Category Archives: Coronavirus

New Zealand faces new Covid wave as experts say moving on from pandemic is ‘wishful thinking’

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Signs that Omicron surge is becoming ‘more intense’, with cases rising steadily and more people in hospital than at any time since April

New Zealand is on the brink of another Omicron wave, experts warn, with average cases rising as immunity wanes, more infectious variants arrive, and winter sets in.

Public health experts, however, are concerned that the public and government are primarily focused on “moving on” from the virus, after the country transitioned out of its Covid elimination strategy – and are not taking the necessary steps to try to reduce transmission.

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Australia live news: Jacinda Ardern meets Daniel Andrews; NSW floods ‘far from over’ as Sydney rain continues; RBA interest rates announcement

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Jacinda Ardern meets with Daniel Andrews; Dominic Perrottet warns heavy rain forecast in NSW; federal disaster payments available to 23 flood-affected areas; RBA interest rate decision due; Victoria records 16 Covid deaths, NSW records 14, Queensland records 11. Follow the day’s news live

The federal government is making disaster relief payments available to 23 flood-affected areas in NSW, with emergency management minister Murray Watt saying the assistance would be “uncapped”.

Watt announced early on Tuesday that the federal and NSW governments were making assistance available through the commonwealth-state disaster recovery funding arrangements.

These are uncapped payments, they are demand-driven and they will be available for anyone who qualifies.

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New Covid subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are the most contagious yet – and driving Australia’s third Omicron wave | Adrian Esterman

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The latest variants are masters at evading immunity – meaning previous infection and vaccines are unlikely to provide much protection against catching it

Australia is heading for its third Omicron wave in the coming weeks, as BA.4 and BA.5 become the dominant Covid strains.

BA.4 and BA.5 are more infectious than previous Covid variants and subvariants, and are better able to evade immunity from vaccines and previous infections. So we’re likely to see a rise in case numbers.

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Xi Jinping in Covid scare during Hong Kong handover trip

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Hong Kong legislator tests positive after meeting Chinese president, and city-wide testing begins in Macau to contain its worst outbreak

A Hong Kong legislator who appeared in a group photo with Xi Jinping during his visit to the territory has said he has tested positive for Covid, as Macau kicks off a new round of city-wide coronavirus testing.

In his first trip outside mainland China since the pandemic began, the Chinese president stayed for less than 24 hours in Hong Kong and met only people who had undergone quarantine.

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Australia news live: man drowns as Sydney floods continue; NSW SES commissioner warns area dams above 100% capacity

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Man drowns after boat capsizes in Abbotsford; vaccination mandates to ease on international flights; PM says ADF available as thousands are urged to evacuate in Sydney flood crisis; 30 Covid deaths recorded nationwide. Follow all today’s news, live

Karvelas asks about that time Pocock was arrested for chaining himself to mining equipment to protest against a coalmine expansion in New South Wales and whether, given this history, whether he could support legislation that would allow the construction of new mines.

Pocock answers that the IPCC was “very clear” that keeping warming below 2C means “we can’t approve and open up new fossil fuel projects” but adds “we have to actually be getting targets in place and then having the policy to have an orderly transition to renewables”.

My sense is that the community does want something legislated. We actually have to be able to legislate something and move forward and so I’m committed to being constructive when it comes to action to make sure we legislate something, and look at other ways how to ramp that up over time but crucially to be looking after regional communities who have relied on fossil fuels for generations.

In terms of the 43%, I have been very open saying that I’d like to see a higher target, but my sense is that what Australians really want is a target to be legislated. We have to actually bank some of these gains and I want to see a target with integrity. There’s some real concerns about the way that we’re actually getting to whatever target we set and that will be my focus.

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Australia to dump Covid vaccine requirements and travel exemptions for international arrivals

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People arriving in the country will no longer need to use the digital passenger declaration under changes to come into effect next week

People arriving in Australia will no longer have to declare their Covid vaccination status or obtain a travel exemption under changes to come into effect this week.

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, announced on Sunday that the government would dump the restrictions that have been in place since the country’s borders reopened late last year, with the changes to the Biosecurity Act made following advice from the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly.

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Australia surpasses 10,000 Covid deaths as authorities warn of another wave of infections

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Federal health minister Mark Butler says new BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants increase the risk of reinfection

Australia has surpassed the grim milestone of 10,000 Covid-19 deaths, as authorities urge people to remain vigilant against the disease.

