Category Archives: Coronavirus

John Major says Boris Johnson broke lockdown laws and is creating mistrust

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Former Tory PM fiercely attacks Johnson and issues barely veiled challenge to MPs to remove him

Boris Johnson broke lockdown laws, appears to believe rules do not apply to him and is creating an atmosphere of mistrust in politics that threatens the long-term democratic future of the UK, Sir John Major has said.

In a fierce and wide-ranging attack, Major said Johnson had regularly sent ministers out to “defend the indefensible”, with the truth seen as “optional”, and was badly tarnishing the UK’s reputation overseas with populist-style “megaphone diplomacy”.

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New Zealand police are right to remove ‘freedom’ protesters who have cohered around violence | Morgan Godfery

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The government couldn’t attempt to meet their demands because they were endless and, frankly, psychotic

And so it ends as it began – in farce. On Thursday morning hundreds of police officers made their move against the “freedom convoy”, a tiny racket of anti-vaxxers, anti-mandaters, and proud fascists who were camping on parliament’s lawn to protest, well, something. Some were arguing for the efficacy of the immune system over the vaccine, as if the mRNA jab does something other than train said immune system. A good number were calling for citizens’ arrests against prime minister Jacinda Ardern and health minister Andrew Little for crimes unknown. And at least a handful were prosecuting their QAnon conspiracies. At the last major “freedom” protest Q’s supporters were on the ground to argue that the prime minister is already under arrest and wears an ankle bracelet to prove it.

With this catalogue of complaints it was impossible for police to do anything other than remove the convoy-cum-campers. In normal circumstances protesters arrive in the capital with a concrete demand whether it’s ending student fees, repealing the Foreshore and Seabed Act, or opposing the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. But the “freedom” convoy came to town as simple catharsis. There were the anti-vaxxers and anti-mandates types, who range from American-style conspiracists to misguided anarchists, but alongside those familiar archetypes were evangelical church leaders, Steve Bannon-backed Counterspin media “journalists”, and people calling for tino rangatiratanga (Māori sovereignty).

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam apologises for long Covid testing queues as new restrictions bite

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Apology comes as city enforces new measures including closure of hairdressers and addition of malls to vaccine pass system

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has said she is “deeply sorry and anxious” about the lengthy wait for residents to get tested or enter isolation facilities after a record number of new coronavirus cases left authorities scrambling.

Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 infections nearly doubled to a record 1,161 cases on Wednesday as the global financial hub battles a rapid surge that could pose the biggest test yet of its “dynamic zero” policy.

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Anti-vaccine protesters clash with police outside New Zealand parliament – video

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New Zealand’s anti-vaccine protesters have been evicted from parliament grounds after days of protests, with a number arrested after clashes with police. The protesters, inspired by the 'siege of Ottawa', in which truckers paralysed the city and caused a state of emergency, led a convoy of several hundred vehicles to parliament. A number stayed overnight, pitching tents on the lawns


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Australia politics live news updates: Christian lobby says government should withdraw religious discrimination bill; at least 40 Covid deaths recorded

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NSW records 24 Covid-related deaths, Victoria records 16; TGA approves AstraZeneca booster for adults; Christian lobby says government should withdraw religious discrimination bill after controversial legislation moves to upper house. Follow all the day’s news

Need a quick recap of yesterday’s shenanigans in question time? As prime minister Scott Morrison said: Bring. It. On. Sarah Martin reports:

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has provisionally approved an AstraZeneca booster for adults.

The decision to receive Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) as a booster must be made in consultation with a medical professional.

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Democratic governors lift indoor mask mandates despite CDC guidance – live

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Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just said that the agency continues to recommend masking in “areas of high and substantial transmission”.

According to the CDC’s own data, 99.5% of all US counties currently qualify as areas of high and substantial transmission, even as the number of new coronavirus cases across the US has decreased in the past few weeks.

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New Zealand police clash with anti-vaccine protesters during eviction operation

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Police arrest up to 20 people on third day of Covid-linked protest inspired by Canadian ‘siege of Ottowa’

New Zealand’s anti-vaccine protesters are being evicted from parliament grounds on the third day of their protest, with a number arrested after clashes with police.

