Temporary measures introduced during Covid crisis will be made made permanent from April
Outdoor weddings and civil partnerships are to be legalised permanently in England and Wales, ministers have announced.
Since last summer, couples have been able to hold their civil wedding or ceremony outside under temporary measures introduced during the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Nearly 90% of new infections in Jilin province, while tens of millions of people across the country remain confined to their homes
China has posted a steep jump in daily Covid-19 infections with new cases more than doubling from a day earlier to a two-year high as a virus outbreak expanded rapidly in the north-east.
A total of 3,507 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms were reported on Monday across more than a dozen provinces and municipalities, the National Health Commission said, up from 1,337 a day earlier.
Continue reading...Search for owner after bodies found in Newtown boarding house fire police believe was ‘maliciously lit’; cruise ship ban to end on April 17; Victorian health minister says Omicron subvariant ‘slowly asserting itself’; nation records at least 24 Covid deaths with 10 in Queensland. This blog is now closed
The government has decided to withdraw a women’s network logo that was widely mocked online for its phallic shape.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet issued a statement today saying the logo had been removed from its website “pending consultation with staff”:
The women’s network logo retained a ‘W’ icon which staff had been using for a number of years.
The rebrand was completed internally, using existing resources, and designs were consulted on widely. No external providers were engaged for this work.
Continue reading...Remaining rules including mandatory passenger locator forms and tests for unvaccinated arrivals will end on Friday
All remaining Covid travel restrictions are to be dropped across the UK from later this week, despite a concerning rise in cases and hospitalisations.
Ministers approved the scrapping of passenger locator forms and the requirement for all unvaccinated arrivals to get tested, with the changes to come into force from 4am on Friday.
Continue reading...Call comes as data shows 2- to 11-year-olds currently have the highest rate of infection
Scientists are calling for the immediate rollout of Covid vaccines to primary-aged children, as new data suggests that even a single dose of the Pfizer jab helps to prevent older children against infection, and shortens the duration and severity of symptoms if they do get infected.
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 2- to 11-year-olds have the highest rate of infections of any UK age group, with 4.2% testing positive during the week ending 5 March. Secondary-aged children (up to Year 11) have the lowest rate of infections, with 2.4% testing positive.
Continue reading...NRMA says any fuel excise cuts likely to be ‘eaten up’ by soaring prices; Victoria records 5,499 new Covid cases, one death; NSW 9,911 new cases, one death; ACT 599 cases; QLD 3,797 cases as health minister tests positive; NT 198 cases; cruise ship ban could lift soon; NSW health minister ‘not keen’ on reintroducing Covid restrictions. Follow all the day’s news
NSW emergency services minister Steph Cooke has said there will be an independent review of the response to the floods in northern NSW.
Cooke was speaking to 2GB earlier today, and lamented that the government “can always do better next time”.
I think we can always do better next time.
There’s no question of that. That’s why we’re looking to do an independent review of the immediate response and the immediate aftermath in terms of what was deployed and when and what discussions were had.
[Different agencies] worked together extremely well during this difficult environment and I think that trying to cast blame is not actually helpful.
I am sorry to say it but sometimes the media like to put the point of blame back on various people. There will be a review and no doubt there will be learnings again, as there is in every crisis but it is not helpful to have a blame game going on and all through the two-year pandemic, you wouldn’t have heard me say a word about any other state government’s views and not criticising the federal government was very much at the forefront as well.
Continue reading...Barack Obama has tested positive for Covid-19.
“I just tested positive for Covid,” the former president, 60, said in a tweet on Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Continue reading...Authorities adopt a zero tolerance policy in Shenzhen, imposing a lockdown and testing every resident three times
China’s government has locked down Shenzhen, a city of 17.5 million people, as it tries to contain its worst ever Covid-19 outbreak across multiple provinces, with case numbers tripling from Saturday to Sunday.
A government notice on Sunday said all residential communities were now under “closed management”, meaning they would be locked down. Every resident would undergo three rounds of testing, for which they were allowed to leave their homes, and all buses and subways were suspended.
Continue reading...Schemes coming to an end is ‘yet another example of short-term thinking’
Ministers have been accused of “turning off the headlights at the first sign of dawn” after scrapping nationwide Covid surveillance programmes, with scientists saying it will almost certainly end up costing more money in the long run.
Last week, scientists announced that the React study – which randomly tests about 150,000 people across England each month to see how many are infected with coronavirus – will be scrapped at the end of March, and no further data will be collected beyond that point.
Continue reading...‘This event is not over’, Dominic Perrottet says of east coast floods; 25% of assessed Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley properties uninhabitable; mental health support package announced as PM defends pace of flood relief; weather warning for Victoria; 16 Covid deaths recorded. This blog is now closed
Thinking of all those emergency crews and volunteers who must be exhausted.
With Japanese encephalitis outbreaks in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, health authorities are urging people to protect themselves against mosquitos over the long weekend.
Mosquitoes can be active throughout the day, but the peak period is often around the late afternoon and into the evening as well as around dawn and dusk. People should wear long, loose fitting clothes and use repellents containing picaridin or DEET on exposed skin. Mosquito numbers can be reduced by getting rid of stagnant water around the home or campsites.”
Continue reading...Nearly 3,400 cases were reported on Sunday, forcing shutdowns for millions of people and closure of schools in Shanghai
See all our coronavirus coverage here
China reported nearly 3,400 daily Covid-19 cases on Sunday, double the previous day, forcing lockdowns on virus hotspots as the country contends with its gravest outbreak in two years.
