Category Archives: Coronavirus

Boris Johnson under pressure as scientists back tight rules for Christmas

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PM set to announce end to lockdown before trying to broker national agreement on family gatherings

Boris Johnson will meet his cabinet remotely on Sunday to decide how people will be able to gather with loved ones at Christmas, before the announcement of a new Covid winter plan.

The prime minister, who is self-isolating, will then confirm by video to parliament on Monday that national restrictions will end on 2 December and be replaced by the three-tier regional system, with even tighter controls in some areas.

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Boris Johnson ‘acted illegally’ over jobs for top anti-Covid staff

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Legal action targets appointments of Dido Harding, Kate Bingham and Mike Coupe

Boris Johnson and his health secretary, Matt Hancock, acted “unlawfully” when appointing three key figures – including the head of NHS Test and Trace, Dido Harding – to posts in the fight against Covid-19, according to a legal challenge submitted by campaigners to the high court.

The Observer has seen details of documents from those pursuing the case – and initial responses from government lawyers – relating to the call for a judicial review into the appointment of Baroness Harding, who is a Tory peer, and into those of Kate Bingham to the post of head of the UK’s vaccine taskforce and Mike Coupe to the role of director of testing at NHS Test and Trace.

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Christmas in lockdown preferred by UK public over new restrictions in January

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Observer/Opinium poll also finds switch in support for political leadership

Most of the public would rather have a locked-down Christmas than have a new lockdown imposed in January, a new poll suggests.

With the government considering the extent to which restrictions should be lifted to limit the impact on Christmas family gatherings, the latest Opinium poll for the Observer found that the public opted for a locked-down Christmas over new January restrictions by a margin of 54% to 33%.

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Trump tells G20 leaders he wants to work with them ‘for a long time’

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US president delivers boasts and falsehoods while other members focus on dealing with the pandemic

Donald Trump has taken his campaign to deny the results of the US presidential election global, telling world leaders at the G20 summit that he looks forward to “working with you again for a long time”.

The gathering of leaders of major world economies is being held online this year, because of the pandemic, but could have been an occasion for Trump to bid his peers goodbye and pledge American support to the battle against Covid-19.

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Human rights must not be ‘trampled’ in global rush for PPE, say MPs

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Calls come after Guardian finds UK sourced PPE from factories in China where North Koreans work in modern slavery

MPs and experts in the procurement of personal protective equipment have said human rights must not be “trampled” in the rush to secure PPE for frontline workers via global supply chains.

The calls come after a Guardian investigation found evidence that the British government had sourced PPE from factories in China where hundreds of North Korean women have been secretly working in conditions of modern slavery.

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Donald Trump Jr says he will pass time in Covid isolation by cleaning his guns

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President’s eldest son, who tested positive for coronavirus, made remark in Instagram video

Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son who has tested positive for the coronavirus, has said he will pass the time in isolation battling with the virus by cleaning his collection of guns.

Trump Jr is now the fourth member of the Trump family to have become infected with Covid. The president, the first lady and their son, Barron, have recovered from the virus, as has Trump Jr’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

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Covid rampages across US, unifying a splintered nation as cases surge

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The virus is on the rise so uniformly across the vast landmass of the US, that records are being shattered daily

The Disunited States of America are united once more. After a brutal election that exacerbated bitter partisan divisions and left the country feeling as though it had been torn in two, it has at last been thrown back together.

For all the wrong reasons.

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Covid vaccine technology pioneer: ‘I never doubted it would work’

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Katalin Karikó’s mRNA research helped pave way for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna’s successful work

The Hungarian-born biochemist who helped pioneer the research behind the mRNA technology used in the two Covid-19 vaccines showing positive results believes it was always a no-brainer.

“I never doubted it would work,” Katalin Karikó told the Guardian. “I had seen the data from animal studies, and I was expecting it. I always wished that I would live long enough to see something that I’ve worked on be approved.”

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Italian children take lessons outside school in protest at Covid closures

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Movement began with 12-year-old Anita Iacovelli in Turin, who says her message is schools are safe

Temperatures have dropped in recent days in the northern Italian city of Turin, but that hasn’t prevented Anita Iacovelli from persevering in her protest against the closure of her school.

Every day since 6 November, when schools across the city and the wider Piedmont region were closed due to escalating coronavirus infections, the 12-year-old, wearing a hat, gloves and face mask, has sat outside Italo Calvino school and continued with her lessons remotely on a tablet computer. Behind her is a handwritten poster that reads “Learning at school is our right”.

