Category Archives: Coronavirus

Australia politics news live updates: parliament marks anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded

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Parliament marks anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations; Acoss calls for next budget to address climate crisis; at least 22 Covid deaths recorded; treasurer asked about possible axing of low-income tax offset; politicians back in Canberra for final sitting week before federal budget. Follow all the day’s news

NSW treasurer Matt Kean is talking about the weekend’s byelection results. He says:

This wasn’t a referendum on the government ... these were four byelections that had unique issues in each of the seats.

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Key US-Canada border bridge to reopen after police clear blockade

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Ambassador bridge linking Detroit and city of Windsor to reopen on Sunday, official says, as numbers swelled to about 4,000 demonstrators

Canadian police have cleared protesters from the Ambassador bridge linking the country to the United States, ending a six-day blockade and allowing North America’s busiest trade route to reopen.

Police moved in to clear and arrest the remaining protesters on the border bridge early on Sunday, trying to end one of the main demonstrations that have broken out across Canada against Covid-19 vaccine mandates and other restrictions to bring the pandemic under control.

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Delayed diagnoses and self-imposed lockdown: Australians living with cancer during Covid

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Two years of the pandemic have meant drops in essential screening and detection, while cancer patients undergo treatments alone and isolate to avoid Covid risks

When Claire Simpson turned 50 in early 2020, she received a letter telling her to get a mammogram. Then the pandemic hit, and Victoria went into lockdown.

“Like many people, I put it off until we were coming out of that lockdown, but by then it was September and I couldn’t get an appointment until December,” she says.

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New Zealand authorities deploy Barry Manilow against Covid protesters

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Sound system on parliament grounds plays vaccine messages, Macarena and the crooner’s 1970s hits

New Zealand authorities have deployed Barry Manilow against protesters at its parliament, playing his greatest hits at hundreds camped out over coronavirus restrictions.

The protest began when a convoy of trucks and cars drove to parliament from across the country, inspired by protests in Canada. At first there were more than 1,000 protesters but that number dwindled as the week wore on before growing again on Saturday.

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‘A RAT means a missed meal’: Morrison government urged to make rapid Covid tests free for all

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Unions and charities say cost of tests hurts vulnerable Australians most, as 150,000 sign petition for free kits

Vulnerable Australians are being forced into “hiding at home” and lower-income workers are skipping meals because of the cost of rapid Covid tests, unions and welfare charities warn, as they plead with the Morrison government to reverse its opposition to providing free testing kits for all.

Despite the government’s recent move to make rapid antigen tests tax deductible, a coalition of advocacy groups including the Australian Council of Social Services (Acoss) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) warn the tax write-off plan provides a greater discount to higher-income earners.

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‘Don’t take the damn thing’: how Spotify playlists push dangerous anti-vaccine tunes

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Conspiracy theory songs claiming Covid-19 is fake and calling vaccine ‘poison’ are being actively promoted in Spotify playlists

Songs that claim Covid-19 is fake and describe the vaccines as “poison” are being actively promoted to Spotify users in playlists generated by its content recommendation engine.

Tracks found on the world’s largest music streaming service explicitly encourage people not to get vaccinated and say those who do are “slaves”, “sheep”, and victims of Satan. Others call for an uprising, urging listeners to “fight for your life”.

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Freedom convoys: legitimate Covid protest or vehicle for darker beliefs?

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The blockade of Ottawa has sparked copycat action around the globe, and such disparate demonstrations of grievance may prove hard to shut down

It only took six dozen trucks, and a few hundred protesters to bring Canada’s capital to a standstill and close a critical border crossing with the US, throttling the car industry that straddles the line between both countries and relies on a constant flow of trade.

On Saturday, Canadian authorities finally began taking action to clear the Ambassador Bridge into the US, the busiest land crossing in North America, which had been blockaded by just over a dozen trucks and smaller vehicles, and a crowd a few hundred strong.

