Category Archives: Coronavirus

French professor faces disciplinary case over hydroxychloroquine claims

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Didier Raoult stands accused of touting drug as a coronavirus treatment without evidence

A French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment – without evidence, scientists say – will appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches, an order of doctors has said.

Marseille-based Didier Raoult stands accused by his peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug. His promotion of hydroxychloroquine was taken up by the US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, who trumpeted its unproven benefits in a way critics say put people’s lives at risk.

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Swedish surge in Covid cases dashes immunity hopes

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Country has opted for light-touch, anti-lockdown approach since start of pandemic

New infections and hospital admissions have surged in Sweden as the country battles a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that officials had hoped its light-touch, anti-lockdown approach would mitigate.

“We consider the situation extremely serious,” the director of health and medical care services for Stockholm, Björn Eriksson, told the state broadcaster SVT this week. “We can expect noticeably more people needing hospital care over the coming weeks.”

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Spike in yellow fever deaths prompts Nigeria to revive vaccination campaigns

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Resurgence of disease linked to factors including climate crisis and focus of health resources on Covid response

More than 70 people are feared to have died of yellow fever in Nigeria since September, as health authorities warn of a resurgence of the disease.

The country recorded 47 deaths from yellow fever throughout the whole of 2019.

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UK death toll from Covid-19 passes 50,000

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Milestone reached on Wednesday after a further 595 people died, bringing total to 50,365

The UK’s Covid-19 death toll has surpassed 50,000, government figures have revealed, as the nation struggles to deal with a deadly second wave.

The news served as a sobering reminder of the severity of the crisis after hopes were raised on Monday that an end may be in sight with announcement that a vaccine had been shown to be effective.

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US records more than 1m new Covid cases in past 10 days as infections surge

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Texas becomes first to record a million cases as a state as experts warn White House appears to be doing little to control pandemic

The US has recorded more than 1m new coronavirus cases in just the past 10 days as the national total soared past 10m cases amid a widespread surge – while Texas on Wednesday became the first to record a million cases as a state.

The soaring figures came as experts warned that even though successful vaccines are coming into view the White House appears to be doing little to contain a pandemic increasingly out of control.

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Europe can’t afford to lose another generation to youth unemployment

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Covid-19 has already put 3 million young Europeans out of work. The scars for these under-25s could take a decade to heal

A decade ago, the global financial crisis left deep scars in terms of destroyed opportunities and unemployment for young people. In Europe in particular, youth unemployment persisted. Now the Covid-19 crisis threatens to do the same thing to the under-25s. Yet, none of the leaders of France, Italy or Spain, nor the president of the European commission, prioritised youth unemployment in their latest policy speeches. At the highest political level, the focus must be on averting the risk of a lost generation. Bold policies will be needed.

During the financial crisis, the US youth unemployment rate increased from about 10% to 19%, while in the European Union it increased from 16% to 26%. The rate in the EU only returned to its 2008 level in 2018, while the spike in US youth unemployment was overcome more rapidly. Even in the recovery, some EU countries fared much worse than the EU average. In Greece, Spain and Italy, youth unemployment in 2019 was still higher than it was before the 2008 crash.

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Bolsonaro takes swipe at Biden and again dismisses Covid deaths – video

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Jair Bolsonaro has said Brazil needs to 'stop being a country of sissies' over the Covid pandemic. Speaking at an event where few attendees wore a mask, the Brazilian president claimed he was sorry about coronavirus-related deaths, but "all of us are going to die one day". Taking a swipe at the US president-elect, Joe Biden, who is apparently threatening Brazil with sanctions if fires in the Amazon rainforest are not dealt with, Bolsonaro said that "diplomacy is not enough [...] there must be gunpowder"

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US election 2020: Biden says denying result ‘will not help Trump’s legacy’ – live updates

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Arwa Mahdawi has this for us today, asking: Is this the death of Fox News’s love affair with Donald Trump?

Poor Donald Trump. Not only has he lost the election, it looks as if he has lost the love of his life. I’m not talking about Melania – although some rumours have it that she is “counting the minutes” until she can get a divorce (which she has denied). I’m talking about Fox News.