The country’s toll from the virus stood at 9,984 on Saturday, and tipped past the 10,000 mark with Sunday’s numbers.

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End of special Covid leave for NHS staff in England branded ‘unacceptable’

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British Medical Association says move will put patients and healthcare workers in England at significant risk

Scrapping special Covid leave for NHS staff is “completely unacceptable” and will put patients and healthcare workers at significant risk, the British Medical Association has warned.

From 7 July the government plans to withdraw the special paid leave for Covid-related sickness and isolation for NHS staff in England, meaning they will revert to normal contractual sick pay arrangements.

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Vulnerable Australians ‘filled with dread’ over telehealth cuts

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Decision to end a range of services on 30 June will lead to ‘avoidable suffering and distress’, medical practitioners say

Living through Covid-19 with inflammatory arthritis, telehealth has been the only way for Eliza Sorensen to safely access her routine medical appointments.

Sorensen is considered severely immunocompromised due to the medication she takes to control her chronic disease. She also lives with asthma.

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Nation records 33 Covid deaths as Victoria reports fifth monkeypox case – as it happened

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Mark Butler urges Australians to get boosters as new subvariant circulates; nation records 33 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Australia ‘deeply concerned by continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights’

Penny Wong, minister for foreign affairs, released a statement last night saying Australia remains “deeply concerned” by the continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights.

Australia remains deeply concerned by the continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy, two years since the imposition of the National Security Law.

The National Security Law has been applied broadly to arrest or pressure pro-democracy figures, opposition groups, the media, trade unions and civil society. The electoral reforms imposed by Beijing in 2021 have further eroded Hong Kong’s democratic governance.

This will be the fourth time the government has offered to make the changes, announced the changes, and then backtracked as a result of internal politics.

I’m just not sure where we go from here but our members are resolute. We are going to continue fighting to get these trains made safe, and we’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

It’s going to be a very messy day. It’ll be a weekend timetable with other trains taken out of it.

The families of the railway workers right now could be having $3,000 deposited in their account, instead of having that money spent on modifying perfectly good trains.

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US travel chaos unlikely to improve as Fourth of July looms, experts say

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Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and over 19,000 were delayed

As Fourth of July travel chaos looms, experts are warning that a combination of factors including pilot shortages, the climate crisis and even the rise of drones means the situation is unlikely to get better soon.

Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and more than 19,000 were delayed. About 1,800 flights have been canceled so far this week, according to the Hill.

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North Korea blames Covid-laden balloons sent from South for virus outbreak

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Experts sceptical of claim, as state media urge citizens to watch out for ‘alien things coming by wind’

North Korea has blamed its Covid-19 outbreak on balloons sent over its border with the South by groups of defectors, in an apparent attempt to shift the blame onto its neighbour.

After two years of insisting that it had not recorded a single case of the virus, the North admitted its first infections on 12 May, sparking fears of a public health disaster in the impoverished country.

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Nation records 60 Covid deaths as SA reports first monkeypox case – as it happened

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Nation records 60 Covid deaths; SA records first monkeypox case; Anthony Albanese meets Justin Trudeau at Nato summit. This blog is now closed

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has renewed his calls for China to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Vladimir Putin “has made a strategic mistake because what his actions have done is unite the democratic world”.

Albanese – who has been in Madrid for a Nato summit – spoke to reporters yesterday after having a meeting on the sidelines with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

There we discussed the important focus of this Nato’s summit on the Asia-Pacific region. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has solidified the support amongst democratic countries for the rules-based international order and a determination to continue to provide support to the government and the people of Ukraine who are suffering as a result of this breach of international law and this brutal invasion by Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Vladimir Putin has made a strategic mistake because what his actions have done is unite the democratic world and provide a real determination to make sure that the resilience being shown by the Ukrainian people is backed up by resilience and support from democratic countries, including Nato, but also countries throughout the world.

Well, what we saw is prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we saw a without-limits partnership between Russia and China. We’ve seen a failure of China to condemn any of the Russian aggression that has occurred against Ukraine. China must look at what is happening and look at the resolve that is there from throughout the world and should be condemning Russia’s actions.