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Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron as nation records at least 47 virus deaths – as it happened

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Uncertainty over jobs data due to Omicron; Mark McGowan says WA border reopening still to be decided; Daniel Andrews announces LGBTQ+ support package; Victoria’s Covid rules under review as nation records least 47 Covid-related deaths; Scott Morrison condemns ‘bullying’ on Ukraine border. This blog is now closed

Things get trickier when Speers asked Keneally whether Labor believes schools should be allowed to hire and fire teachers based on whether they are gay or transgender under the law.

Keneally started by saying that “Labor also supports the right of religious schools, faith-based schools to be able to hire staff, whether it is teachers or other staff, that support the mission and the values of the school.”

And so it’s straightforward with children, we think there are some slight complexities with teachers and staff that should be looked at by the Australian Law Reform Commission.”

David, let’s look at what Labor did in the parliament this week. We do believe that people of faith deserve protection from discrimination and extending the law to do that and we think that should not come at the expense of increasing discrimination to other groups of people. We also believe that students at school should be protected and that reflected in the amendments we moved and supported.

So we would like to see the government now accept that amendment that has been supported by the House of Representatives with those five Liberals crossing the floor, and they should just get this bill done. The prime minister promised some years ago to people of faith he would provide this legislative protection. He promised in writing that he would protect children. He is – if he is going to break that promise, he needs to explain it to the Australian people.

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Protests grow across Canada as police struggle to reopen key bridge

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Police had early success in clearing Ambassador Bridge, but demonstrators still choke vital trade route

Protesters opposed to Covid-19 vaccine mandates and other restrictions withdrew some of their vehicles from a US-Canadian border bridge on Saturday, but ramped up demonstrations in cities across Canada, including the capital, where police said they were awaiting more officers before ending what they described as an illegal occupation.

Late on Saturday police made the first arrest of a protester blocking the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, more than a day after authorities moved in seeking to end the blockade of the important trade corridor.

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Hong Kong fears food supply disruption as Covid hits drivers in worsening outbreak

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The territory imports 90% of its food and supply fears come as it battles its worst outbreak of the pandemic

Hong Kong authorities said supplies of vegetables and chilled poultry to the global financial hub may be temporarily disrupted after some mainland goods vehicle drivers preliminarily tested positive for Covid-19.

Hong Kong imports 90% of its food, with the mainland its most important source, especially for fresh food.

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Protests against Covid restrictions held in France and Netherlands

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French police fire teargas in Paris, while convoy of vehicles brings The Hague’s city centre to standstill

Demonstrators against Covid-19 restrictions in France and the Netherlands staged protests on Saturday inspired by the “Freedom Convoy” demonstrations in Canada.

In France police fired teargas at demonstrators on the Champs Élysées in Paris shortly after a convoy protesting against restrictions made it into the capital.

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Next Covid strain could kill many more, warn scientists ahead of England restrictions ending

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Demands grow for government science chiefs to reveal evidence backing move to lift last protective measures

A future variant of Covid-19 could be much more dangerous and cause far higher numbers of deaths and cases of serious illness than Omicron, leading UK scientists have warned.

As a result, many of them say that caution needs to be taken in lifting the last Covid restrictions in England, as Boris Johnson plans to do next week.

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US-Canada border standoff dissolves peacefully as police move in

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Many demonstrators drove away from Ambassador Bridge as scores of police approached shortly before dawn

A tense standoff at a US-Canadian border crossing crucial to both countries’ economies appeared to be dissolving peacefully Saturday as Canadian police moved in to disperse the nearly weeklong blockade and demonstrators began leaving without resistance.

Many demonstrators drove away from the Ambassador Bridge spanning the river between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, as scores of police approached shortly after dawn.

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France eases Covid travel restrictions for vaccinated British travellers

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Tests are no longer required to enter country and children under 12 are exempt from vaccination requirements

Fully vaccinated Britons will no longer be required to undergo Covid tests in order to travel to France, opening up travel between the countries as the half-term holidays get under way.

