Biden’s chief medical adviser also says the US is ‘clearly going in the right direction’ on the pandemic
The US is likely to see an increase in Covid cases like that in Europe and the UK thanks to the BA.2 virus subvariant but not a dangerous surge, Anthony Fauci said on Sunday.
Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser also said the US was “clearly going in the right direction” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Vaccine available to care home residents, people aged 75 and over, and immunosuppressed aged 12 and over
Coronavirus booster vaccine jabs for millions of people in England will begin to be offered this week, the NHS announced.
The vaccine will be available to care home residents, people who are 75 and over, and the immunosuppressed aged 12 and over.
Continue reading...Elderly residents are wary of the jab even as Omicron spreads, and critics say zero-Covid policy is not sustainable
When nearby neighbourhoods went into lockdown, Liu Li started stocking up. The 42-year-old Chinese magazine worker bought vegetables, fruit, medicine and other supplies, adding to stores of basics she had maintained since the pandemic began. Last Sunday a resident in the community where Liu lives with her mother, in Changchun city, Jilin, tested positive. Everyone was ordered inside.
The fresh lockdown has, so far, been OK. “I live a normal life,” she says. “I work when there are tasks for me. If there aren’t any, I talk to my mother, watch TV, or play with my cat.”
Continue reading...Australia records 28 Covid-related deaths, with 12 in NSW, 10 in Queensland, four in Western Australia and two in Victoria
The number of new Covid infections across Australia has risen by 37% in a week, linked to the more transmissible BA.2 subvariant of Omicron.
Australia has recorded 295,146 new Covid-19 cases in the past week, surging by more than a third compared with 215,701 cases the previous week, according to data from the tracking site Covid Live.
Continue reading...Two deaths reported on Saturday, the first since January 2021, as China continues to pursue ‘zero-Covid’ strategy
China’s national health authorities reported two Coronavirus deaths on Saturday, the first recorded rise in the death toll since January last year, as the country battles an omicron-driven surge.
The deaths, both in north-eastern Jilin province, bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638.
Continue reading...The costs were more than twice the amount the city budgeted for affordable and supportive housing
The truck convoy that paralyzed much of downtown Ottawa for nearly a month cost the city more than C$36m, officials have said, and the figure is expected to rise in the coming weeks.
A memo released by the city on Friday said policing costs accounted for the vast majority of the $36.3m bill.
Continue reading...Brexit opportunities minister says people will find Partygate scandal ‘fundamentally trivial’ in the context of war in Ukraine. This live blog has now closed.
“I think people respect honesty,” says Rishi Sunak. A few weeks ago this would have been seen as an obvious dig at Sunak’s boss, but it did not sound like that today. He was talking about Treasury policy in the early days of the Covid pandemic, and how he felt it was important to admit that government policy would not be able to save all jobs.
Now he’s talking about the family dog. He was oppoosed to getting a puppy for a long time, he says, but when he became chancellor, he was spending so much time at work that he lost the moral authority to say no.
Continue reading...The US must prepare now for the next surge or variant, whether it’s BA.2 or a different one, experts say
Cases and deaths from Covid-19 have fallen in the US, but warning signs and rises in other countries are prompting experts to take future and existing variants of the virus seriously – and they are warning that America has not yet reached the endemic phase.
It’s important to prepare now for the next surge or variant, whether that’s BA.2 or a different one, experts say.
Continue reading...Inquest into death of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker to start in September; call for inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women; advice for asthma sufferers during flood clean-up; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is on the telly now (hope he’s saving some juicy bits for his speech later). He’s talking about this idea of returning to some sort of pre-Covid fiscal world. He says:
As you know, we recalibrated our budget strategy when the pandemic first hit and we needed to do that to ensure there was sufficient economic support with programs like jobkeeper, the cash flow boosts, the $750 payments to pensioners, carer, and those on income support. That helped stabilise the economy by opening up the purse strings. Now that the recovery is well underway and the unemployment rate is down to a 14-year low of 4%, it is time to move to the next phase of the budget strategy and that means stabilising debt and then reducing debt as a proportion of the overall economy, and ending those crisis-level, emergency economic support programs.
Continue reading...Hospitals in southern England worst affected, with Devon recording highest ever numbers of Covid patients
Rising numbers of people entering hospital with Covid are leading to other patients becoming infected, staff absences, delayed operations and long waits in emergency departments, experts have said.
In recent weeks, Covid infection levels have been rising in the UK and hospitalisations are also increasing.
Continue reading...The well-known public health expert will be replacing Jeff Zients, who was appointed 14 months ago
Joe Biden has selected a new White House Covid-19 response coordinator to help lead the US’s fight against the virus, the US president announced on Thursday.
Dr Ashish Jha has been named as the new response coordinator. Jha, who is the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, is a well-known public health expert.