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Coronavirus detected in Victorian sewage as state records 22 days with no new cases

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NSW records 10 cases in hotel quarantine, while Queensland announces two and Western Australia one

Victoria has only one active Covid-19 case but authorities are concerned about traces of the virus unexpectedly found at a Melbourne wastewater facility.

Victoria has gone 22 days with no new coronavirus cases while on Saturday New South Wales recorded 10 new cases in hotel quarantine. Queensland announced two new coronavirus cases and Western Australia one – all of which were in hotel quarantine.

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Coronavirus live news: Brazil passes 6m cases as South Australia reports new case

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Donald Trump Jr tests positive for Covid; South Australia makes pizza worker scapegoat for failures; German doctor arrested on suspicion of killing two Covid patients. Follow latest updates

via Reuters

Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus death toll has risen to 100,823, according the the country’s health ministry.

In case you missed it earlier:

In Australia, New South Wales has reached two weeks – one complete infection cycle – without a single locally transmitted coronavirus case, AAP reports.

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Coronavirus live news: UK records 341 more deaths; Russia reports record new cases and deaths

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Donald Trump Jr tests positive for Covid; South Australia lockdown to end at midnight on Saturday; global cases pass 57.5m. Follow latest updates

The number of Covid-19 cases in the United States was on track to surpass 12 million on Saturday, just days ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday that health experts have warned could fuel the surging spread of infection around the country.

The milestone marks a worsening of the country’s Covid-19 epidemic, which has claimed a quarter of a million lives across America, more than in any other nation.

Turkey on Saturday reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus patients since the outbreak started.

Figures from the health ministry showed that 5,532 people had been diagnosed with Covid-19 symptoms in the previous 24 hours.

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Donald Trump Jr tests positive for coronavirus – as it happened

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Evening summary

That’s all from me for the night. Here’s where the news stands as we head into the weekend.

Trump’s futile last stands to cling to claims of winning are getting even more futile

After Georgia officials certified the state’s recount on Friday, confirming Joe Biden as the winner of the state, Michigan also stuck to its election results, making it impossible for Donald Trump to win the presidency.

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Trump accuses Pfizer of delaying vaccine announcement until after election – video

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Donald Trump reiterated on Friday the false claim that he won the election and accused pharmaceutical companies of strategically delaying their announcements about a coronavirus vaccine because of his support for reducing medicine costs and in order to hurt his re-election efforts. 'We had big pharma against us,' Trump said at a news conference during which he accused Pfizer of waiting over a month to announce details about its coronavirus vaccine test results.

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South Australia makes young pizza worker scapegoat for Covid-19 failures

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While the premier blames the ‘selfish actions of an individual’, others say it shows up ‘systemic issues with the way we work’

When Steven Marshall fronted a press conference on Friday to give an update on day two of the state’s hard lockdown, his tone was grim. Someone had lied to a contact tracer, he said, which meant the state’s strict lockdown had been unnecessary.

“To say I am fuming about the actions of this individual is an absolute understatement,” the South Australian premier said. “The selfish actions of this individual have put our whole state in a very difficult situation. His actions have affected businesses, individuals, family groups and is completely and utterly unacceptable.”

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The cost of Christmas: Boris Johnson faces dilemma on Covid rules

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PM must decide whether to listen to Tory MPs or his scientific advisers on relaxing restrictions

When Boris Johnson ordered the phased reopening of England’s shops and schools in July after a gruelling three-month lockdown, he gave the public permission to hope for a “more significant return to normality” in time for Christmas.

Four months on, and as so often in this crisis, the prime minister’s optimism appears at best premature.

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Brazil accused of holding up UN biodiversity talks

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Objection to virtual meetings threatens next year’s conference in China, say environmental campaigners

Brazil has been accused of obstructing global efforts to protect nature following a row over the use of virtual meeting technology to overcome Covid-19 restrictions.

The dispute threatens a key United Nations conference in Kunming, China, next year, which aims to set new targets to protect the Earth’s natural life support systems.

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Nicola Sturgeon says she is ‘utterly scunnered and fed up’ with Covid restrictions – video

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Eleven council areas in west and central Scotland, including Glasgow, will enter level 4 lockdown – the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions – from 6pm on Friday. The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon,  said she understood people's frustrations, but the prospect of a vaccine would mean returning to normal from spring. Non-essential shops are to close, along with pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and visitor attractions, but schools will remain open

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