facing a furious backlash over what critics are calling his “homicidally negligent” failure to prepare a coherent coronavirus vaccination programme as Brazil’s death toll again soars.
More than 181,000 Brazilians have died from the disease the president calls “a little flu”, with Latin America’s biggest economy now careering into a painful second wave.
Continue reading...‘Autoantibodies’ may be driving severe Covid cases, study shows
Scientists find aberrant immune system in patients with virus could also be cause of ‘long Covid’
Dramatic levels of “friendly fire” from the immune system may drive severe Covid-19 disease and leave patients with “long Covid” – when medical problems persist for a significant time after the virus has been beaten – scientists have said.
Researchers at Yale University found that Covid-19 patients had large numbers of misguided antibodies in their blood that targeted the organs, tissues and the immune system itself, rather than fighting off the invading virus.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Germany to close schools and all non-essential shops; Turkey adds 800,000 cases
Germany introduces new restrictions to combat spread of virus; Turkey changes counting method, almost doubling cases
- How Covid revealed the truth about our world
- FDA chief urged by White House to approve Pfizer vaccine ‘or quit’
- Scientists warn against Christmas gatherings in UK
- California’s ICU beds near capacity as hospitalizations hit record
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Here are some striking images of Dr. Luigi Cavanna visiting his patients in their homes in small towns and rural areas in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.
He checks his patients’ oxygen levels, uses ultrasound to scan their lungs and tests them and their relatives for coronavirus.
Residents in Jersey care homes are receiving Covid vaccinations a day earlier than expected, the island’s government has announced.
Officials said the government made the call to start on Sunday rather than Monday “in view of the positive Covid cases in care homes”, which have seen a recent 400% surge, from four on Thursday to 19 by Saturday.
Continue reading...Covid vaccines roll out of Pfizer plant in US but Trump says he is not taking it yet
President says he is not scheduled to take vaccine as the most complex distribution project ever in the US gets underway
Trucks hauling trailers loaded with suitcase–sized containers of Covid-19 vaccine rolled out of Pfizer’s manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday – launching the largest and most complex vaccine distribution project in the US.
However, public confidence in the vaccine risked being eroded after President Donald Trump – who has had Covid – said he was “not scheduled to take the vaccine” but would do so “at the appropriate time”.
Continue reading...Germany to close shops and schools in Covid Christmas lockdown
Angela Merkel says urgent action is needed as daily cases and deaths hit record highs
Germany will close most shops from Wednesday until 10 January as it tightens coronavirus restrictions and tries to rein in the spread of the disease, the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said.
Schools will also be shut during the period, and employers will be asked to close operations or have employees work from home. The sale of fireworks will be banned ahead of New Year’s Eve.
Continue reading...‘There are many roadblocks’: Fears grow over US Covid-19 vaccine rollout
States will soon begin distributing a vaccine with plans that vary widely, lack federal funding and are often opaque
Eleven hospitals in Kentucky will receive doses of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, perhaps as soon as Monday. Dr Nichelle Jadhav’s hospital is not one of them and she is confused. And she is not alone.
Continue reading...Has a year of living with Covid-19 rewired our brains?
The pandemic is expected to precipitate a mental health crisis, but perhaps also a chance to approach life with new clarity
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- Coronavirus – latest updates
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When the bubonic plague spread through England in the 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton fled Cambridge where he was studying for the safety of his family home in Lincolnshire. The Newtons did not live in a cramped apartment; they enjoyed a large garden with many fruit trees. In these uncertain times, out of step with ordinary life, his mind roamed free of routines and social distractions. And it was in this context that a single apple falling from a tree struck him as more intriguing than any of the apples he had previously seen fall. Gravity was a gift of the plague. So, how is this pandemic going for you?
In different ways, this is likely a question we are all asking ourselves. Whether you have experienced illness, relocated, lost a loved one or a job, got a kitten or got divorced, eaten more or exercised more, spent longer showering each morning or reached every day for the same clothes, it is an inescapable truth that the pandemic alters us all. But how? And when will we have answers to these questions – because surely there will be a time when we can scan our personal balance sheets and see in the credit column something more than grey hairs, a thicker waist and a kitten? (Actually, the kitten is pretty rewarding.) What might be the psychological impact of living through a pandemic? Will it change us for ever?
Continue reading...George Clooney: ‘It’s been a crappy year, but we will come out of it better’
Marriage and fatherhood have given George Clooney a new perspective on life, work and the world we all share. While his young twins play outside, he talks about outsmarting war criminals, battles with Boris and dinnertime debates with Amal
Dad-chat with George Clooney, father of two. While the actor’s twin three-year-olds, Ella and Alexander, are out on the family tennis court, learning to ride their bikes, Clooney sits in a curtained edit suite inside his Los Angeles home, wondering how they’re getting on out there. “They’ve learned how to get going fast,” says the 59-year-old who, unless otherwise specified, speaks at all times in the measured, half-ironic, woodsmoked tones of just about every leading man he’s played in a quarter-century career. “They just haven’t learned to use their brakes yet.”
Clooney rubs at his two-day beard, anxious, fond. He wears a fawn-coloured polo shirt and he has his grey hair cropped short. I think I notice that slightly wild-eyed look of someone still marvelling at the fact of their parenthood, and I ask him, is he a scaredy-cat dad, always trailing behind his children with his arms outstretched in case they fall? Or is he a let-them-fall-to-learn-about-the-hard-truths-of-the-world sort of dad?
Continue reading...In US Covid-19 hot zones, firefighters now ‘pump more oxygen than water’
Firefighters are often thrust into frontline health emergencies. During the pandemic, they’ve paid an especially high price
As a boy, Robert Weber chased the blazing lights and roaring sirens of fire engines down the streets of Brooklyn, New York.
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