Keir Starmer has said schools must stay open during England's second coronavirus lockdown. 'The harm caused to children by not being in school is huge,' the Labour leader told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show. He said the risk of infections could be managed by mass weekly testing at schools. Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has suggested schools may need to close to make the lockdown more effective
Continue reading...Category Archives: Coronavirus
Michael Gove says England’s Covid-19 lockdown could be extended – video
Michael Gove has said the new coronavirus lockdown in England could be extended beyond four weeks if the number of infections does not fall far enough. Gove told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday show that measures would be reviewed on 2 December and could last longer if the virus has not been contained
- England Covid lockdown could be extended beyond 2 December, says Gove
- Covid: Johnson’s U-turn puts England under tough new lockdown
‘The numbers floored me’: hunger in Pennsylvania hits highest level since pandemic’s start
Demand for food aid surges in state and across country, with 54m potentially facing hunger by year’s end
Charles Bennicoff hasn’t worked since last winter. He’s an experienced landscape gardener but the mom-and-pop business he worked for in Allentown, Pennsylvania, cut its staff after losing most of their contracts during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Mexicans celebrate restricted Day of the Dead amid coronavirus upheaval
With tens of thousands dead, the commemoration of lost family members has rarely been more relevant as rituals of mourning have been disrupted
José Porfirio Martínez Castro and his wife Nery Urioles Nájera were tidying up their family tomb at the municipal graveyard in Morelia. They built a small altar for two of José’s siblings and adorned it with marigolds, sugar skulls and tiny bottles of Coca-Cola – his sister’s favourite drink.
Normally, they would spend the night of 1 November here, lighting candles and remembering their loved ones. But this year the cemetery will be closed because of Covid-19 restrictions, so they made their visit a few days early.
Continue reading...Wastewater a rich source for Covid contact tracing – video
Active wastewater surveillance has become a popular tool used by governments as they try to stay a step ahead of new Covid-19 outbreaks.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Slovakia tests nearly half its population in one day; Iran death toll hits daily record of 434
Of 2.58m Slovaks who took the test, 1%, tested positive; in Israel 80 volunteers will initially take part in the trial
- ‘Whole lot of hurt’: Fauci angers White House with grim outlook
- Spain’s PM calls for calm after violent anti-lockdown protests
- Frustration and infections in Naples as second lockdown looms
- Half of Slovakia’s population tested for Covid in one day
- UK coronavirus updates - live
Here’s a summary of the key developments in the coronavirus pandemic over the past few hours:
The prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has called for an end to “the violent and irrational behaviour” of a minority of people after a weekend of angry demonstrations in cities around the country against further lockdown restrictions.
Last week, the Spanish government announced a six month state of emergency which would allow them to implement further measures to limit the spread of the virus.
Continue reading...Johnson’s U-turn puts England under tough new lockdown
Rules will shut pubs, cafes and non-vital shops, while local reviews will take place after a four-week period
Boris Johnson performed an extraordinary U-turn on Saturday as he unveiled new month-long national lockdown measures across England, amid accusations that government indecision and delay will cost lives and livelihoods across the country.
With immediate warnings of the grave economic fallout and a mounting backlash among Tory MPs, the prime minister announced that a series of measures would come into force on Thursday to combat growing Covid infections. They will remain in place until 2 December.
Continue reading...US sets world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours
- Daily caseload of 100,233 surpasses tally set in India last month
- Study links Trump rallies to 30,000 cases and 700 deaths
The US has set a world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours, according to one count with just over 100,000 new infections recorded.
Continue reading...Obama lends a hand as Biden and Trump launch final campaign blitz
- Obama says Biden presidency ‘won’t be so exhausting’
- Trump on frenzied schedule of 14 rallies in three days
America was on edge on Saturday as Donald Trump and Joe Biden launched a final campaign blitz amid a surging pandemic, record early voting and gnawing uncertainty over when the outcome of the presidential election will be known.
Continue reading...Understanding how this catastrophe occurred is of critical importance
The catastrophe facing the UK is a direct result of our government’s obsession with libertarian issues. Now we must avoid repeating the same mistakes
Six weeks ago, the government was given a stark warning that the nation faced a “very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences”. Only by imposing an immediate two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown could it hope to reduce the spread of coronavirus, the Sage group of scientific advisers told ministers.
“As over 90% of the population remain susceptible, not acting now to reduce cases will result in a very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences in terms of direct Covid-related deaths and the ability of the health service to meet needs,” the group warned.
Continue reading...Add vitamin D to bread and milk to help fight Covid, urge scientists
Widespread deficiency shows that current government guidance on supplements is failing
Scientists are calling for ministers to add vitamin D to common foods such as bread and milk to help the fight against Covid-19.
Up to half the UK population has a vitamin D deficiency, and government guidance that people should take supplements is not working, according to a group convened by Dr Gareth Davies, a medical physics researcher.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Germany sets another daily case record as Europe passes 10m infections
England lockdown expected early next week; US passes 9m infections; Melbourne records no new cases or deaths. Follow the latest:
- Belgium facing new lockdown as Germany takes in patients
- Europeans seek ways to ride out Covid winter
- ‘An operational tsunami’: preparing for a winter surge of Covid
- Paris sees record traffic jams before lockdown
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Ukraine announced a new high of 8,752 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the national security council said on Saturday, up from 8,312 cases on Friday.