Children under 12 are exempt from testing and vaccination requirements.

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China conditionally approves Pfizer’s Covid treatment pill Paxlovid

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It is not clear if China is in talks with drugmaker to procure treatment, the first oral pill cleared in country

China’s medical products regulator has conditionally approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 drug Paxlovid, making it the first oral pill specifically developed to treat the disease cleared in the country.

The National Medical Products Administration said Paxlovid had been approved to treat adults who have mild to moderate Covid-19 and who are at high risk of progressing to a severe condition. Further study on the drug needed to be conducted and submitted to the authority, it said.

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Australia live news updates: Scott Morrison says he ‘understands’ Canberra antivax protesters; NSW records 32 Covid deaths and Vic 19; Perrottet tested in byelections

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Pauline Hanson mobbed by Canberra protesters as Lifeline book fair forced to cancel

From AAP:

Queensland’s health chief is “personally reluctant” to repeal a venue vaccine mandate before the end of winter and says it could in fact be the very last pandemic restriction ditched.

The state’s Omicron outbreak peaked on January 25 with 928 patients in hospital and 71 in intensive care, well below a predicted 3000-7000 general admissions and an ICU intake of several hundred.

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PM sent Downing Street lockdown party questionnaire by Met police

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Boris Johnson contacted over alleged parties that took place while the UK was under strict Covid curbs

Boris Johnson has been sent a questionnaire by Scotland Yard over alleged parties in Downing Street, in a move that could raise fresh concerns among Tory MPs about his leadership.

No 10 confirmed late on Friday night that the prime minister received the document, and vowed he would respond to it “as required”.

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Ontario declares state of emergency, threatening fines and jail time to end blockade

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Court grants an injunction to remove protesters from the bridge between Windsor and Detroit

The province of Ontario has invoked a state of emergency and says it will use the threat of hefty fines, jail time and vehicle licence seizures to end a blockade that has crippled trade between Canada and the United States.

Border traffic at the Ambassador Bridge, which links Windsor to Detroit, has been shut down since Monday as part of a nationwide protest against pandemic restrictions, snarling nearly C$300m (US$235m) of trade each day.

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US regulators put brakes on Covid vaccine for children under five

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FDA postpones key meeting, saying it needs to wait for data to show how well third Pfizer dose works for young children

US regulators on Friday put the brakes on their push to speed Pfizer’s Covid vaccine to children under five, creating major uncertainty about how soon the shots could become available.

The Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to apply for authorization of extra-low doses of its vaccine for the youngest children before studies were even finished – citing the toll the Omicron variant has taken on children.

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How much does a Covid test cost around the world?

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As the UK Treasury pushes for free tests to be scrapped, here’s how charges look in other countries

In Australia, a federal scheme introduced at the end of January allows pensioners and concession card holders to access up to 10 free rapid antigen tests over three months through their chemist. But the scheme got off to a difficult start, with supply issues hampering attempts to procure the tests. In January the competition regulator raised concerns that rapid antigen tests often cost between A$20 and A$30 (£15-£20) per test and sometimes more than A$70 a test through smaller retail outlets, despite wholesale costs ranging from A$3.95 to A$11.45.

In Belgium the price of an antigen self-test sold in pharmacies is around €6-€8 (£5-£7), more expensive than in neighbouring countries, such as France and the Netherlands, although they are available in Belgian supermarkets for about €3. Prices have come down and are expected to fall further: one big pharmacy chain announced this week they had begun selling tests for €1.99. While a PCR test, which costs about €41, is free for people with symptoms, or may be reimbursed by health insurance, self-tests usually have to be funded by individuals. The Belgian consumer association Test-Achats/Test Aankoop estimated this week that a family of four could spend €250 a month on Covid tests, hand sanitiser and face masks.

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