Category Archives: Coronavirus

Trump falsely claims at Michigan rally ‘our doctors get more money if someone dies of Covid’ – live

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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.

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Australia’s right is united by ‘up yours’ contrarianism and Mark Latham is its bellwether | Malcolm Knox

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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.

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US shatters daily coronavirus record with nearly 90,000 new infections Thursday

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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.

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From ice swims to knitting: Europeans seek ways to ride out Covid winter

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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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‘It’s possible’: the race to approve a Covid vaccine by Christmas

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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”.

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‘You’re a crook’: barbs-strewn Georgia election debate goes viral – video

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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

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Queensland’s border will remain closed to Victoria and greater Sydney, Annastacia Palaszczuk says – politics live

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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

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Coronavirus live news: US passes 9m cases; Italian cases jump by 31,000 in a day

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Italy also records 199 further deaths; US record surge killing nearly 1,000 Americans a day; Moscow creates vaccination network

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France orders children aged six and over to wear masks in school

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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.

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White House coronavirus taskforce warns of ‘unrelenting’ spread

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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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US election 2020: Trump and Biden hold dueling rallies in Florida – live

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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.

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Coronavirus live news: Angela Merkel heckled in parliament; UK job retention scheme to end

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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.

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Taiwan marks 200 days without domestic Covid-19 infection

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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.

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Large Covid outbreak in China linked to Xinjiang forced labour

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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.

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Cate Blanchett: ‘Covid-19 has ravaged the whole idea of small government’

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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.

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Temporary, timely and targeted. Furlough has proved to be just one of these

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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.

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Covid has hit ‘critical’ stage in England, research finds

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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.

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Dr Fauci praises Australia’s coronavirus response and Melbourne’s face mask rules

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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.

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Emmanuel Macron orders France back into Covid-19 lockdown – video

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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.

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Covid testing: does Operation Moonshot have a shot at success?

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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.

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