Total infections stood at 387,481, it said.
Coronavirus is “running riot” across all age groups in the United Kingdom, says Prof Calum Semple, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Semple told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: US sets world record for daily cases – as it happened
England lockdown expected early next week; US passes 9m infections; Melbourne records no new cases or deaths. Follow the latest:
- Belgium facing new lockdown as Germany takes in patients
- Europeans seek ways to ride out Covid winter
- ‘An operational tsunami’: preparing for a winter surge
- See all our coronavirus coverage
This blog will wrap up shortly. Here the latest key developments at a glance:
Just a reminder that if you want to get in touch and share comments or tips, you can contact me either on Twitter or via email.
Americans go to the polls as US suffers worst week for coronavirus infections
Stakes at the polls are ‘life and death’, epidemiologists say, but responses to the pandemic divide sharply on political lines
The US has suffered its worst week for new infections of the entire Covid-19 pandemic just days ahead of the election, underscoring what some epidemiologists described as “life and death” stakes as Americans head to the polls.
Continue reading...Philippines orders thousands of evacuations ahead of 2020’s strongest storm
System with 265km/h winds is expected to make landfall on Sunday on main island of Luzon, home to Manila
Philippine officials have ordered evacuation of thousands of residents in the southern part of the main Luzon island as a category-5 storm that is the world’s strongest this year approaches.
Typhoon Goni, with 215km/h (133 mph) sustained winds and gusts of up to 265km/h (164 mph), will make landfall on Sunday as the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Haiyan, which killed more than 6,300 people in 2013.
Continue reading...National Covid lockdown expected across England next week
Boris Johnson bows to pressure from experts who warned worst-case scenario could soon be surpassed
Boris Johnson has bowed to pressure from his scientific advisers for new national lockdown restrictions, which are expected to be announced early next week, the Guardian has been told.
Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty, who head the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), are understood to have warned the prime minister that the time has come for national action across England. Sage scientists presented Johnson with evidence at a meeting in Downing Street, where they explained that Covid-19 is spreading significantly faster than their worst-case scenarios.
Continue reading...Trump falsely claims at Michigan rally ‘our doctors get more money if someone dies of Covid’ – live
- President makes remark as US surpasses 9m Covid cases
- Early voting in Texas surpasses total turnout in 2016
- Biden and Obama to hold rallies in Flint and Detroit on Saturday
- Why rallies are Trump’s last best hope of clinging to presidency
- Unions discussing general strike if Trump refuses to accept Biden victory
- Will Arizona’s suburbs abandon the party of Trump?
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
In several of his rallies this week, Donald Trump has accused the media of focusing on the coronavirus crisis only for political purposes, in order to damage him.
Barack Obama has trolled him for it in rallies in Florida, where the former president warned that America could not afford four more years of Trump and needed to put Joe Biden into the White House next week.
A federal judge this afternoon ordered the US Postal Service (USPS) to adopt “extraordinary measures” at some processing locations to ensure the timely delivery of millions of ballots before Tuesday’s presidential election.
US district judge Emmet Sullivan said he was ordering the measures in places where election mail processing scores for completed ballots returned by voters were below 90% for at least two days from October 26-28.
Continue reading...Australia’s right is united by ‘up yours’ contrarianism and Mark Latham is its bellwether | Malcolm Knox
Coronavirus didn’t kill the culture wars, it only sent them into a momentary recess
When Covid-19 hit, I’d been wondering for a long time what glued together the disparate positions of the religious right in Australia: for deregulation yet also massive taxpayer subsidy; for free enterprise yet also against the free movement of labour; for the equality of all freedoms as long as one, religion, is more equal than others; for “our children’s future” yet also against climate science.
During the coronavirus crisis, the patterns began to repeat: divergent positions coalescing under an intellectually amorphous but readily identifiable tribal banner. What unified that tribe was, for want of a better word, a contrarianism, what impolite adherents might call an “up yours” to political correctness.
Continue reading...US shatters daily coronavirus record with nearly 90,000 new infections Thursday
Country approaches world-topping 9m cases as experts warn death rates could more than double by mid-January
The US has shattered the daily coronavirus record, with almost 90,000 new infections reported on Thursday and close to 1,000 deaths, as the US approached a world-topping 9m cases and experts warned of death rates more than doubling by mid-January.
Continue reading...From ice swims to knitting: Europeans seek ways to ride out Covid winter
People across the continent are embracing a range of pursuits in an effort to stay healthy and in good spirits
For Alice Weiss there is no alternative to what the Germans call Flucht nach vorne, or knuckling down, to cope with the challenge of surviving winter during a pandemic. Others are determined to stay warm as the temperature drops, but Weiss has embraced winter swimming, plunging into the chilly lakes on the western edge of Berlin.
“It is invigorating, it takes me out of myself. It makes me stronger, healthier,” she said. “I’ve yet to have the legendary endorphin release that some swimmers talk of, but I expect that to come in winter.”
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