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Just 24 health workers helped under Morrison government scheme to bring 2,000 medics to Australia

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Travel program set up by Greg Hunt in 2021 discontinued after two months with two dozen people receiving direct assistance

Just 24 medical practitioners received direct assistance to come to Australia under a travel program announced by the Morrison government which promised to bring an extra 2,000 doctors and nurses into the country.

As Australia faces skills shortages across the health and aged care sectors, information obtained from the Department of Health shows that a program set up by the former health minister Greg Hunt in October last year that promised to bring in an extra 2,000 health practitioners over six months was discontinued after just two months.

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Australia news live updates: ‘optimistic in the extreme’ to expect operational nuclear submarine by the 2030s, says Marles

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Defence minister blames Coalition for submarine delay; NSW parliamentary inquiry into Barilaro appointment begins; David Hurley apologises for promoting builder; Chris Bowen addresses National Press Club; NSW records 11 Covid deaths, Tasmania one. Follow live

Turnbull says Albanese ‘is not Scott Morrison and that’s a big advantage’

Australia’s new prime minister will have an easier time mending relations with the French “because he is not Scott Morrison and that’s a big advantage”, the former leader Malcolm Turnbull has told journalists in Paris.

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Nation records 75 Covid deaths as data shows fatalities rising since March – as it happened

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Australian Defence Force chiefs to have terms extended; nation records 75 Covid deaths as weekly fatalities double since March. This blog is now closed

The census shows that Christianity remains the country’s most common religion, AAP reports, with 43.9% of Australians identifying as Christian. But the number of followers continues to decline, dropping from 61.1% in 2011 and 52.1% in 2016.

Catholicism is the largest denomination, followed by Anglicanism. Other religions are growing: Hinduism was listed by 2.75% of respondents and Islam grew to 3.2%.

And close to 40% (38.9) have no religious affiliation, up from 22.3% in 2011 and 30.1% in 2016.

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Warnings of mental health crisis among ‘Covid generation’ of students

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Pandemic has had lasting impact on students’ wellbeing and problem is getting worse, say UK experts

The pandemic has had a lasting legacy on the mental health of the “Covid generation” of students, exacerbating rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm and resulting in a “significant rise” in young people struggling at university, experts have said.

UK universities have reported that more students are experiencing mental health problems in the aftermath of the pandemic, and that this is expected to continue with the cohort arriving in September, whose school experience was heavily disrupted by the pandemic.

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Alarm in Beijing after announcement zero-Covid policy may last five years

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Communist party official posts notice saying mass mandatory testing and travel curbs will continue

Authorities in Beijing have sparked confusion and alarm after announcing the strict zero-Covid policy could be in place for the next five years, including mass mandatory testing and travel restrictions.

The notice, published on Monday afternoon, was attributed to Cai Qi, the Beijing secretary of the Chinese Communist party. The original text said: “In the next five years, Beijing will unremittingly grasp the normalisation of epidemic prevention and control.”

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Warning over Omicron subvariants as nation records 23 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Omicron BA.4/BA.5 likely to become dominant coronavirus strains in Victoria as nation records at least 23 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

The Australian literary community is paying tribute to the writer Frank Moorhouse, who died on Sunday, aged 83.

His publisher at Penguin Random House, Meredith Curnow, said in a statement to Nine Newspapers:

Renowned for his use of the discontinuous narrative in works such as The Americans, Baby and Forty-Seventeen, Frank Moorhouse has been an active participant in Australian literature for nearly 50 years.

The Edith Trilogy, made up of the astounding novels Grand Days, Dark Palace and Cold Light have not only brought immense pleasure to so many readers, but have also affected the career paths of many women. I feel so privileged to have worked with Frank on Cold Light.

It does happen a lot in plants – like Banksia, for example, after [Joseph] Banks.

Usually, a frog scientist of such prestige and contribution will get a frog [species] named after them eventually. [Marion Anstis] never had anything named after her.

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Shanghai reports no new Covid cases for first time since March

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Latest outbreak in city of 25 million subsides after months of lockdowns and other restrictions

China has reported no new Covid-19 infections in Shanghai for the first time since March, as the country’s latest outbreak subsides after months of lockdowns and other restrictions.

China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, stamping out all infections with a combination of targeted lockdowns, mass testing and long quarantine periods.

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