Category Archives: Coronavirus

Shanghai reopens some public transport after months-long Covid lockdown

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Partial restart comes as curbs tightened in other areas, highlighting difficulties of resuming life under China’s strict zero-Covid policy

Shanghai has reopened a small part of the world’s longest subway system after some lines had been closed for almost two months, as the city paves the way for a more complete lifting of its Covid-19 lockdown next week.

With most residents not allowed to leave their homes and restrictions tightening in parts of China’s most populous city, commuters early on Sunday needed strong reasons to travel.

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US air force academy cadets denied commission over vaccine refusal

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Trio will receive college degrees but will not be commissioned ‘as long as they remain unvaccinated’, spokesperson says

For refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, three US air force academy cadets won’t be commissioned as military officers, though they will receive college degrees, a spokesperson for the school said Saturday.

Academy spokesperson Dean Miller said in a statement that the three cadets in question won’t be commissioned as air force officers “as long as they remain unvaccinated,” though they would get their bachelor’s of science degrees. The military branch had not decided yet whether to require the trio to reimburse the US for education costs in lieu of service, Miller said.

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Biden and South Korean president mull expanding joint military exercises

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US president willing to meet Kim Jong-un, while Seoul says deployment of US ‘strategic assets’ was discussed

Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the “threat” posed by North Korea, a move that is expected to enrage the regime as speculation builds that it could conduct a nuclear test.

Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was “sincere and serious” about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

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‘Caught unawares’: Covid is preventing Australians in hospital from voting

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Mobile polling in health facilities was stopped amid the pandemic and patients in hospital unexpectedly have no way to cast their ballot

Australians unexpectedly admitted to hospital before the election are struggling to cast their vote due to a decision to abort mobile polling in health facilities due to Covid.

The Australian Electoral Commission announced before the campaign that it would not be sending mobile teams into hospitals to take votes in the lead-up to polling day, in an attempt to balance voting access with the risk of spreading Covid in vulnerable settings.

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Boris Johnson among dozens warned they face criticism in Sue Gray’s report

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PM notified before publication next week, as an ex-civil service chief says ‘real issue’ is the No 10 leadership

Boris Johnson is among dozens of No 10 officials warned by Sue Gray they are facing criticism in her Partygate report next week, as a former civil service chief said the “real issue” was the leadership of the prime minister and his cabinet secretary, Simon Case.

Johnson is one of 20 to 30 current and former staffers who have been notified by letter that accounts of their conduct will feature in her final report on the lockdown-busting parties. This is now likely to be published next week after Scotland Yard handed out 126 fixed-penalty notices to people from No 10, including one for Johnson but many for more junior staff.

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Two types of Omicron classified as Covid variants of concern in UK

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Small number of BA.4 and BA.5 cases identified but data suggests ‘growth advantage’ over dominant BA.2

Two types of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been newly classified as variants of concern in the UK.

Only a small number of cases of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 have been identified so far in the country, but analysis of the available data suggests they are likely to have a “growth advantage” over Omicron BA.2, currently the dominant variant, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

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NSW government underspent on PPE and mental health, audit of $7.5bn Covid spending finds

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Auditor general says state agencies forked out close to $200m on faulty imported masks and ventilators

The New South Wales government underspent on personal protective equipment and mental health services and forked out close to $200m on faulty imported masks and ventilators as part of the state’s $7.5bn pandemic expenditure, a review has found.

The auditor general released a detailed report on Friday after examining the state’s spending from the first case detected in January 2020 to the middle of 2021.

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North Korea’s Covid caseload passes 2 million amid global concern about regime’s pandemic plan

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Experts believe North Korean authorities are underreporting deaths to prove that their response has been effective

Experts have questioned North Korea’s claim that it is achieving “good results” in its battle against a Covid-19 outbreak, as the number of people with symptoms of the virus surpassed 2 million.

The regime reported 263,370 new fever cases on Friday and two deaths, taking the total caseload to 2.24 million, including 65 deaths, according to state news agency KCNA.

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Respiratory syncytial virus kills 100,000 under-fives every year

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The acute lower respiratory infection has surged after Covid restrictions eased, experts say

Respiratory syncytial virus is killing 100,000 children under the age of five every year worldwide, new figures reveal as experts say the global easing of coronavirus restrictions is causing a surge in cases.

RSV is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children. It spreads easily via coughing and sneezing. There is no vaccine or specific treatment.

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Civil servants and No 10 advisers furious over single fine for Boris Johnson

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PM received only one of 126 fixed-penalty notices relating to law-breaking parties, prompting claims Met police bungled inquiry

Civil servants and special advisers have reacted with fury and disbelief after Scotland Yard confirmed Boris Johnson got only one of 126 fines levied for law-breaking parties at the heart of Downing Street and Whitehall.

The Metropolitan police came under intense pressure to explain how it reached its conclusions after Downing Street said officers confirmed no further action would be taken against the prime minister despite him attending gatherings for which others were fined.