Continue reading...Epidemiologists say calls by business to relax mask rules as case numbers escalate is ‘down the rabbit hole thinking’
Victorian business leaders pushing to scrap mask mandates for hospitality and retail workers are “clearly not following the trend” in rising cases, according to epidemiologists who say now is not the time to relax rules.
The state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, on Thursday rejected a push from the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Retailers Association and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry who told the Herald Sun they wanted national consistency on mask mandates and warned workers could leave the sectors for other jobs.
Continue reading...Despite record infections and fatalities, public opinion appears to support plans to ease Covid curbs in the coming days
South Korea reported record daily Covid infections and record deaths caused by the virus, as the country which once took an aggressive anti-pandemic approach is set to end Covid restrictions.
On Thursday, authorities said 621,328 new daily cases of the virus were recorded, and 429 deaths.
Continue reading...AFLW final postponed after Covid outbreak; NSW Labor calls for inquiry into flood response; Ukraine embassy calls for Australian sanctions against two Russian oligarchs; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded. Follow all the day’s news live
From senior economics reporter Ben Butler and foreign affairs and defence correspondent Daniel Hurst:
Ukraine’s embassy in Canberra has joined calls for the Australian government to sanction two Russian oligarchs who have assets here, Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg.
The government of Ukraine is grateful to the government of Australia for its proactive and extensive sanctions policy against Russia, which is the biggest among the Indo-Pacific countries ...
We hope that those Russian oligarchs will be included in the next round of sanctions.
Vekselberg has already been sanctioned by the British and US governments. It’s curious that the Australian government has not yet followed suit given its claims of being in lockstep with the US and UK.
Vekselberg’s interest in Falcon pre-dates Origin’s farm-in agreement agreed in 2015, so Origin was entered into the joint venture with eyes wide open.
We certainly have had very limited capability to conduct experimental fires under extreme conditions. Nobody in their right mind is going to give us the go ahead to light a fire on a Black Saturday-type day ...
This lab means we’ll be able to study particular aspects of fire behaviour under the extreme conditions that are more likely to occur under climate change.
By using the data collected by the pyrotron, our prediction tools become more accurate. And that means better decision making about where firefighters can safely go, what firefighting strategies to use, and also improved emergency warnings for communities.
Continue reading...The jobless rate for women fell to the lowest rate since May 1974 at 3.8%, as the economy added a net 77,400 jobs in February
Australia’s jobless rate sank to a new 13-year low last month with a big rise in full-time positions, as the economy shrugged off more of the Omicron Covid disruptions.
The country’s unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 4.0% in February, compared with 4.2% in January. That’s the lowest rate since August 2008, the ABS said.
Continue reading...The move would allow for cheaper generic versions to be manufactured and distributed among developing nations faster
Global powers have inched closer to an agreement to waive patents for Covid-19 vaccines, a move that would allow for cheaper generic versions to be manufactured and distributed among developing nations faster.
A leaked document, seen by the Guardian, reveals details of a compromise struck between the United States, the European Union, India and South Africa that would end a deadlock over an intellectual property waiver, 18 months after the proposal was first taken to the World Trade Organization.
Continue reading...PM highlights China’s ‘chilling silence’ on Russian invasion as Labor says China has ‘responsibility’ to call out Putin’s actions; NSW Health confirms seventh case of Japanese encephalitis; man in court over Sydney boarding house fire; Coalition to spend $243m on four mining projects; a man has died in Broken Hill after driving his ute into flood waters; nation records at least 17 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
NSW Health has added the results from 10,000 additional positive rapid antigen tests to its official numbers after a data error meant they were left out.
The results were registered between Sunday 13 March and Monday 14 March, with NSW Health warning the numbers will “inflate the cases being reported today for the 24 hours to 4pm yesterday (Tuesday)”.
Vice-President Kamala Harris has tested negative but is cutting back on her schedule; both were vaccinated and had booster shots
Doug Emhoff, the US second gentleman, has tested positive for Covid-19, the White House announced on Tuesday. The vice-president, Kamala Harris, tested negative, but is curtailing her schedule as a result of her husband’s positive test.
Harris’s spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Harris would not participate in a planned Equal Pay Day event on Tuesday evening at the White House with Joe Biden “out of an abundance of caution”.
Continue reading...Victoria also recorded its highest daily coronavirus case total in five weeks as the more-infectious Omicron subvariant spreads
Covid-19 cases have spiked dramatically in New South Wales, with 30,402 new infections recorded, but authorities say it’s at least partly due to a data glitch.
NSW Health says about 10,000 positive rapid antigen tests registered between Sunday and Monday are included in figures released on Wednesday due to a data processing problem.
Continue reading...After two years spent closed off by the pandemic, prime minister Jacinda Ardern says ‘we’re ready to welcome the world back’
New Zealand is re-opening its borders to the world, after two years spent closed off by the pandemic.
From 13 April, vaccinated tourists from Australia will be able to enter the country without isolating.
Continue reading...