For years, Trump and Fox News have been in a committed, loving relationship. Recently, however, there has been trouble in paradise, with Trump complaining the network is a “much different place than it used to be”. The relationship might have been salvaged, but then Fox News did something unforgivable: it flirted with real journalism. On election day, it was the first major outlet to declare Joe Biden would win Arizona, sending the Trump administration into a meltdown. Since then, Fox News has continued to infuriate the White House by refusing to encourage Trump’s delusion that he won the election. On Monday, for example, it cut away from the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, when she claimed that the Democrats had encouraged voter fraud. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” the Fox News anchor said to the viewers. “I can’t in good countenance continue showing you this.”

Related: Is this the death of Fox News's love affair with Donald Trump? | Arwa Mahdawi

Here’s a reminder of how the two sides have been approaching this election outcome. Joe Biden described the reaction of Donald Trump and the Republicans as ‘an embarrassment’. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo meanwhile, baselessly spoke about ‘a second Trump administration’. He may have had a slight twinkle in his eye as he said it.

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Trump under growing pressure to accept election defeat – US politics live

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Some of Donald Trump’s advisers now say he will likely never concede that he lost the presidential race, according to NBC News.

NBC reports:

‘Do not expect him to concede,’ one top aide said. More likely, the aide said, ‘he’ll say something like, ‘We can’t trust the results, but I’m not contesting them.’’

Another adviser said that after the legal battles and recounts, the closest the president is likely to get to a concession is, ‘he’ll acknowledge the results and that we’ll never know how accurate they are.’

Joe Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania has now surpassed 50,000, after the latest batch of ballots from Allegheny county were posted.

As of this afternoon, Biden leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by 50,483, or 0.7% of the total vote in the state.

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Coronavirus live news: countries scramble to secure vaccine doses as US sees record hospitalisations

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Iran and Lebanon impose lockdowns; Hong Kong, Singapore plan quarantine-free travel bubble; US sees record hospitalisations

Mongolia has reported its first domestic transmissions of the coronavirus, from a truck driver who infected his wife and two other relatives after three weeks of quarantine, according to the AfP news agency.

The landlocked country bordering Russia and China has so far reported just 376 virus cases - all imported - and enforced strict arrival controls that have prompted protests by Mongolians stranded abroad.

Dr David Nabarro, one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) special envoys on Covid-19, urged people to be “careful” when students in the UK return to university after Christmas to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Asked about students returning to UK universities in January, and if there was an argument for keeping students at home for longer, Dr Nabarro told Sky News:

We did see that there was quite a big increase in cases in Europe in October and November. We think that was to do with movements that took place in September, including students coming to university.

So if there’s going to be a big return in January, all I’m going to say is, everybody be careful. Because that’s when the virus can really move around quickly.

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Coronavirus live news: Italy exceeds 1m cases; Greece tightens lockdown

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Italy passes mark after 32,961 new infections in 24 hours; Greece extends curfew after record surge in cases; US has 1m new cases in 10 days

Texas on Wednesday became the first US state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country from coast to coast, AP reports.

The country’s second-most populous state, Teas has recorded 1.01 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most populous state, has logged more than 991,000 cases.

The Swedish prime minister has said his government will present a law proposal that would ban nationwide the sale of alcohol after 10pm in bars, restaurants and night clubs from 20 November in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Stefan Lofven said that “we are facing a situation that risks becoming pitch-black” and added that Sweden “currently is risking a situation like the one we had last spring”.

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Totnes Covid concerns reflect UK-wide rise in conspiracy theories

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Suspicion in Devon town of face masks and 5G means take-up of vaccine may face resistance

Like many people living in or around Totnes in Devon, David, who is in his 70s, has his own theories about coronavirus and its origins. Sitting in the armchair of his house, he says the pandemic is a secret plot to impose a totalitarian world government and a nefarious effort to crush freedom. He scrolls through Facebook, which he recently signed up to, to show many with similar beliefs.

David came to many of these ideas recently. When the pandemic hit, he started looking for answers. “I’m friends with a few people who are active in researching what is going on. I quickly made contact with others putting posts on the internet.”

