At least three companies close to revealing results of phase three trials, but to be approved for use safety has to be ensured
The race for a Covid vaccine is reaching a crucial stage, with the glimmer of a possibility that one of the leading contenders will be approved by Christmas.
In an interview with the Guardian, Kate Bingham, who heads the UK’s vaccine taskforce, said the UK was in “a very good place”.
Continue reading...Republican senator David Perdue has pulled out of the final debate with his Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, after the pair exchanged personal attacks during a televised debate on Wednesday.
In the debate moderated by WTOC-TV, Ossoff called the incumbent 'a crook', while Perdue accused his rival of profiting off 'communist China'. The exchange later went viral after Ossoff shared the clip on social media
Queensland premier says Queensland border will stay closed to Victoria and greater Sydney as pressure mounts on NSW and WA to open. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
Independent MP for Warringah Zali Steggall is using the release of the bushfire royal commission report to call for greater action on climate change.
“The royal commission final report makes it clear: increasing temperatures due to climate change will contribute to greater severity of extreme weather and natural disasters in Australia.
“The outlook for Australia is alarming. Australians are now staring down the barrel of more unpredictable and dangerous events that will affect our safety and prosperity as a nation.
Afternoon all, cheers Amy Remeikis
Continue reading...Italy also records 199 further deaths; US record surge killing nearly 1,000 Americans a day; Moscow creates vaccination network
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National assembly votes to extend rule to primary schools as national lockdown starts
Children in France aged six and over will have to wear face masks in the classroom to keep schools open, the prime minister said on the eve of a second national lockdown.
Speaking before the national assembly backed the new restrictions by 399 votes to 27, Jean Castex said the mandatory use of masks was being extended to primary school pupils on the advice of public health officials. Only children over 11 have had to wear masks in school until now.
Continue reading...US is going in ‘wrong direction’ says Fauci as Covid cases rise in 47 states and patients overwhelm hospitals across the US
The White House coronavirus taskforce is warning of a persistent and broad spread of Covid-19 in the western half of the United States and its members urged aggressive mitigation measures.
“We are on a very difficult trajectory. We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, the lead public health official on the taskforce and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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Election officials in US battleground states are still fighting to limit the usage of ballot drop boxes, with only days left until 3 November.
Related: 'To me, it's voter suppression': the Republican fight to limit ballot boxes
Joe Biden will campaign in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin tomorrow.
Both candidates have been making the rounds to swing states in a final push ahead of election day. In Florida today, where polls have found Biden neck-and-neck with Trump, the former vice-president appealed to Latinos – a key demographic that could help deliver victories to Democrats.
Continue reading...Merkel said populists who call coronavirus harmless are dangerous; UK furlough scheme to end on Saturday; France reimposes national lockdown
As the row over the discharge of Covid-positive patients into Scotland’s care homes during the early days of the pandemic deepens, health secretary Jeane Freeman has insisted that a new report does not diminish government accountability, writes Libby Brookes, the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.
The report – which concluded the risk of an outbreak linked to discharge of positive or untested patients was “not statistically significant” - prompted anger from opposition parties, care chiefs and unions, who argued that it failed to properly explain why dozens of patients who tested positive for coronavirus, along with thousands who went untested, were discharged from Scottish hospitals into care homes in April and May.
For relatives and families of people who have died in care homes during this pandemic, I want them to know really clearly that I am not saying that this report says there is no accountability here or that I think that report in any way offers them comfort. It’s a very technical report and it comes to a statistical conclusion but that doesn’t take away from the human impact of this virus…
Angela Merkel faced shouts and heckles in Germany’s parliament this morning as she outlined her government’s plans for a “soft” second lockdown, writes Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief.
From Monday, bars, restaurants, theatres, swimming pools and fitness studios will close for a month, and public gatherings be limited to two households or up to ten people. Unnecessary travel is discouraged and hotels advised not to host tourists. Schools, nurseries and shops will stay open, however.
Continue reading...Authorities thank public for helping to reach milestone, as cases surge in many countries
Taiwan has reached 200 days without any domestically transmitted cases of Covid-19, underlining its success in keeping the virus under control as cases surge in other parts of the world.
The country’s Center for Disease Control last reported a domestic case on 12 April. CDC officials thanked the public for playing a role in reaching the milestone, while urging people to continue to wear masks and wash their hands often.
Continue reading...More than 180 cases traced to garment factory where Uighurs must take up work placements
China’s largest coronavirus outbreak in months appears to have emerged in a factory in Xinjiang linked to forced labour and the government’s controversial policies towards Uighur residents.
More than 180 cases of Covid-19 documented in the past week in Shufu county, in southern Xinjiang, can be traced back to a factory that was built in 2018 as part of government “poverty alleviation” efforts, a campaign that researchers and rights advocates describe as coercive.