A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lock down several north-eastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle clusters of the Omicron and Delta variants.
Continue reading...Economy bounces back from Omicron wave, but economists expect east coast floods to be reflected in March jobs figures
The unemployment rate could hit 4% when the latest labour force figures are released this week, as the economy recovers from the impact of the Omicron variant.
The jobless rate touched 4% in February 2008 and again in August of that year under Kevin Rudd’s Labor government, but has never been lower according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures stretching back to 1978.
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Continue reading...Chief inspector tells leaders the pandemic has ‘fractured the social contract between parents and schools’
The Covid pandemic has made families “more relaxed” about their children staying home or going on unauthorised holidays, fracturing the social contract between parents and schools in England, according to the head of Ofsted.
Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said she was concerned about the high level of absences among pupils, telling the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference: “Some parents have health concerns for themselves or family members and wait in hope for a highly unlikely zero-Covid future.
Continue reading...NSW health minister also ‘not at all keen’ to reintroduce masks and curbs on movement as reportedly recommended by officials
States should not rush to reintroduce Covid-19 restrictions in response to a predicted surge in cases in coming weeks, health experts say, insisting that raising booster coverage of older Australians will be far more effective against the new BA.2 subvariant than masks and curbs on movement.
The advice against tougher Covid rules comes after the Sydney Morning Herald reported NSW Health had recommended a return to an indoor mask mandate, working from home and density limits, as well as bans on singing and dancing, as cases in the state are expected to double.
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Continue reading...Prime minister says old rules ‘starving businesses of staff’; as Victoria records 6,075 new Covid cases and 11 deaths, NSW 12,850 cases and four deaths, Queensland 4,029 cases and six deaths, ACT 704 cases, Tasmania 1,130 cases and WA 4,300 cases. This blog is now closed
In the meantime, Anthony Albanese was in Brisbane earlier this morning, slamming the government’s response to the floods in northern NSW and south-eastern Queensland.
Albanese said the PM was “here for the photo op” and then “disappeared”, saying he had refused to hear the concerns of locals.
This prime minister, once again, was here for the photo op and the headline and then disappeared. What we need is leadership on climate change in the immediate sense.
The prime minister, having done a visit where he refused to make people around Lismore and around the northern rivers, refused to hear their concerns. Then came to Brisbane, got out a mop on an already cleaned floor.
Continue reading...Australia follows lead of US and UK with latest Russia sanctions; ‘We want tradies to come to Queensland,’ premier says; helicopter crashes in NSW Snowy Mountains; Japanese encephalitis outbreak grows to 15; nation records at least 30 Covid deaths, seven in New Zealand. Follow all the day’s news live
Labor leader Anthony Albanese is speaking to ABC News breakfast now from Lismore. He has been asked about the death of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching.
It was an enormous shock, James. I was visiting a family in Ballina yesterday, who have lost everything and I got an urgent message and then I took a call and it is something that was just totally unexpected. Kimberley was just 52 years of age. She was just beginning her political career. It was her first term serving in the Senate.
I appointed her to the frontbench and gave her additional responsibilities when I became the leader and Kimberley was someone who lit up a room when she was there. She was so full of life. She was a vivacious character and to lose her so young is just an enormous shock.
Essential workers who were lauded in the pandemic, like those in aged care, child care or supermarkets were already forking out up to three-quarters of their salary on rent. Unless we want a social disaster to follow this natural disaster we need to get serious about giving people on low and modest incomes a decent shot at getting and keeping a house. That means more social and affordable housing is urgently needed.
The problem with temporary housing is the lack of security and the poor quality. If people are in a temporary home but know they will have permanent housing soon, they are safe and warm through winter, and they can keep their job and kids can continue at their school, then they will most likely do well.
But if they are worried about how long they will have a roof over their head, and where they will live in the future, if they feel unsafe, or always have a cold because they can’t warm their home, or if the housing dislocates the family from the community they know, then their mental and physical health will suffer.
Continue reading...Pair join Gordon Brown and 126 others in attack on ‘self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality’
Prince Harry and Meghan, the actor Charlize Theron and the former British prime minister Gordon Brown are among 130 signatories to a letter lambasting wealthy countries’ approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, labelling it “immoral, entirely self-defeating and also an ethical, economic and epidemiological failure”.
In a strongly worded open letter published on Friday, the signatories warned “the pandemic is not over”, and said the failure to vaccinate the world was down to “self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality”.
Continue reading...Consultancy firm Randstad’s contract ‘must end’ unless it delivers learning missed during Covid
A national tutoring programme is failing to help the children who need it most, according to MPs, who say ministers should terminate their contract with the consultancy firm running the scheme unlessit “shapes up”.
A report by the education select committee gives a scathing account of the government’s £5bn national tutoring programme (NTP), which aims to help children in England catch up on learning missed during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.
Continue reading...Long a critic of the PM, Douglas Ross cites Ukraine war and says now is no time for change of leadership
The Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has withdrawn his letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson, citing the war in Ukraine and saying it was no time for a change of leadership.
Ross, who has been an outspoken critic of the prime minister, had criticised him over lockdown parties in Downing Street. Johnson, along with dozens of staff and officials, is under police investigation for the breaches.
Continue reading...Maya Yang reports:
North Carolina Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn has been charged with driving with a revoked license for the second time.
Continue reading...