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Independent to lodge legal challenge after AEC anomaly prevents as many as 100,000 Covid-positive Australians from voting

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Monique Ryan says she will lodge federal court challenge as commission admits people who tested positive early this week but didn’t register for postal voting ‘may not be able to vote’

A high-profile independent candidate is taking legal action after the Australian Electoral Commission conceded an anomaly means some people – possibly in excess of 100,000 – isolating with Covid may not be able to vote in Saturday’s election

Guardian Australia understands that Monique Ryan, the teal independent candidate in Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong, will on Friday lodge an application in the federal court seeking to test the legality of a regulation that the AEC has conceded will prevent some Covid positive people in isolation on election day from being able to cast a vote.

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North Korea promotes traditional medicines in bid to fight Covid outbreak

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State media have told patients to use painkillers as well as unverified home remedies such as willow leaf tea

North Korea is ramping up production of drugs and medical supplies including sterilisers and thermometers as well as encouraging the use of traditional Korean medicines said to reduce fever and pain as it battles an unprecedented coronavirus outbreak.

Traditional medicines were “effective in prevention and cure of the malicious disease,” state-run news agency KCNA said, although no medical evidence exists for those claims.

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Why does the UK have the highest inflation in the G7?

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Analysis: UK among hardest-hit countries thanks to perfect storm of war in Ukraine, Covid and Brexit

Britain’s inflation rate has soared to the highest level since the early 1980s. After a record increase in gas and electricity bills in April, inflation is the highest in the G7. Having reached 9% last month, it is above the 8.3% rate in the US and Germany’s reading of 7.4%. Japan, an economy characterised by low inflation for decades thanks to an ageing population, has the lowest rate at 1.2%.

Here are some of the reasons why prices are rising faster in the UK than in other major economies.

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PM dismisses need for more measures to limit Covid deaths, suggests Australians dying with, not of, the virus

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Scott Morrison says Australia is now ‘living with Covid’ as nation records one of the highest transmission rates in the world

Scott Morrison brushed off the need for further measures to curtail Australia’s ongoing high rates of Covid-19 transmission and deaths, and suggested many Australians are dying with, not of, Covid.

Morrison told reporters on Wednesday medical advice does not currently support a fourth Covid vaccine for the general population and asserted, without evidence, that Labor under Anthony Albanese may return to lockdowns to combat Covid.

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Covid support schemes left ‘open goal’ to fraudsters, says watchdog

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Public Accounts Committee report says business department efforts to identify fraud came after trails had ‘long ago gone cold’

The business department’s handling of Covid support schemes left an “open goal” to fraudsters and embezzlers that has added “billions to taxpayer woes”, parliament’s spending watchdog has found.

In its review of the annual report of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it recognised that the government offered crucial support to businesses at the height of the pandemic.

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North Korea on brink of Covid-19 catastrophe, say experts

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Number to have fallen ill reportedly at almost 1.5 million as country grapples with what it calls ‘fever’

North Korea stands on the brink of a Covid-19 catastrophe unless swift action is taken to provide vaccines and drug treatments, experts have said, as the number of people reported to have fallen ill rose to almost 1.5 million.

The isolated country reported another big rise in new cases of what it continues to refer to as “fever” on Tuesday, days after it admitted it had identified Covid-19 infections for the first time since the start of the global pandemic.

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Concerns for businesses despite expected rise in Melbourne CBD’s population

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City of Melbourne’s draft 2022-23 budget papers predicts 8,230 CBD businesses next year, down 10% on last year’s forecast

Melbourne’s CBD population – and the number of parking tickets – is set to boom under projections by the city’s council, but the peak property industry group has warned that more needs to be done to get people back into offices.

The City of Melbourne’s draft 2022-23 budget papers, handed down on Tuesday, reveal expected revenue is forecast to increase by 13% to $538.7m, but the number of businesses operating in the CBD is projected to fall by more than 10%.

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Japan prepares to reopen to tourists for first time since 2020

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‘Test tourism’ to begin in May in the form of limited package tours as a way of gathering information prior to full reopening

Japan will start conducting “test tourism” in the form of limited package tours in May ahead of a full reopening to tourism.

Though tourism was a major pillar of Japan’s economy, tourists have not been permitted to enter since it adopted strict border controls in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Shanghai to end Covid lockdown and return to normal life in June amid economic slowdown

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Authorities say restrictions to ease in stages after extended lockdown that has sent shockwaves through Chinese economy and global supply chains

Shanghai has set out plans for the return of more normal life from 1 June and the end of a painful Covid-19 lockdown that has lasted more than six weeks and contributed to a sharp slowdown in China’s economic activity.

In the clearest timetable yet, deputy mayor Zong Ming said on Monday that Shanghai’s reopening would be carried out in stages, with movement curbs largely to remain in place until 21 May to prevent a rebound in infections, before a gradual easing.

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Children’s activity levels have not recovered after end of Covid restrictions – study

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Only about a third of children and young people are meeting recommended activity levels, Bristol study finds

Children have become more sedentary and their physical activity levels have deteriorated in the wake of the pandemic even after the lifting of restrictions, a study suggests.

Researchers said child physical activity levels fell below national guidelines during the Covid-19 crisis and did not recover when lockdowns ended.

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