Police brought in around 100 extra officers from around the country on Thursday to try to clear the protesters from parliament grounds, where they had pitched tents and parked cars, blocking traffic.

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More than 50 people to face police questions on Downing Street parties

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Those identified as part of Operation Hillman will be sent questionnaire asking for their account of events

More than 50 people must answer police questions about alleged parties in Downing Street and Whitehall that may have breached strict Covid rules, Scotland Yard has said.

In a sign of the scale of the “partygate” criminal inquiry, the Metropolitan police revealed on Wednesday they would this week start contacting more than 50 people as part of “Operation Hillman”, an investigation into events on eight dates between May 2020 to April 2021.

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US-Canada bridge blockade risks huge economic damage, governments warn

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While protest remains on bridge between car-manufacturing cities of Detroit and Windsor, businesses risk losing $50m a day

Blockades on the busiest border bridge between Canada and the US could have a serious impact on the economies of both countries, disrupting the automotive industry, agricultural exports, and causing multimillion-dollar losses, the two countries’ governments have said.

The warnings came as business associations said that manufacturing plants at the heart of North America’s automotive industry face potential shortages, shutdowns, layoffs as “freedom convoy” protesters continue to block traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, between the car-manufacturing cities of Detroit and Windsor.

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Covid rules are to be axed in England, but is pandemic’s end really in sight?

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Analysis: Plans to end isolation rules have been gleefully announced, but questions about infection control remain

As the threat of the Omicron wave has receded in England, the government has been quick to move the conversation on to “living with Covid”.

It was inevitable that this would mean the eventual lifting of legal restrictions, including the need to self-isolate. But even given the optimistic tone in recent weeks, Boris Johnson’s announcement on Wednesday came sooner than many expected.

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Is England an outlier in abandoning Covid isolation rule?

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How does England’s move to end self-isolation compare with rules in other European countries?

Boris Johnson has announced plans to abolish the legal requirement for people in England to self-isolate, even if they test positive for the coronavirus and have symptoms.

The move, planned for later this month, would represent “an important step for this country as we move out of the pandemic”, said the prime minister’s spokesperson. “It shows that the hard work of the British people is paying off.”

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Covid live: Sweden scraps almost all restrictions and testing despite pleas from scientists; Spain’s King Felipe tests positive

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Sweden scraps almost all of its few restrictions and stops most testing; Spain’s King Felipe tests positive after displaying mild symptoms

Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, has pledged to recruit 15,000 new health workers by the end of March to tackle the pandemic treatment backlog.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the NHS planned “to recruit 10,000 more nurses from overseas and 5,000 more healthcare support workers by the end of March” to improve capacity.

“Remove your mask,” a man demands, as I walk through the crowd. When I say I would like to keep it on, he immediately asks if I’m from mainstream media. I reply that I am and he says “don’t twist the truth just because you’re on the government dollars”. He is not the only one demanding I remove the mask.

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Lower house sits late to continue religious discrimination bill debate – as it happened

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Debate over religious discrimination bill to continue as House of Representatives agrees to sit late; Brittany Higgins calls for Jenkins review to be implemented; nation records at least 68 deaths from Covid – follow all the day’s news

The Coalition has been sitting on a major report into the state of the care workforce in Australia since September last year, Sarah Martin reports. The report “set out to examine the needs of the care and support workforce for aged, disability, veteran and mental health care”:

I mentioned the Health Services Union’s survey earlier, in the context of the opposition hoping to wound the government over the aged care crisis.

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‘We stand with Ottawa’: muddled messages and fraying consensus at New Zealand’s anti-vax protest

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Parliament protests wane amid a profusion of concerns ranging from a ‘plandemic’ to genetic manipulation and the plight of an oil refinery

On day two of a protest against New Zealand’s Covid-19 policies on Parliament’s grounds in Wellington, the stamina and consensus of the crowd was fraying. On Tuesday, thousands arrived in convoys from across the country, but by Wednesday just a few hundred were left, despite pleas from protesters on social media for the crowd to “hold the line”.