Continue reading...In this extract from her essay collection Upturn, the actor considers the disruptions of the pandemic and the renewed fervour for social and economic justice
The other day I had to go into town for a dental appointment. I put on all sorts of lovely clothes as if I were going out to dinner and an opening night. The prospect of being out and about was both exhilarating and daunting. I so desperately wanted to be among people and in the city, but I’d also completely forgotten what an event was. The dentist did not seem surprised by my sartorial over-commitment – but then, I was not the first patient he had seen since lockdown.
As a person working in the arts sector, the lockdown was strangely familiar on one level – a lot of actors get stuck in a kind of limbo waiting for someone else to give them permission to do what they are good at. It was as if we were all waiting by the phone for our agent to call. It was also strangely unfamiliar because the community that holds us together, the audiences, as well as the changing of the shows and the new releases, were all put on hold too. The flow between us all was severely affected, and I was both heartened and horrified when it began to surface online. Heartened because the urge to express ourselves and the desire to communicate seems undaunted by anything. Horrified because the worst place to rehearse and perform is alone in the mirror, and sometimes the phone is just a mirror.
Continue reading...As mark 1 gives way to mark 2, scheme has prevented return to dole queues of 1980s– for now
Temporary, timely and targeted. That was how Rishi Sunak described the government’s strategy for coping with the impact of Covid-19 when he gave his budget speech on 11 March.
Less than two weeks later the UK was in lockdown and the chancellor sought to deliver on his pledge with the Treasury’s job retention scheme, or the furlough as it has become known.
Continue reading...Dramatic increase in recorded cases across country, with infection rate rising fastest in south
The Covid pandemic has reached a “critical” stage in England, with prevalence doubling since last month with the fastest increases in the south where the R number has risen above 2, research has found.
While cases remain highest in northern England, a dramatic increase in infections has been recorded across all areas, according to the latest interim findings from the React-1 study from Imperial College London.
Continue reading...America’s top Covid expert says Victoria lockdown and mask-wearing struck right balance between health and economy and he wished US adopted same mentality
America’s top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, has praised Melbourne’s response to the coronavirus, saying he “wished” the US could adopt the same mentality.
In an interview hosted by the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne-based Doherty Institute, Fauci said Australia was “one of the countries that has done actually quite well” in handling the virus.
Continue reading...France will go back into a nationwide lockdown starting this week to try to contain the Covid-19 pandemic that is again threatening to spiral out of control, French president Emmanuel Macron said in an address to the nation on Wednesday. The new measures he announced – which come into force on Friday – will mean people have to stay in their homes except to buy essential goods, seek medical attention or use their daily one-hour allocation of exercise.
Continue reading...UK government is pinning hopes on mass testing but public health directors find flaws in thinking
Operation Moonshot, the government’s mass testing mission to screen millions of asymptomatic people every week, is having a bumpy lift-off.
The project only emerged because of a leak last month and such was the stated ambition – £100bn to deliver 10m tests a day – that MPs laughed when Matt Hancock talked about it in parliament.
Continue reading...Germany will impose an emergency month-long lockdown that includes the closure of restaurants, gyms and theatres to reverse a spike in coronavirus cases that risks overwhelming hospitals, the chancellor said on Wednesday
Continue reading...Off-licence sales prohibition is first in the UK as beauty salons will also have to close in toughest rules yet
Nottinghamshire will be placed under tier 3 coronavirus measures from Friday, it was confirmed on Wednesday night, with a series of extra rules including the UK’s first virus-related ban on off-licence alcohol sales after 9pm.
West Yorkshire is set to follow suit within days – meaning more than 11 million people in England will soon be under the toughest level of restrictions.
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Several polls of battleground states were just released, so the blog is going to sum them up.
First up is Georgia, where Biden has pulled slightly ahead of Trump, according to Monmouth University.
GEORGIA VOTER POLL: President - @JoeBiden overtakes @realDonaldTrump
Registered voters:
45% Trump (47% in Sept.)
50% Biden (46%)
Likely voters, high turnout:
46% Trump (48%)
50% Biden (46%)
Likely voters, low turnout:
48% Trump (50%)
50% Biden (45%) https://t.co/aUyYrRGfMt pic.twitter.com/pygB8gmNML
Trump predicted he would “over-perform” on election day, as polls show him trailing nationally and in key battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
At a press event in Las Vegas, Trump says: “On Tuesday, we’re going to over-perform” #Elections2020 pic.twitter.com/UGf7ZHRbuJ
Continue reading...Ursula von der Leyen asks leaders to map ICU capacity as Belgium gets close to running out of beds
The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has asked EU leaders to help Brussels map intensive care bed capacity to allow the transfer of coronavirus patients from overrun hospitals across Europe amid a rise in infection in every member state.
Belgium is expected to run out of intensive care beds within two weeks given the spiralling rate of infection, while the Netherlands has already started airlifting patients from pandemic hotspots to Germany. Almost half of France’s intensive care unit capacity has been taken up by new coronavirus cases.
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