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UN warns of impact of smart borders on refugees: ‘Data collection isn’t apolitical’

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Special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia believes there is a misconception that biosurveillance technology is without bias

Robotic lie detector tests at European airports, eye scans for refugees and voice-imprinting software for use in asylum applications are among new technologies flagged as “troubling” in a UN report.

The UN’s special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Prof Tendayi Achiume, said digital technologies can be unfair and regularly breach human rights. In her new report, she has called for a moratorium on the use of certain surveillance technologies.

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Siena Castellon: ‘Autistic people are really struggling with how uncertain things are’

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The 18-year-old autism campaigner and international children’s peace prize finalist on why diagnosis of the condition for girls urgently needs improving

Each morning Siena Castellon synchronises her morning routine to music with the same 30-minute playlist. Different songs act as time markers. “The trick is to choose music you love and to listen to the same playlist every day,” explains the teenager.

When Wonderwall by Oasis comes on she knows she should be brushing her teeth. By the time Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey is playing she is walking out the door.

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Before and after the start of England’s second lockdown – in pictures

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England began its second nationwide lockdown on 5 November. Before-and-after photographs reveal the impact of the first days of the four-week stay-at-home order in which all non-essential shops and venues have to close.

People have been told to “stay at home” where possible, but will be allowed to leave their homes for education, medical appointments, to shop for essential goods, and for work if they cannot work from home.

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Lessons via loudspeaker: the students studying across India’s digital divide

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How do you learn from home without a laptop? Teachers are getting creative, but the pandemic remains a vast challenge

Vemula Deena lives in one of the tin huts strung along a narrow lane in the heart of Vijayawada, the business capital of Andhra Pradesh, in the south-east of India. Her parents are construction labourers. Vemula is 13 and wants to be a politician, enamoured of the spotless white kurta-pyjamas they wear and their public speaking.

But her school has closed its doors in the face of the Covid pandemic and gone online, effectively shutting her out. Vemula continues to practise her oration as she does her household chores.

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Five post-Trump obstacles to a global green recovery

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Joe Biden’s win gives the globe a better chance of averting climate catastrophe, but major obstacles remain

Environmentalists have been heartened by Joe Biden’s victory as, if the US rejoins the Paris agreement as expected, it will give the world a much better chance of averting climate catastrophe. However, there are still hurdles to overcome to rein in emissions and keep warming to within 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

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Joe Biden says Trump’s refusal to concede defeat ‘an embarrassment’ – as it happened

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The Guardian’s Lois Beckett and Julia Carrie Wong report:

The networks have made their calls, world leaders have begun paying their respects, and even Fox News and Rupert Murdoch’s other media outlets appear to have given up on a second term for Donald Trump. But in a video posted on Facebook on 7 November and viewed more than 16.5m times since, NewsMax host and former Trump administration official Carl Higbie spends three minutes spewing a laundry list of false and debunked claims casting doubt on the outcome of the presidential election.

Related: The misinformation media machine amplifying Trump's election lies

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Seventh straight day of 100,000 new US Covid cases as hospitalizations hit a high point

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  • Biden adviser Michael Osterholm says numbers could double
  • Death toll above 238,000 after 590 new deaths, data shows

The US hit a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations on Tuesday and surpassed 1 million new confirmed cases in just the first 10 days of November, as a nationwide surge of infections that shows no signs of slowing.

The country recorded a seventh consecutive day of more than 100,000 new cases, and one of the public health advisers recruited to president-elect Joe Biden’s transition team warned that those case numbers could double in the coming weeks under the leadership of Donald Trump.

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‘We are already beginning the transition’: Biden and Harris defend Obamacare – video

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Joe Biden said he and vice-president elect Kamala Harris had already begun a transition before his swearing in as US president on 20 January and called Donald Trump's refusal to concede defeat 'an embarrassment'.

Biden said he believed he could 'get a lot done' as he and Harris defended the Affordable Care Act, which was brought before the supreme court in a legal challenge by Texas and other Republican-governed states that was backed by Donald Trump’s administration

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