Perhaps it is because the list of complaints is extensive – there are signs about the vaccine mandates and restrictions for the unvaccinated, signs blaring vaccine disinformation, conspiracies that Covid-19 is a “plandemic”, worries about gene therapy manipulation of children, accusations of media corruption, claims of iwi (tribal) groups selling out, and requests to save a Northland oil refinery from closure.

Cars are scrawled with imported causes and slogans: “We stand with Ottawa”, referring to the Canadian protests against vaccine mandates and “drain the swamp”, a catch-cry of Donald Trump’s presidency.

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‘A bad dream’: Nepalis who made UK’s PPE speak out on claims of abusive working conditions

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Glove manufacturer Supermax has repeatedly won NHS contracts during the pandemic, despite claims of forced labour. Now, a group of former workers are seeking justice

“I don’t have any dreams for the future because every dream depends on money,” says Resham, a 45-year-old from Banke, a district in Nepal bordering the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. “Time is passing and I’m getting older. Whatever comes my way, I will face it and go ahead with life.”

Last year, Resham returned to Nepal after spending 10 years working at Supermax, a company producing medical gloves in Malaysia. In October, the US banned imports from Supermax based on evidence “that indicates the use of forced labour”, and the month after, Canada terminated its contracts. The UK, meanwhile, has named the British subsidiary of Supermax as an approved supplier in a new £6bn contract for gloves for NHS workers.

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As Hong Kong tightens Covid restrictions again, residents complain of being held ‘hostage’

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Large parts of the world are opening up, but Hong Kong is still pursuing ‘dynamic zero’ despite rising cases and a public running out of patience

A viral open letter from a member of Facebook group, HK Moms, marked something of a shift in public opinion. The group is the type not usually preoccupied with the city’s political upheavals, but the letter revealed a limit had been reached.

Addressing Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, it accused the government of holding its citizens hostage with new Covid measures – the toughest restrictions since June 2020.

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Arrests in Ottawa as Canadian truckers block main bridge to US

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Police detain 23 in Ottawa protests over Covid restrictions, while trucks block Ambassador Bridge linking cities of Detroit and Windsor

Traffic has ground to a halt at the busiest border crossing in North America, as Canadian truckers and others angry with vaccine mandates spread their protest beyond Ottawa.

Trucks started blocking the Ambassador Bridge linking the cities of Detroit and Windsor late on Monday, closing down traffic in both directions. On Tuesday, entry to Canada remained blocked while US-bound traffic slowed to a crawl. Each day, 8,000 trucks normally cross the bridge, which handles about 27% of trade between Canada and the US. Protesters also targeted another major border crossing in Coutts, Alberta.

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Covid live: hundreds block streets by New Zealand parliament; Hong Kong faces new curbs amid record cases

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‘Convoy for freedom’ gathers in Wellington, inspired by Ottawa protests; Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam says she will stick to ‘dynamic zero’ strategy

For more than a week, the centre of Canada’s capital city has been paralysed by protesters who have blockaded the downtown area with trucks and cars. City police have described the protest as a “siege” and on Sunday the mayor of Ottawa declared a state of emergency.

If you’re a bit confused about how this all began and what’s it all about read on below:

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‘A slap in the face’: uproar in Virginia as governor relaxes school mask rules

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Most families want masks in schools – so why did Virginia’s new governor make them optional?

Emily Paterson was finally feeling able to relax. Her two sons were now fully vaccinated, and with mask policies in place at their school in northern Virginia she felt safe sending them every day, even as the Omicron variant surged.

Then Virginia’s new governor, Glenn Youngkin, took office on 15 January of this year – and, with his second executive action, he made masks in schools optional.

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Unesco warns of crisis in creative sector with 10m jobs lost due to pandemic

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Artists finding it harder than ever to make a living despite being part of one of the fastest growing industries

Ten million jobs in creative industries worldwide were lost in 2020 as a result of the Covid pandemic, and the increasing digitisation of cultural output means it is harder than ever for artists to make a living, a Unesco report has said.

Covid has led to “an unprecedented crisis in the cultural sector”, said Audrey Azoulay, the director-general of Unesco, the UN’s cultural body, in a foreword to the report. “All over the world, museums, cinemas, theatres and concert halls – places of creation and sharing – have closed their doors …

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